Joyner May Get Next Prize in Salary Derby : Angels: Big contracts signed by Will Clark, Andres Galarraga could help first baseman’s arbitration case.

So astronomical are the salaries being awarded baseball players this winter that even their agents can’t comprehend all those zeroes. “It’s like Monopoly money,” said Barry Axelrod, who represents Angel first baseman Wally Joyner.

And Joyner is poised to pass Go and collect a lot more than $200.

Buoyed by Andres Galarraga’s agreement with the Montreal Expos last week on a three-year, $6.85-million contract and Will Clark’s agreement Monday to a four-year, $15-million deal with the Giants that includes the game’s first $4-million annual salary, Axelrod believes Joyner could be the next big winner in the salary sweepstakes.

Joyner filed for arbitration last week, asking for an annual salary of $1.75 million, after the Angels offered $1.225 million. The difference of $525,000 is the largest between the Angels and any of the 12 players who initially filed for arbitration. Joyner is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 5 in Los Angeles.

Reserve outfielder Max Venable and pitcher Mike Witt (who received a $90,000 cut to $1,310,000) settled last week, and the Angels sidestepped hearings in two other cases Thursday.

Relief pitcher Willie Fraser, who had filed for arbitration at $430,000 after the Angels offered $350,000, agreed to a one-year contract believed to be worth $400,000. Fraser, a 25-year-old right-hander, was 4-7 with a 3.24 earned-run average and two saves in 44 games in 1989, when he earned $200,000.

The Angels also announced they would not enter into arbitration with reliever Greg Minton, which leaves him 10 days to declare free agency or negotiate with the Angels. Minton, 38, earned $630,000 plus $100,000 in bonuses last season, when he was 4-3 with a 2.20 ERA and eight saves in 62 games. He had filed at $1,150,000 and the Angels had offered $780,000.

All nine Angels who filed for arbitration last year settled before their hearings, but the club may not bat 1.000 again. The high salaries awarded this winter--the 10 most lucrative contracts in baseball history have been agreed to since the end of last season--could dispose players and agents to go through arbitration hearings in hopes that these recent precedents will influence arbitrators to favor the players. Arbitrators must choose between the figure submitted by the player and the figure submitted by the club and cannot compromise.

Knowing that arbitrators look at salaries earned by comparable players, and believing that first basemen Clark, Galarraga and Joyner are of comparable worth, Axelrod is encouraged about Joyner’s chances of prevailing.

Axelrod said he also regarded Kansas City’s Danny Tartabull, Houston’s Glenn Davis and Oakland’s Jose Canseco as players whose contracts could affect Joyner’s. Davis agreed Thursday to a one-year deal with the Astros for $1,985,000, a raise of $900,000, after he hit .269 with 34 home runs and 89 RBIs last season.

Axelrod said he “hasn’t really been trying” to contact Dan O’Brien, the Angels’ senior vice president of baseball operations and the club’s key figure in negotiations. “Of course we were happy about Will Clark,” Axelrod said, “but when Galarraga signed, I told Wally, ‘You’ve got to drive to his house and give him a big hug.’ Wally said, ‘But doesn’t he live in Venezuela?’ I said, ‘Do it anyway.’ ”

Galarraga, at 28 a year older than Joyner, hit .257 last season with 23 home runs and 85 RBIs. His batting average over five seasons is .282. Joyner hit .282 last season with 16 home runs and 79 RBIs and has a career batting average of .288 over four seasons. Clark, 25, hit .333 with 23 home runs and 111 RBIs. His career average in four seasons is .304.

“Historically, not only with the Angels, but with arbitration in general, somewhere in the range of 90% of the cases are settled (before hearings),” said Axelrod. “I don’t know whether this year will be different, but it could be different because everyone is having difficulty assimilating the salary information that’s been assaulting us. It’s incredible, the salaries they’ve been throwing around and the way they’ve been escalating. I don’t know that it won’t create some hesitancy (in signing before hearings). It’s certainly a different world than it used to be.”

O’Brien said he had heard from only four of the Angel players scheduled for arbitration hearings and added that he expects to reach settlements in several cases, although he would not identify the cases.