BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Rams’ Gary Signs Class-A Contract

Ram running back Cleveland Gary, whose last stint as a minor leaguer was in 1989 with the Montreal Expos’ rookie league team in Bradenton, Fla., has agreed to a Class-A minor league contract with the Angels.

Gary will report to minor league spring training camp March 11.

Manager Buck Rodgers puts Chuck Finley’s chances of being ready to start one of the Angels’ first five games of the season “60-40.”

Finley is recovering from toe surgery in December, and the Angels have brought him along very cautiously. He is not expected to throw from the mound until late next week.

Mike Fitzgerald faced new teammate Jim Abbott for the first time, and quickly learned it is true what he has heard: Abbott pitches hard inside.

Fitzgerald, a former Montreal catcher who joined camp Sunday after signing a minor league contract, quickly cracked a bat against Abbott, who has broken up to six in a game.

“Won’t be the last one,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said in Mesa, Ariz.

Two swings later, Abbott had ruined another bat, and Fitzgerald turned to get a new one in mock disgust.

“Got an aluminum?” Fitzgerald quipped.