ANGELS : Specter of Abbott Deal Haunts Opening of Camp

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers does not plan to address the issue during today’s team meeting, nor will he privately ask his players to avoid the subject. He realizes the inevitable will occur.

The Angels still will be talking about pitcher Jim Abbott and how life will be so different without him. Abbott was traded to the New York Yankees for first baseman J.T. Snow and pitchers Russ Springer and Jerry Nielsen during the winter meetings in one of the most controversial trades in Angel history.

“They’ll be talking about Jim Abbott all year,” Rodgers said. “You can’t blame them. Jim Abbott was a popular guy, and he’s still one of my favorites.

“I told him, ‘We didn’t want you to go. It’s stupid for you. It’s stupid for us.’ We just couldn’t get past the impasse of the agent (Scott Boras).

“I love Jim Abbott, and I really believe he has the chance to play again in Southern California before it’s all over.”

Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president/baseball operations, is convinced that the Angels still made the right move by trading Abbott when he rejected their four-year, $16 million offer. If there was any doubt it was a fair proposal, he said, there is no need to look past the $2.3 million that Abbott will earn this year after losing his arbitration case.

“We maintained all long that it was more than fair,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think we should be thought of as the bad guys. We tried to do what was right.

“A lot of people who have been shooting arrows at us for losing him really have no justification.”

While the Angels are expected to request the American League to rescind the Kelly Gruber trade, apparently Gruber has different ideas.

Although he won’t be able to begin rehabilitation of his left shoulder for about two more weeks, Gruber is expected to report to camp Thursday along with the rest of his teammates.

“He’s new to the team and figures he might as well start getting himself acquainted with his teammates,” one coach said.

Although Angel President Richard Brown isn’t accusing the Toronto Blue Jays of a cover-up, he is convinced that it’s awfully strange they did not know that third baseman Kelly Gruber had a torn rotator cuff.

“All I know is that if our doctors found Gruber’s shoulder injury to be very severe,” Brown said, “then why didn’t the Blue Jays’ doctors even examine it?”

The Angels don’t anticipate any absentees among their 29 pitchers and catchers for their first workout today. They also have invited outfielders Chad Curtis, Reggie Williams, Kevin Flora and Jerome Walton for early workouts. The other players will report March 25.