BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Snow Says He Sees the Big Picture

Maybe Angel first baseman J.T. Snow should have seen it coming.

Those early days of spring training, when Eduardo Perez and Bo Jackson stayed after practice to field ground balls at first base, should have been a clue.

“The writing was on the wall then,” Snow said Tuesday. “I knew something was up. I just couldn’t quite figure out what.”

Snow, heralded as the second coming of Wally Joyner last season, might be spending his final days in an Angel uniform this week. He could be traded as early as Friday for New York Met pitcher Anthony Young. If not, Montreal and Pittsburgh, have expressed interest.

“It really bothered me when I first heard about it because I really want to stay,” Snow said. “But I talked to a few of the veteran players and they told me this is something I can’t control, so why worry about it until it happens.”

Snow was summoned to the offices of Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi and assistant Tim Mead, where he was told the Angels do not want to trade him, but that something has to give.

“I realize now, more than ever, that this is a business,” Snow said.

Relief pitcher Craig Lefferts, after reading in the newspaper that he is on the verge of being released, met privately with Manager Buck Rodgers.

Lefferts apparently had no idea that his job was in jeopardy.

“I’ve just been working on my sinker,” said Lefferts, who has a 22.50 ERA. “I haven’t even been concerned about my fastball, but you better believe I am now.

“I know I’ve got to go out and show them I’m still capable of pitching.”

It made little difference in the Angels’ 11-7 exhibition defeat by the Chicago Cubs at Mesa,Ariz. Lefferts gave up four hits and three earned runs in his only inning.

“I told him that he better start using that fastball because we haven’t seen a major league fastball yet,” Rodgers said. “It hasn’t even been close. He better start getting guys out now.”

Even if Lefferts starts to show improvement, the Angels probably will trade him and keep Lee Guetterman, who is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA.

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It may be only spring training, but the Angels are starting to become embarrassed by their 3-15 record, losing six consecutive games.

“Three wins,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said, “that’s pitiful. I haven’t been on a team that’s gone 3-15 in my life.”

John Dopson has unofficially become the fourth starter. He yielded nine hits and five runs--four earned--in five innings against the Cubs. He joins Mark Langston, Chuck Finley and Phil Leftwich in the rotation. . . . Young, who was scratched from his last Met start because of a strained groin muscle, pitched on the side for the second consecutive day with no discomfort. He is expected to make his next start Thursday or Friday, after which the Angels will decide whether to trade Snow for him.

Mark Leiter, the leading candidate to become the fifth starter, will make his Angel debut tonight against the Colorado Rockies. Leiter, who underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery last September, was examined Monday by Dr. Lewis Yocum and pronounced fit. He will make at least two appearances before the Angels make a decision by March 29.

The Angels reduced their roster to 32 players Tuesday by sending infielder P.J. Forbes and catcher Mark Delasandro to their triple-A Vancouver team. . . . American League President Bobby Brown visited Rodgers before Tuesday’s night game against Arizona State. . . . The Angels, who had gone seven games without a homer, got homers by right fielder Tim Salmon and catcher Greg Myers.