Rader Hasn’t Decided If He’ll Watch Prospects : Baseball: Angel manager considers attending minor league camp. Mike Port says he’s talking all decisions one day at a time.

Doug Rader does not know if he will attend the Angels’ minor league camp, although managers of several other teams have gone to Florida and Arizona to look at minor league and non-roster players.

The Angels’ minor league pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Mesa, Ariz., on March 10, with the remaining players to follow on March 15.

Rader and General Manager Mike Port said Thursday they hoped the lockout would end before then, but prospects for a quick settlement have become bleak after the suspension of negotiations.

“We’ve discussed it to some extent and the option is certainly open to me, but I really don’t know what we’re going to do,” Rader said from his off-season home in Florida. “The real reason to go would be (to watch) the invitees. Because of the number of pitchers we’re going to have anyway, those pitchers we invited would find it tough to get work, so the more I could see them the better it would be.”

Port said he is making decisions on a “moment to moment” basis as the lockout continues. “He’d (Rader) very possibly go, but we have not yet pinpointed our plans because it’s still down the line,” Port said. “We can look at it again when we get within three or four days of camp getting under way.”

Port also said the Angels would oppose a plan to play exhibition games with minor leaguers replacing the locked-out major leaguers. The New York Daily News had reported that several clubs had made that proposal.

The lockout is endangering the Angels’ Palm Springs exhibition games. A directive issued this week by American League President Bobby Brown and National League President Bill White stipulated that teams will have to be in camp for 10 days before they can play exhibition games. Players also would require a few days to report to camp, resulting in a period of 13 or 14 days from a settlement to the first games. The Angels’ Palm Springs opener is scheduled March 17 against Milwaukee.

The Angels suspended sales of Palm Springs tickets when the lockout began.