BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Team Is Keeping Options Open

Negotiations between the Angels and the city of Anaheim for a new baseball stadium have been put on the back burner, but Angel President Richard Brown said he continues to receive feelers from other cities interested in attracting the team.

“We’ve told everyone the same thing, that we’re committed to Anaheim, that we have a deal on the table that we’re hoping improves,” Brown said. “But if it doesn’t, we’ll talk.”

Brown said the Angels and Anaheim are still about $4 million a year apart in debt service on a deal for a $215-million, 43,000-seat stadium, which the team hopes to have built by 1999 next to Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels have asked the city for concessions in their lease, which would allow them to retain more stadium revenue in 1995, but the city will only amend the lease if the Angels make a long-term commitment to the new stadium.

Brown, however, said the Angels would not opt for short-term gain at the risk of accepting 30-year lease terms that the team was not completely satisfied with.

“We still have plenty of time to reach an agreement to have a stadium ready for the 1999 season,” Brown said. “But we’re still waiting for the city to give us an improved offer.”

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Should old acquaintance be forgot? Chad Curtis, traded from the Angels to the Tigers for Tony Phillips on April 13, thinks so. Curtis did not stop by the Angel clubhouse to say hello to his former teammates before Wednesday’s game.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m blowing them off, but I don’t have a hard time turning the page,” Curtis said. “I go on the field to crush the enemy and those guys are the enemy now.

“If that means I have to take a good friend out at second base (Damion Easley) I’m going to do it. I’m not going to try to hurt him, but that’s part of the game. So with that in mind, I’m not going to go over there and be buddy-buddy with them.”

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The Toronto-Oakland game was on television in the Angels’ player lounge Wednesday while pitching Coach Chuck Hernandez was going over the Blue Jays’ lineup with pitchers in preparation for the upcoming series in Toronto, which begins Friday.

But the Angels found their attention wandering from Hernandez to the television, where the Blue Jays were bombing the A’s for 11 runs in the second inning.

“We had to turn the TV off,” said Shawn Boskie, who will start against Toronto Monday. “We didn’t want that kind of subliminal message rubbing off on our pitching staff.”

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The Angels have scheduled seven player autograph sessions in May “to thank the fans for their patience and loyalty this past winter,” said Kevin Uhlich, the team’s vice president of operations.

Four players, located at Gates 1, 3, 4 and 9 of Anaheim Stadium, will sign for 45 minutes before every Tuesday and Thursday home game. The sessions will begin at 5:30 p.m. for 7:05 games and 11:30 a.m. for 1:05 starts when the team is home.

The first session will feature pitchers Mark Langston and Mike Bielecki and infielders J.T. Snow and Rex Hudler.