BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Young’s Injury Puts Trade on Hold

The Angels told first baseman J.T. Snow on Thursday that he may be traded to the New York Mets, but negotiations stalled when Met pitcher Anthony Young was scratched from a start because of a strained groin muscle.

Young completed his warm-up throws in the bullpen at Vero Beach, Fla., where he was to have pitched against the Dodgers, then felt a twinge in his groin and was scratched. That means the Angels will have to delay their plans for at least four days.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said at Tempe, Ariz. “We’re still very much interested in him, but this is a major setback. We want to see him pitch before we do anything.”

If Young had pitched effectively against the Dodgers, Bavasi said the trade probably would have been consummated Thursday night.

“If he goes out and pitches four to five innings in his next outing, we’ll probably realize everything is OK. We’ll wait, because we’re really not that close to doing anything with somebody else.”

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Pitcher Pete Janicki was optioned to the minor league camp before the Angels’ 10-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs Thursday, but he accomplished in three weeks what Manager Buck Rodgers had never envisioned.

“I didn’t think I’d ever seen him throwing like this,” Rodgers said. “I’m going to have to take back what I said before, because I really didn’t think he’d ever pitch in the major leagues.”

Janicki returned this spring after suffering a broken right elbow last April 9 in his first outing. Despite the layoff, Janicki’s fastball has been clocked at 92 m.p.h. He finished his spring with a 0-1 record and a 3.00 ERA.

“I think I erased all doubts about coming back 100%,” Janicki said. “To me, it’s been very successful.”

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Pitcher John Farrell cleared waivers Thursday and is expected to accept an assignment to triple-A Vancouver. . . . Dan O’Brien, former Angel vice president, was hired Thursday as director of baseball operations for the Arizona Fall League.