Angel Offer Probably a Wedge for Bonilla : Baseball: It appears California’s bid was used to spur Phillies and Mets to increase their proposals.

Although Bobby Bonilla’s agent, Dennis Gilbert, said the Angels finished “a very close second” to the New York Mets in the competition for Bonilla’s services, it appears the Angels’ offer was merely used as a bargaining wedge to spur the Philadelphia Phillies and Mets to increase their bids for the 28-year-old free agent.

According to Gilbert, Bonilla told him by phone late Sunday to try to complete a deal with the Mets. Yet, before Gilbert called the Mets Monday, he called Phillie President Bill Giles and told him Bonilla would play in Philadelphia if the Phillies would pay him $28 million for five years and give him an option to become a free agent after the third and fourth seasons.

When the Phillies increased their offer to $26 million but wouldn’t agree to the free agency clause or guarantee Bonilla would be paid during a lockout, Gilbert called the Mets. “I thought in the original negotiations that it did not come down to money only, but it did,” Giles said.

After intense talks Monday that included Met General Manager Al Harazin increasing his offer by $1.5 million, Bonilla agreed to terms with the Mets--terms that for at least the first three years were identical to those proposed Nov. 23 by the Angels.

Both offered Bonilla a $1.5 million signing bonus, $5.5 million in salary in 1992, $5.6 million in 1993 and $5.7 million in 1994. The Angels also offered him free agency after the third and fourth years, a generous offer to a young player. The Mets refused to include a similar clause.

Gilbert never negotiated with the Angels Monday, perhaps because Bonilla, a New York native who said of his decision, “a lot of it was location because the money was basically the same,” never intended to play in California. Gilbert called Angel Senior Vice President Whitey Herzog twice, once to tell him Bonilla was near an agreement with the Mets and later to tell him Bonilla had accepted the Mets’ terms.

“We didn’t need to (re-open negotiations with the Angels). We had a really good offer from them,” Gilbert said. “It was fine. We didn’t need to haggle with them. They came out of the chute like gentlemen.

“We were prepared to take it, but Bobby wanted one shot at New York. Candidly, I didn’t think New York would go to $29 million.”

Angel President Richard Brown said Tuesday he felt the Angels had a legitimate chance of bringing Bonilla to California. However, after Brown analyzed the negotiations, he agreed Bonilla and Gilbert had used the Angels’ offer as leverage in talks with the Phillies and Mets.

“Do I feel used? No, I don’t feel used because I was smart enough to realize, along with the other clubs involved, that there was a very good chance he was going to New York all along,” Brown said. “Were we used? Yeah, to bring up the price we probably were . . .

“He wanted to go to the Mets from Day 1. Initially their offer wasn’t up to snuff, so he used the tools available to drive it up.”