Spring Training / Dodgers : Hershiser, Anderson Signings Near

The Dodgers are very close to reaching contract agreements with their two unsigned players, pitcher Orel Hershiser and shortstop Dave Anderson, Vice President Al Campanis said Monday.

Campanis spoke with the players’ agent, Orlando attorney Robert Fraley, and said they would talk again today. Fraley was believed to be asking for more than $250,000 for Hershiser, who finished third in the National League’s rookie-of-the-year balloting. Dwight Gooden, the Mets’ pitcher who was voted the league’s best rookie, reportedly received a contract with a base salary of $275,000 but included incentives that could get him $450,000. Second baseman Juan Samuel of the Philadelphia Phillies, runner-up to Gooden, reportedly will be paid just over $200,000, including incentives.

Hershiser probably will receive something in the same range. “He’s come down drastically,” Campanis said. “Everything’s going pretty good.”

Said Hershiser: “Whenever we get a fair number, that’ll be a fine time (to sign). There’s no pressure on me.”

Anderson, who became the Dodgers’ starting shortstop last season and hit .251 in 121 games, should get about $100,000.

Somebody mentioned to Steve Yeager, who spent 3 1/2 months on crutches over the winter, that hockey player Charlie Simmer had once suffered a similarly broken leg and came back to play.

“Who’s Charlie Simmer?” Yeager asked. “Does he squat?”

The answer, of course, is not as often as Yeager has to as a catcher, an occupation he is pursuing at 36 for the 13th season with the Dodgers.

For now, however, Yeager isn’t doing much squatting--nor running--since a home-plate collision with Cincinnati’s Dave Concepcion last Sept. 14 left him with two screws in his left leg, holding his shinbone together.

“I have no idea what he (Concepcion) was doing,” Yeager said Monday. “I was looking for the ball from right field. But some of the guys told me he was laughing and clowning as he came around third base.

“He came in at me this high (Yeager held his hand at his waist). If he’d come in low, he’d have slid right through me.”

Yeager has suffered a serious injury now in each of the last three years. In 1983, his right wrist was broken by a pitch, and in 1982, he underwent surgery for torn cartilage in his left knee. Only twice in the last seven seasons has he played as many as 100 games.

He says he expects to be ready by opening day. “I’ve done everything here they’ve asked of me. The only thing I’m doing is getting my leg in shape and my hitting in.”

Team therapist Pat Screnar has Yeager on a rehabilitative program. “We’ve got him on the stationary bike, working on the Cybex machine for leg strengthening, also on the Nautilus.

“Right now he’s not doing as much running as he normally would. He’ll do more running as his leg gets stronger.

“He’s actually got more motion in the leg than he had before surgery. When they went in there, they cleaned out the joint. If the fracture heals, which it is, there’s no reason why he can’t come back all the way.”

Yeager is being fitted for a brace, and until the leg gets stronger, the screws will remain.

Notes

Jack Fimple, another Dodger catcher back after surgery, came to camp at 194 pounds, 10 pounds under his reporting weight last season. “I’m up to 199 now,” he said. “I’ve put on five pounds from working out.” Fimple had elbow surgery in October. . . . Steve Howe threw lightly for 15 minutes Monday and said he felt fine. Howe has told Dodger publicists that he’d rather not do interviews for at least a couple of weeks. . . . Bobby Castillo, scheduled to pitch batting practice Monday, twisted his right knee during bunting drills. His status is day to day. . . . Jim Bush, former UCLA track coach hired by the Dodgers as running coach, has the Dodger pitchers running a hill at the 16th Street bridge here. “It not only builds up strength, it teaches you how to use your arms when you run,” Bush said. “If you don’t learn to use your arms running up the hill, you’ll die.” The hill is about 120 yards long on a 10-degree grade. . . . An early arrival was Greg Brock, who came in Monday, three days ahead of schedule. “I’m here to lift,” he said.