BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Wathan to Stay on Bench With Rodgers

Interim Manager John Wathan will join Buck Rodgers on the Angel bench instead of returning to his third base coaching duties Friday, when Rodgers returns to the dugout for the first time since the team’s May 21 bus crash.

“I’m going to need John and Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann) down there with me because I’ve been away so long and they really know what’s going on,” Rodgers said by telephone Wednesday from his home in Yorba Linda. “Plus, I don’t want to disrupt the coaching staff any more than it’s already been.”

Wathan said he would accept the assignment happily.

Most pleased was Ken Macha, who will remain in the more visible position of third base coach. He had been the bullpen coach. “People hire third base coaches (to manage). They don’t hire bullpen coaches for positions of importance,” Macha said. “My object in life is not to be a bullpen coach. I’ve been a bullpen coach for six years.”

The Angels sent Jim Abbott’s agent, Scott Boras, a proposal for a multiyear contract for Abbott, and Boras said he plans to meet with club officials to discuss the offer.

Boras would not reveal the length or financial parameters, but Senior Vice President Whitey Herzog said the Angels would offer a four-year contract. The money is believed to be between Bryan Harvey’s four-year, $15.5-million contract and the four-year, $18.5-million contract signed by Chuck Finley. . . . Angel attorneys filed a notice of claim against the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, sustaining the club’s right to sue relating to the bus crash. . . . Oriole Manager Johnny Oates was ejected by umpire Larry Young for disputing a warning issued after Mike Mussina hit Tim Salmon in the shoulder in third inning.