BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Abbott Deal Seemed Impossible at First

The Angels’ trade--the acquisition of Chicago White Sox pitcher Jim Abbott for four minor leaguers--didn’t start quickly out of the blocks Thursday. Though the teams had been discussing it for more than a week, they weren’t very close early in the day.

“We probably had no reason to be optimistic [in the morning],” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “But things came together [in the afternoon].”

What changed?

“The names,” Bavasi said. “They felt, and rightly so, they needed a lot of quality back, and it takes time to put enough names together where you’re both comfortable and the quality is high. We look at this package as fair--we’re reaching very far, but we didn’t overpay.”

Andrew Lorraine and McKay Christensen are the top prospects dealt. Lorraine, a fourth-round pick out of Stanford in 1993, was 6-6 with a 4.00 ERA at triple-A Vancouver.

Christensen, an outfielder from Clovis West High School, was the sixth overall pick of the 1994 draft but wasn’t scheduled to begin play in the organization until late 1996 because he is on a Mormon mission in Japan.

Bill Simas, 23, is a hard-throwing right-hander and potential closer who was 6-2 with a 3.55 ERA and six saves at Vancouver. Snyder, 20, was 8-9 with a 5.74 ERA for double-A Midland.

Along with Abbott, the Angels acquired Tim Fortugno, 33, a former Southern California College pitcher who played with the Angels in 1992 and was 1-3 with a 5.59 ERA for the White Sox.

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Abbott will wear No. 52 with the Angels, the reverse of the No. 25 he wore during his previous Angel career, because center fielder Jim Edmonds is wearing No. 25. . . . Abbott will be making his third start in the past two weeks against the Brewers on Saturday. With the White Sox, Abbott had a no-decision against Milwaukee July 13 and a victory over the Brewers last Sunday.