Autry Gives Moore His Best Offer

Angel owner Gene Autry, entering the Donnie Moore negotiations for the first time Thursday, said that the club had made its best, and apparently last, offer to the free-agent relief pitcher.

David Pinter, Moore’s agent, said the offer was similar to the only previous offer he had received from the Angels and that he would notify General Manager Mike Port today that it was being rejected.

Port, who presented the offer to Pinter on the phone Thursday morning, said it was new and improved, but would not reveal details.

Autry, who later called Pinter to reaffirm the Angels’ desire to retain Moore, implied that the incentive clauses could lift Moore to more than $1 million a year for three years.

Moore is believed to want a guaranteed $1 million a year for four years. It is also believed that he would settle for a guaranteed $3.5 million for three years, or close to $1 million more than the Angels have offered.

“I wanted to reiterate our desire to keep Donnie and to support Mike’s contention that we were making a fair offer,” Autry said of his call to Pinter.

“If he pitches the way everyone says he can, he can make over $1 million a year for three years,” Autry continued. “I think that’s damn fair, and as far as we can go. I think it’s our best offer.

“We are simply not going to go beyond three years anymore. We’ve gone over the records and determined that we’ve spent $10 million for players who didn’t earn a dime of it in the last year or so of their contracts. There comes a point where you have to hold the line.”

Moore, who made $375,000 while registering a club-record 31 saves, must be re-signed by the Angels by Jan. 8 or they will not be able to re-sign him until May 1.

Pinter said he was confident that a number of clubs--he named Philadelphia, Baltimore and both New York teams--would begin bidding for Moore after Jan. 8, providing he wasn’t signed by the Angels.

“This may be it. This may be all they’ll come up with,” Pinter said of the Angels’ latest offer. “I’m not shutting the door (to continued negotiations), but we’re coming up to a time when I’ll have to write a letter thanking the Angels for giving Donnie the opportunity to have the type year he did and wishing them luck in the future.”

In another development, the Angels said that veteran pitchers Geoff Zahn and Ken Forsch, both of whom spent much of the 1985 season on the disabled list, will not be offered new contracts.

Zahn and Forsch, both 39, have been invited to spring training as non-roster players.

Zahn was 2-2 in seven games for California last season. Bothered by tendinitis in his left shoulder, he was assigned to the disabled list twice.

Forsch spent the entire 1985 season on the disabled list with an ailing right elbow. He underwent surgery June 5 for removal of a bone spur in his pitching arm.

The Angels also said that they have reached an agreement in principle with their Class A affiliate, the former Redwood Pioneers, to become the Palm Springs Angels next season.