Angels Fill Void, Sign Sanderson : Baseball: Former Yankee pitcher expected to be fourth or fifth starter.

The Angels, filling what they believe was their biggest void Thursday, signed free-agent starter Scott Sanderson to a one-year contract.

Sanderson, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, is guaranteed $250,000. He will earn $500,000 if he makes the opening-day roster and will collect a total of $800,000 if he makes at least 30 starts or pitches a minimum of 200 innings.

“My biggest concern was finding one more starter, and we’ve done that,” said Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president/baseball operations. “He’s a veteran pitcher who should win at least 10 games and pitch 200 innings.

“This fills a real need, an immediate need.”

Sanderson, 36, who also had serious discussions with the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles, is expected to be the fourth or fifth starter. He joins Chuck Finley, Mark Langston, Julio Valera and Russ Springer in the projected Angel rotation.

“The final decision was between those three teams,” Sanderson said. “It just seemed to me that the Angels wanted me more. They felt they had a real need for me, and I’d be an integral part of the team.

“I’ve only been in the American League the last three years, but I’ve always been very impressed with the ballpark and the baseball attitude there. Besides, I’ve always respected (Angel Manager) Buck Rodgers, and after talking to him Wednesday night, I knew I wanted to play for him.”

Sanderson was 12-11 with a 4.93 earned-run average last season for the New York Yankees and has averaged 14 victories the past four seasons. He has pitched for three teams in postseason (Expos, Cubs and Athletics) and is one of only 10 pitchers who have defeated all 26 major league teams, before the addition of Colorado and Florida.

Sanderson was the Yankees’ opening-day starter in 1992 after winning 33 games the previous two seasons. However, he struggled last season, going 4-5 with a 5.42 ERA after the All-Star break.

The Yankees, who signed him to a two-year, $4-million contract in 1991, refused to exercise his option for 1993 that would have paid him $2.5 million.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be the motivating factor,” Sanderson said, “but I’d like to prove a few people wrong this year.”

Sanderson, who allowed a career-high 220 hits and 106 earned runs in 193 1/3 innings last season, is prone to the home run ball. He tied a major league record last season by yielding four home runs in an inning on May 2 against the Minnesota Twins. He yielded 28 homers during the season, the fourth-most in the league.

“He’s coming off a bad season, but his two previous years were pretty darn good,” O’Brien said. “We accomplished what we wanted, and now we’re set going into spring training.

“We’ll see what happens.”