Bonilla Could Set Standard : Baseball: Angel Manager Rodgers says outfielder’s signing will be significant for free agents who follow.

Baseball’s free-agent market, especially as represented by Pittsburgh Pirate star outfielder Bobby Bonilla, was making news on a couple of fronts Monday.

In Pittsburgh, the Pirates announced they had made their final offer to Bonilla, and the offer, a package that represented a total of about $22.5 million for five years, is believed to be shy of the amount Bonilla wants. The specifics of the Pirates’ bid was a four-year contract of $18.5 million that included a $1-million signing bonus, plus $4 million for a fifth option year.

Among the teams expected to be in the bidding war for Bonilla is the Angels. Their new manager, Buck Rodgers, in a luncheon speech Monday in Dana Point to members of the Associated Press Sports Editors organization, also pointed to the significance of the upcoming Bonilla signing, wherever that might be.

“The talk is that it will take $25 million to get him,” Rodgers said, “and it is kind of like, for now, everybody is waiting on him to see what he’ll do, and for how much. Every year, there is a player who sets a new standard, and Bonilla is it for this year.”

Among those waiting on Bonilla are other prominent free agents such as the Angels’ Wally Joyner. The way the free-agent game is played, the more Bonilla gets, the more Joyner may be worth. And Bonilla’s case is especially pivotal for the Angels because, not only do they want to sign him, but there also has been speculation that getting him to come to Anaheim would be somewhat contingent upon them also signing Joyner. He would be the kind of force in the batting order that would not allow other teams to pitch around Bonilla.

It has been fairly clear that the Angels’ best hope to improve themselves this off-season is through free-agency signings or trades, and Rodgers seemed to confirm that Monday when he said, “What you saw of us near the end of last season is what we’ve got. We brought them all up. There are no hidden treasures down there in double-A or single-A ball.”

Among those brought up from the farm system near the end of last season is Lee Stevens, who can play first base or the outfield. He is expected to make an impact in ‘92, and his prominence is likely to be directly related to the upcoming Bonilla/Joyner wheeling and dealing.

In a wide-ranging presentation, Rodgers, an original Angel player who took over the team from Doug Radar near the end of last season, also said:

--Because of arbitration, the world of major league baseball has gone statistics crazy. “We just can’t let anything become more important than winning, but with some of these players, their stats are. I heard a story, which I hope isn’t true, about one player, whose team was close in a pennant race but didn’t quite make it, saying that that was OK because he had a fishing trip planned during the World Series and that would be better, anyway. This is the age of glamour. Nolan Ryan gets huge contracts for his strikeout stats, but it is still wins that bring people to the ballpark. Nobody, except for Ozzie Smith and maybe Dick Schofield, gets paid for defense these days.”

--One of the worst things in baseball right now is that Roger Maris is not in the Hall of Fame. “That’s all because of some of the New York press, who couldn’t handle Roger. That’s just idiotic.”

--The Magic Johnson situation isn’t likely to change lifestyles of baseball players on the road because those lifestyles have already changed drastically in the last few years. “Professional athletes are very vulnerable to psyche jobs. A girl calls and wants to come to a guy’s room on the road to get an autograph, and when he lets her in, there’s a guy with her and they rob him; a guy sits at the bar, a woman comes along, and while he is in the bathroom, she slips him a Mickey. A few years ago, there was a band of thieves, led by two beautiful women, going after players when teams were in Houston and Cleveland. We are constantly preaching about the temptations on the road, the scams, and they all are aware.”

--The best way to solidify a manager’s leverage with the players is to keep him a couple of years ahead on his contract. “That way, the players you are dealing with daily know that you are going to be there the next year, or tomorrow morning.”

--Baseball remains healthy. “As much as we try to screw it up, the game of baseball will take care of itself.”

--Deal with the press by keeping a very simple strategy in mind. “When the writers come to me, I always remember that they have a job to do, so I always try to give them something, give them a pearl. Somebody told me one time that the one thing you don’t want is to let a sportswriter write his own story.”