Abbott, Finley Planning to Reject Arbitration

The agent for Jim Abbott said Monday the Angel pitcher will reject salary arbitration, and the agent for Chuck Finley said Finley has “every intention” of declining arbitration.

That means that, barring any unexpected, last-minute deals by tonight’s 9 o’clock deadline for accepting arbitration, the Angels must sign the two left-handers by Jan. 8--or risk losing two-fifths of their starting rotation.

Muddling the situation is the paralysis gripping the Angel front office as it awaits baseball’s approval of the Walt Disney Co. as the team’s minority owner, a vote that might not come until the Jan. 16-18 owners meetings in Los Angeles.

“Who knows?” General Manager Bill Bavasi said when asked if the Angels could sign both pitchers by Jan. 8. “We don’t know.”

Finley has been an Angel for his entire 10-year career and is the team’s best pitcher, but his patience is wearing thin.

“There’s a point in time where you have to pick a team and go,” said Finley, who is seeking a three-year deal in the $4-million-a-year range. “It’s been 2 1/2 months now [since the end of the season], and I’m just hanging out. I want to play for the Angels, but business is business, and if I have to go elsewhere I will.”

Finley said four teams--the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays--are “very interested” in him. Toronto has offered Abbott a three-year deal in the $9-million range.

Angel President Richard Brown said the team “will try to find a way to sign both of them,” but if the Disney sale has not been approved by Jan. 8, “we may have to bite the bullet one way or another.”

Likely translation: The Angels may be able to re-sign one of the pitchers--probably Finley--but not both.

Why? Because the Disney purchase is based on the Angels’ economic situation when the deal was consummated--last May, when the team’s payroll was roughly $25 million.

Current owner Jackie Autry is contractually obligated to stick to that budget until the deal is approved, but the signing of both pitchers would likely push the Angel payroll above $25 million.

The Angels already have committed $16.6 million to the nine players signed for 1996, and it will cost at least $7 million to re-sign Finley and Abbott, bringing payroll to $23.6 million.

That would leave only $1.4 million to sign the remaining 14 players. That group includes Jim Edmonds, J.T. Snow, Troy Percival and Garret Anderson, who are all due for sizable raises from 1995, when none of the four made more than $200,000.

“If we make a major purchase we would need approval from the new owners,” Brown said. “Jackie can’t just sign players and make Disney assume the liability for them without their consent.”

But because Disney is not supposed to be involved in major team decisions until the sale is approved, its influence on such matters is limited.

And Autry, Brown said, doesn’t want to commit to such a higher payroll because if the Disney deal falls through--a prospect Brown described as being remote--her projected losses for 1996 would increase by millions.

“This is the dilemma that has caused Bill [Bavasi] and Tim [Mead, assistant GM] so much grief,” Brown said.

“If baseball said it expected the sale to be approved within a week and we worked out a deal [for the pitchers], it would probably be comfortable with us signing them with input from Disney. But we’re not at that point yet.”

Brown said the situation might “call for creativity,” alluding to the possibility of signing Finley and Abbott to long-term deals contingent on approval of the Disney sale.

Abbott said he was “real close” to a deal with the Angels on Dec. 7, but negotiations have lagged since then. Finley said the Angels have made only one offer, about two months ago, before delays began pushing back the Disney deal.

“It was real low,” said Finley, who declined to reveal terms of the offer. “You’ve got to start somewhere, but damn, in China?”