Practice Goes On, With Eye on Feb. 15 : Angels: Off-season workouts continue in Anaheim, where players still hope there will be a timely spring training.

Pitchers pitched, catchers caught, Bert Blyleven clowned and General Manager Mike Port daydreamed about acquiring a power-hitting right fielder who can drive in runs. Altogether, it was business as usual for the Angels, who have not been dispirited by the possibility of a spring training lockout.

A half-dozen pitchers threw in the Anaheim Stadium bullpen Wednesday under the eye of pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, as they have done several times a week for the past month. They were concerned with form and fastballs rather than lockout plans, although all are aware of the gulf between players and owners in discussions over the new collective bargaining agreement. Camps are scheduled to open Feb. 15.

“We all think it’s going to come down to the last day, at least from the indications we’ve gotten,” reliever Willie Fraser said. “Regardless of whether we go or don’t go, you’ve got to be in the frame of mind that you’re going.”

Fraser plans to make housing arrangements. Players may stay in the team’s hotel but must find--and pay for--accommodations for their families. “Sure, I’ll put down some money,” Fraser said. “We know what’s going on. We get letters from the players’ association. It’s just a matter of reaching an agreement, and I think they will, even if it’s (at) the last minute. We’re all pumped up for the season and want to get going.”

While negotiations continued in New York and Tampa, Fla., Port proceeded with trade talks and efforts to sign players who filed for arbitration. Port said a trade is not imminent, but he is optimistic that at least five of the 10 players who filed will settle their contracts and avoid arbitration hearings.

“Not that the negotiations are not important, but we leave them to the folks in New York,” Port said. “Our thrust has been contracts and salary arbitration. . . . We hold an optimistic thought. A lockout is a possibility, but is it foregone and absolute? Not that I know of. Everyone is hopeful of a mutual and amicable resolution so things can go on uninterrupted.”

Preparations have been made. Rooms were reserved for the players in Mesa, Ariz., and much of their equipment was shipped there at the end of last season. Additional gear could be sent on short notice.

Jim Abbott, eager to prove his rookie showing was no fluke, worries only that a lockout and curtailed spring training could adversely affect him and his fellow pitchers.

“I know hitters would definitely be ready for the season if spring training started late, but I don’t know if pitchers would be,” said the 22-year-old left-hander, who was 12-12 with a 3.92 earned-run average last season. “Luckily, we’ve gotten to work out here the last couple of weeks.”

Blyleven is a veteran of 20 spring trainings and, by his count, four or five labor disputes. While he brings levity to any workout, he is concerned about the disparity of views between the players and the owners.

“I understand the owners are still trying to convince us that profit sharing is beneficial to us, and I don’t see how it can be,” said Blyleven, who was a player representative in Minnesota. “We as a union have to stick together. . . . Attendance is at an all-time high, and so are TV contracts and salaries. I don’t think (the Giants) would offer Will Clark that kind of money ($15 million over four years) if they couldn’t afford it.”

“I don’t think we players have the best PR because we’re making so much money. The average guy working eight hours a day to feed a family of four doesn’t understand why we’re bickering over a million dollars, but we’re a unique group, and the turnover in baseball is so great . . .

“It would be very difficult to operate with the pay-for-performance system (proposed by the owners). It won’t be a team game anymore. (For example, take) moving a man over with a guy on second and no one out. The guy at bat doesn’t get anything if he moves him over, only for an RBI. You’re going to have pitchers worrying more about their ERA than wins and losses, and guys happy to be going four for four even though the team lost. That’s not baseball. You win as a team and lose as a team. I have a feeling that what the owners are going to try and accomplish isn’t going to happen.”

Angel Notes

Jim Abbott, who pitched for the University of Michigan for three years, described the investigation of alleged improprieties by former Wolverine baseball coach Bud Middaugh as “a shame . . . a blemish.” Michigan’s baseball program could face Big Ten probation and sanctions because of Middaugh’s alleged illegal payments of $70,000 to players, in addition to allegedly allowing improper scholarship aid. “I feel bad,” Abbott said. “I knew a few players had jobs doing things around campus, but I didn’t investigate it. I was on scholarship, so it didn’t affect me.”

Tentative dates and sites for arbitration hearings for Angels and Dodgers: Feb. 2 (in L. A.) Dodgers’ Franklin Stubbs; Feb. 3 (in L. A.), Dodgers’ Ray Searage; Feb. 4 (in Chicago), Angels’ Scott Bailes, Bob McClure; (in L. A.) Angels’ Willie Fraser; Feb. 5 (in L. A.) Angels’ Wally Joyner; Feb. 6 (in L. A.) Angels’ Devon White, Chuck Finley; Feb. 7 (in Chicago) Angels’ Bill Schroeder; Feb. 9 (in L. A.) Dodgers’ Kal Daniels; Feb. 19 (in New York) Angels’ Greg Minton, Kirk McCaskill; Feb. 20 (in New York) Angels’ Jack Howell.