Saying He Didn’t Want to Leave, Blyleven Goes to Twins

Pitcher Bert Blyleven, becoming the latest player who said he didn’t want to leave the Angels but had little choice, signed a one-year free-agent contract Thursday night with the Minnesota Twins.

“They kept telling me over and over, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you,’ ” Blyleven said. “I can’t tell you how many times they told me that. Well, needless to say, they didn’t keep their promise.

“The Angels have treated me great over the years, and it’s a shame our relationship has to end this way.”

Blyleven, with a 287-250 record, had a chance to join Don Sutton as the only pitchers to win No. 300 in Angel uniforms.

“I’ve got a chance to win 300, and I was really hoping to do it with the Angels because of the way they’ve treated me,” Blyleven said. “What can I do? Now, I’ll have to do it with the Twins.”

Blyleven, 41, who has spent the last four seasons with the Angels, will be joining the Twins for the third time in his 23-year career. He signed a triple-A contract that will guarantee him $300,000 with incentives that could push his earnings to $1.3 million.

It was almost identical to the contract he signed last season with the Angels, allowing him to attain all of his incentives if he pitches 180 innings.

The Angels, who allowed Blyleven to become a free agent when they failed to offer arbitration by the Dec. 7 deadline, only recently opened contract negotiations with him. They offered him a pay cut, however, that was believed to guarantee less than $250,000.

“I don’t know what happened, to tell you the truth,” said Whitey Herzog, senior vice president for player personnel. “We wanted him back. We had a real need for him because we don’t have a fifth starter. What can I say? Things just didn’t work out.”

Blyleven was 8-12 with a 4.74 earned-run average last season.