Byrd Ends Up With Indians

Timing, it turns out, is everything, which is why Paul Byrd signed a two-year, $14.25-million contract with the Cleveland Indians on Monday, turning down a near-identical offer from the Angels and jilting fans who believed the pitcher would gladly sign another one-year deal to remain in Anaheim.

“I apologize if I looked two-faced,” Byrd said by telephone from his Atlanta-area home. “I really was willing to sign a one-year deal at the end of the season, but that time had passed.”

Byrd, who went 12-11 with a 3.74 earned-run average and pitched superbly in the American League championship series, said in late September that he was so happy with the Angels he would return under a one-year contract, and his agent, Bo McKinnis, traveled to Anaheim in an attempt to reach a deal with General Manager Bill Stoneman before the season ended.

“They were not interested [at the time] in getting anything done,” Byrd said.

Then on Nov. 10, two weeks after the World Series and a day before the Angels would lose exclusive negotiating rights to Byrd, the Angels offered the 35-year-old right-hander a one-year deal for $5 million, the same salary Byrd made in 2005.

The next day, by 8 a.m., Byrd received the Indians’ offer, which includes a third-year option that could push the package to $22 million, and a three-year, $22-million offer from the Kansas City Royals.

“That made me feel very wanted by other teams,” Byrd said. “It made me think that the Angels might be going in a different direction.”

While six other teams actively pursued Byrd, negotiations with the Angels “were very slow,” Byrd said. The Angels eventually increased their offer to two years and $11 million in late November, and Thursday night, Stoneman phoned Byrd to deliver a final offer: two years, $14 million, plus a third-year option.

There was one catch. The Angels were also courting free-agent Hector Carrasco and, fearing they would lose out on the Washington right-hander, who could relieve or start, wanted an answer from Byrd. Immediately.

“Money wasn’t an issue -- they were more than fair,” Byrd said of the Angels. “But what I struggled with was the deadline. I didn’t want to make a decision that would affect my family for the next three years in minutes, in hours. There was a lot of pressure. The Angels didn’t give me the time.”

Stoneman said he had no choice.

“We wanted to sign Hector, and we also wanted to sign Paul Byrd,” Stoneman said. “Carrasco wanted an opportunity to be a starter, but if we signed Byrd, Carrasco wouldn’t have been here. The problem was, other clubs were after Carrasco, and I didn’t want to be left at the end of the day having waited for Paul Byrd and lost out on Carrasco and Paul Byrd. The timing of things doesn’t always work.”

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The Angels are one of six teams that have expressed serious interest in Boston slugger Manny Ramirez, and a source said Monday that there is some substance to recent speculation about a three-way trade that would send Ramirez to Anaheim and Arizona slugger Troy Glaus to the Red Sox.

Ramirez, who hit .300 with 88 home runs and 274 runs batted in over the past two seasons, has threatened to hold out next spring if Boston doesn’t fulfill his trade request, and there were indications on the first day of baseball’s winter meetings that the Red Sox were trying to accommodate him.

“It’s very active now,” said a source familiar with negotiations. “It’s at a point where it can be advanced and be something real. Boston has demonstrated a commitment to move Manny if the right deal presents itself.”

But the Red Sox, still without a general manager, are not interested in a deal at any price.

“You’re not going to get fair value,” said Bill Lajoie, Red Sox special advisor. “This is an A-1 hitter, and no one is going to give you an A-1 player in return. If you trade him, you won’t get [that]. We will go as far as we can to satisfy [his desire to be traded]. On the other hand, we have to satisfy our team.”

Still, as teams begin to exchange trade proposals with Boston, the Red Sox seem to be moving closer to dealing the enigmatic Ramirez.

“There’s reason for optimism,” said Jed Hoyer, another Boston special assistant. “But no one has stepped up to the level we’re asking.”

The Angels don’t appear to match up with the Red Sox in a prospective two-team deal. Boston would love to acquire young pitcher Ervin Santana and top power-hitting prospect Brandon Wood, but those are the two players General Manager Bill Stoneman is least willing to part with. And the Angels don’t exactly have an excess of major leaguers who could fill the power void left by Ramirez.

But by drawing a third team, such as Arizona, into the mix, the Red Sox could better offset their loss of Ramirez by acquiring Glaus, the former Angel third baseman who hit .258 with 37 homers and 97 RBIs in his first season with the Diamondbacks, and the Angels wouldn’t have to give up as much.

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For two years, Francisco Rodriguez’s participation in winter ball has been a major point of contention between the Angels and their closer: Rodriguez, who went 2-5 with a 2.67 earned run average and 45 saves last season, has insisted on playing in his native Venezuela despite repeated requests by the Angels that he not do so.

But Rodriguez and Stoneman have reached a detente. The Angel GM said Monday he has authorized Rodriguez to pitch for his winter ball team, La Guaira, under three conditions: he can pitch only three games a week, one inning a game, and he cannot pitch in back-to-back games.

“He’s convinced he has to be active [to remain sharp], and our concern was injury and overuse,” Stoneman said. “He’s a national hero there, and there’s a lot of pressure for a guy like Frankie to not say no. This way, it should alleviate a lot of that pressure.”