BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Former Starter Perez Traded to Reds

Through his on-field struggles, injuries and demotions to the minor leagues, the company line on third baseman Eduardo Perez remain the same: “We haven’t given up on him,” front-office executives have been saying for the past year.

Friday, the Angels finally did.

Perez, the Angels’ starting third basemen going into the 1995 season and first baseman going into ‘94, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Will Pennyfeather, an outfielder who has spent eight seasons in the minor leagues and has virtually no chance of playing for the Angels.

How far has Perez’s stock fallen? The first-round pick (17th overall) in the 1991 draft was traded for a player with a .259 career average in the minor leagues, a 27-year-old who has a .196 average in only 46 major league at-bats, and who sat out almost all of last season because of a knee injury.

“Though Eduardo was a guy with tools, we were spinning our wheels with him here,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “He didn’t realize success here, and we feel bad about it, but we didn’t want to beat it into the ground--let’s part ways and see if we can get another player out of it.”

Perez, who batted .221 (84 for 380) in parts of three seasons with the Angels, is the third recent Angel first-round pick to be traded in the last year. Outfielder McKay Christensen (1994) was traded to the Chicago White Sox last July, and pitcher Brian Anderson (1993) was sent to the Cleveland Indians this spring.

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An all-star in 1995, Angel pitcher Steve Ontiveros may not pitch before the All-Star break in ’96. Ontiveros, who suffered another setback this week in his recovery from off-season elbow surgery, was bumped from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.

The transaction made room on the 40-man roster for reliever Dennis Springer, who was recalled from Vancouver on Thursday when closer Lee Smith went on the 15-day disabled list because of swelling in his right knee.

This marks only the second time in his 15-year major league career that Smith, 38, has been on the disabled list.

“I sure as heck didn’t want to go,” said Smith, who blew a save opportunity by giving up two ninth-inning runs in Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Milwaukee. “I look at it as an insult.”