Rodgers Wants Gruber to Leave : Baseball: Angel manager decries the condition of the third baseman the team received from Blue Jays.

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers--angered and frustrated over third baseman Kelly Gruber’s rotator-cuff surgery, which will cause him to be out at least eight weeks--said Tuesday night that he no longer wants Gruber on his team and hopes the trade with the Toronto Blue Jays is rescinded.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Rodgers said, “Rene Gonzales is our third baseman and it will stay that way. This is a situation that never should have happened, and for whatever reason, it happened.

“It’s time that I looked out for the California Angels, and I’d rather have a healthy Rene Gonzales as my third baseman than a 60, 70, 80% Kelly Gruber. I’d just as soon send Gruber back to Toronto.

“There’s a saying, ‘Honor among thieves,’ and in my mind, this isn’t honor.”

Gruber, acquired Dec. 7 from the Toronto Blue Jays in a trade for infielder Luis Sojo, underwent a 1 1/2-hour arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair a partial tear in the rotator cuff and a small tear in the labrum muscle of his left shoulder. Dr. Lewis Yocum, who performed the surgery, said Gruber’s arm will be in a sling for two to three weeks and that the infielder could not possibly play for the Angels until at least mid-April.

“This is the basic projection,” Yocum said, “and to go beyond that is premature. The eight weeks is a number, and that’s all. We don’t want to paint him in any corner, and we have no real knowledge on how he’ll react to therapy.”

However, Rodgers believes the prognosis is unrealistic and doubts that Gruber will be fully recovered until at least June or July.

“I’m no doctor, but never in my life have I ever seen a guy come back in eight weeks from rotator-cuff surgery,” Rodgers said. “Maybe a guy could come back that fast from a knee, but come on, not an arm.

“I’m talking about him being major league competitive, not just throwing a ball and playing catch. And when he comes back in June or July, I don’t want to be in the position where I have to throw him back in there. He’s going to be a free agent anyway, so why rehab a guy just so he could leave.

“We’ve got to do something about this, and believe me, we’re not going to go down quietly.”

The Blue Jays once again Tuesday said they had no prior knowledge of Gruber’s shoulder injury. Gruber believes the injury occurred in Game 3 of the World Series when he dove to the ground and tagged Atlanta outfielder Deion Sanders on an attempted triple play. Gruber later hit a home run in the game, ending a postseason-record zero-for-23 hitless streak. He said his shoulder ached the rest of the series.

“The first I knew of his injury was when I read about it this morning,” said Gord Ash, assistant Blue Jay general manager, who was in Los Angeles.

Said Blue Jay General Manager Pat Gillick: “I can’t discuss it.”

The Angels have yet to file an official protest, but informed the American League office of Gruber’s surgery. Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president for baseball operations, telephoned American League President Bobby Brown, and will send medical reports and Yocum’s prognosis to the league office.

“I’m not saying Toronto did anything deliberately,” Rodgers said, “but I think if you look back upon their trainer’s reports, you’ll see something’s there. I’m sure Kelly told someone in that organization he had a sore shoulder, and he must have gotten some kind of treatment.

“I don’t know how this is going to get resolved, but I think something better be done. If it were me, I’d be stomping around and trying to get some answers pretty quick. You’re talking about a lot of money we have to pay this guy.

“If they don’t want to give us any more players, I’d just as soon take Sojo back and give them Gruber. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Kelly Gruber at 100%, but obviously that’s not going to happen.”

The Angels, according to a source familiar with Gruber’s contract, received $1.7 million from the Blue Jays to help pay Gruber’s $4 million salary.

When contacted at his Colorado home, Whitey Herzog, Angel vice president for player personnel, said it has yet to be decided whether the Angels will request that the trade be nullified, or even modified.

“I don’t think any of us think Toronto tried to pull a fast one on us,” Herzog said. “It’s just a crazy thing that happened. It seems that they happen a lot these days.

“We’re not going to ask for any compensation right now, but if for some reason Gruber was out the whole season, it’d be a different story.”

Said O’Brien: “The next step is to gather as much information and run down the facts as best we can. I don’t want to speculate what will happen.”

The last major trade in which a league office ordered additional compensation was a Feb. 27, 1984, transaction between the Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants. The Giants traded pitcher Fred Breining and outfielder Max Venable to Montreal for first baseman Al Oliver. Breining reported with a sore arm, and after a ruling, the Giants had to include pitcher Andy McGaffigan in the trade.