Angels Get Their Closer in Smith : Baseball: All-time save leader agrees to two-year contract, but Finley and Curtis probably will have to go.

The Angels, who spent the last two seasons in anguish while watching their impotent bullpen, got the man they believe will make them an instant contender in the American League West, assuming there is a normal 1995 season.

Lee Smith, baseball’s all-time leader in saves, agreed to a two-year, $4-million contract Tuesday with the Angels that potentially is worth $6 million.

Smith will receive an $800,000 signing bonus, payable when baseball resumes, and a base salary of $1.5 million in 1995 and $1.7 million in 1996. He also can earn $500,000 a season for appearing in 55 games, and $500,000 for winning the Rolaids Relief award. The contract will become binding after Smith passes his physical.

“I think our club last year would have been a much, much better club with a closer,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “So obviously, I think we’re a much better club with this signing. This was a major component missing in our team.”

Said Manager Marcel Lachemann, “I know he’s not Superman, he’s not going to save every game. But you watch, he’s going to make a difference of 10 to 15 games. To have a guy of his caliber picks up the whole ballclub.

“When we get into the ninth inning, we’ll be in great shape. Obviously, we couldn’t say that before.”

The signing of Smith also might rectify the Angels’ mistake of a year ago. They discussed signing him then but backed out when former General Manager Whitey Herzog received unfavorable scouting reports.

When Herzog resigned, Bavasi again mentioned signing Smith, but by then, then-Manager Buck Rodgers wasn’t interested.

Smith saved a major league high 33 games last season for Baltimore in a strike-shortened season--12 more than the Angels.

“The last four or five years, I’m supposed to have been washed up,” said Smith, 37. “So what’s new about that? I’ve been written off since I was with the Cubs, and I was only 30 then.

“I don’t look at my velocity, I look at the results.”

Despite his ’94 season, it wasn’t until Monday that any team other than the Angels submitted an offer. The Orioles--looking at Smith’s 0-4 record and 5.59 earned-run average after May 30 last season--offered a one-year contract for about $2.3 million.

“I wouldn’t have minded being back in Baltimore, but you can’t always get what you want,” Smith said. “I looked at the team, the options I had, and decided the California Angels were best suited for me.”

The Angels are elated to have Smith, but there will be repercussions.

They have already committed about $23 million of their $24.5-million budget to only 12 players and say they have no choice now but to trade center fielder Chad Curtis, who is making $1.9 million, and probably left-handed starter Chuck Finley, who is making $4.5 million. They removed veteran left-handed reliever Bob Patterson from their roster Tuesday.

The St. Louis Cardinals offered outfielder Mark Whiten and third baseman Todd Zeile for Finley, and the Toronto Blue Jays are willing to make an offer. The Angels offered Curtis to the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs, but were rejected.

“Signing Lee doesn’t mean we’re going to have to jettison our team,” Angel President Richard Brown said. “But we might have to do some tinkering.

“Right now, you take everything with a grain of salt. I mean, what good is a Lee Smith or any signing without knowing when we’ll be playing again?”

Said Smith, who anticipates a free-agent signing freeze Thursday: “I’m not sure if we’ll be worse off Thursday than we were Aug. 12 when this all started. It may be two years before we even play again, who knows?”