Arbitration Seems Likely for McClure

Barring a last-minute settlement, which is deemed unlikely by agent Alan Meersand, the Angels on Friday will go through their first arbitration hearing since 1988.

Meersand represents pitcher Bob McClure, one of eight Angel players still scheduled for a hearing because they have filed for arbitration and not agreed to a contract.

Twelve Angels initially filed for arbitration, but pitchers Mike Witt and Willie Fraser and outfielder Max Venable accepted contract offers, and the Angels decided not to go to arbitration with pitcher Greg Minton.

McClure’s hearing, originally scheduled Sunday, was moved up at Meersand’s request. Meersand will state McClure’s case and Tal Smith will represent the Angels in presentations before Howard Block of Tustin, the arbitrator who awarded pitcher Orel Hershiser the $1 million contract he sought from the Dodgers in 1986. Block will then decide on one of the two salary figures.

All nine Angels eligible for arbitration in 1989 settled before their hearings. The last Angel to go through a hearing was Bob Boone, who won his request to stay at a salary of $883,000 in February 1988. The Angels had tried to cut Boone’s salary to $710,000. Boone left the Angels for Kansas City as a free agency in December 1988.

McClure was 6-1 last season. His career-low 1.55 earned-run average was the second-lowest among American League pitchers with 50 or more innings pitched. The 36-year-old left-handed set-up man earned $200,000 in 1989 and filed for a 1990 salary of $880,000. The Angels offered $650,000.

That’s not the only major difference between the parties. Meersand said he has been asking the Angels for a two-year contract since December but “they haven’t offered. Nor will they.” He said the closest the club had come was a one-year contract with a one-year option, which Meersand refused.

Meersand also said the Angels would not guarantee McClure’s contract, and throughout negotiations they did not make offers that reflected McClure’s market value.

As comparisons, Meersand cited the contract given by the Toronto Blue Jays to reliever Jim Acker, who will make $875,000 a year for two years, and Minnesota’s Juan Berenguer, who signed for two years at $950,000 annually. “It’s senseless,” Meersand said.

Dan O’Brien, the Angels’ senior vice president for baseball operations and chief contract negotiator, declined to comment about McClure’s case or that of any other Angel player.

In some instances, O’Brien is awaiting players’ responses to offers that would avert hearings, but he has not heard at all from other players. He said he could not say the club was close to an agreement with any player.

ANGELS’ ARBITRATION FIGURES Salary figures filed by player and team for Angel players eligible for arbitration:

Player 1989 salary Player’s filing Angels’ filing Scott Bailes, P $300,000 $495,000 $375,000 Chuck Finley, P $180,000 $810,000 $600,000 Jack Howell, 3B $465,000 $780,000 $525,000 Wally Joyner, 1B $920,000 $1,750,000 $1,225,000 Kirk McCaskill, P $400,000 $1,185,000 $750,000 Bob McClure, P $200,000 $880,000 $650,000 Bill Schroeder, C $372,500 $515,000 $372,500 Devon White, CF $320,000 $865,000 $580,000