Angels Give Gaetti a Deadline

The Angels have given free-agent third baseman Gary Gaetti until the end of the week to make a decision on their reported four-year, $10.8-million offer.

“We told his agent on Friday that we need to come to a conclusion on this,” Richard Brown, the Angels’ chief executive officer, said Tuesday. “We expect an answer by Friday, or Monday the latest.”

Brown said the Angels have been reluctant to pressure Gaetti because of the emotion involved in what is apparently a choice between them and staying with the Minnesota Twins, “but you can hang so long that you start to dangle, and we don’t want to be in that position. We don’t want to be left in the lurch.”

Brown said that it was his understanding that the Angels have still made the best financial offer, but “I’m probably more pessimistic than optimistic because of the period of time it has taken.”

Gaetti received free agency as part of the collusion agreement and has until Jan. 29 to sign with another team, or return to the Twins, whose general manager, Andy McPhail, said Tuesday that he has made improvements in his reported offer of three years at $7 million, but that a wide disparity remains because of Minnesota’s reluctance to guarantee a fourth year. The Twins have offered only an option year.