Joyner Files for Free Agency; Talks With Angels to Continue

Angel first baseman Wally Joyner was among 21 players who filed for free agency Monday, the first day of the 15-day filing period, but his agent said Joyner’s promptness should not be read as eagerness to leave the Angels.

Barry Axelrod, one of Joyner’s representatives, said he tended to the filing Monday “so I don’t forget to do it” and to give Joyner as much time as possible to explore his options before the winter meetings, which will be held Dec. 6-11 in Miami.

Joyner, who hit .301 this past season to raise his career average to .288, can now speak with other clubs but cannot discuss money with them until the filing period ends. He will continue to talk to the Angels, Axelrod said, although he said discussions haven’t proceeded beyond preliminary stages.

Axelrod said he got no calls from other clubs Monday but didn’t expect any because many executives were still traveling home from the World Series.

“The Angels want to know if they’re going to have Wally. They don’t want to take it to the winter meetings, and I know Wally doesn’t,” Axelrod said. “The one thing we want to make clear is that in no way does this (filing) imply that Wally has decided he wants to leave the Angels. The Angels are still a contender for Wally Joyner, if not the main contender.”

The Angels face a deadline of Dec. 7 for offering salary arbitration to their players who have filed for free agency, and the players have until Dec. 19 to accept or reject arbitration. If a player accepts arbitration, he can go to arbitration or negotiate a new contract; if he doesn’t sign by Jan. 8, he can’t be re-signed by his club until May 1.

Whitey Herzog declared re-signing Joyner as one of his priorities when he was named the Angels’ vice president and director of player personnel Sept. 6. Herzog had hoped to sign Joyner, 29, before the first baseman filed for free agency. However, Herzog said he didn’t interpret Joyner’s action Monday as a bad omen.

“I don’t blame anybody for filing for free agency,” Herzog said by phone from his home in suburban St. Louis. “If he wants to stay in California and play for the Angels, we’ll make him a very good offer. I thought maybe they’d call and I’d come out there and we could get it done, but they didn’t. I’m available any time. . . .

“We’re hoping to get Wally signed before the winter meetings. If we can’t, we’ve got some problems and we’ve got to see what we can do.”

Joyner led the Angels with 96 runs batted in last season and he ranks fifth on the club’s career RBI list, with 518 in six seasons. He ranks seventh in home runs with 114. The Angels have already decided to buy out the contract of Dave Winfield, who hit a team-leading 28 home runs and drove in 86 runs last season.

Joyner earned $2.1 million in 1991 as the result of winning his arbitration case, his second victory in two hearings. The Angels had sought to cut his salary from $1.75 million to $1.65 million. Axelrod said Joyner isn’t seeking to set a salary precedent with his next contract.

“We don’t have any formula or parameters, but it absolutely will not be a bidding war or auction. That’s not our style,” Axelrod said. “We’re in a position to say to people, ‘What are you thinking of?’

“I know Wally is a security-minded guy, family-oriented, and that would lend one to think we’re interested in something like four or five years. We wouldn’t look at two or three unless it was three and everything, and then we’d think about it. I don’t care about breaking records. If it makes Wally and Lesley and their kids happy, that’s what matters.”

Herzog said the Angels would like to reach agreements with their other prominent potential free agents, pitcher Kirk McCaskill and shortstop Dick Schofield, and have conducted talks with both of the players’ agents.