Glaus Plans to Do Some Market Analysis

UCLA infielder Troy Glaus, the third pick in Tuesday’s draft by the Angels, said all he’s asking for “is a fair [signing bonus] for where I was drafted.”

But what will be fair? Teams hope to use last year’s draft, in which No. 1 pick Kris Benson signed with Pittsburgh for $2 million and No. 3 pick Braden Looper signed with St. Louis for $1.675 million, as a benchmark for 1997.

But some agents believe last year’s free-agent signings of Matt White ($10.2 million) and Travis Lee ($10 million) should inflate bonuses.

“If they go by last year’s draft, that’s what the market is,” Glaus said. “If they go by what White and Lee signed for, that’s what the market will be. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Translation: Don’t expect Glaus, who is being advised by former Angel third baseman Doug DeCinces, to sign any time soon. It could take weeks, perhaps months, for enough first-round picks to sign and set the market, and Glaus likely will wait to see exactly what the market will bear before signing.

But Glaus, who hit .409 with 34 home runs, 91 runs batted in and 100 runs this season, does not expect negotiations to be contentious.

“I don’t foresee any problems,” he said. “The market is up in the air. I want to sign as soon as possible, but I don’t want to get a raw deal.”

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The Angels, who didn’t have a second-round pick, went to a familiar source for their third-round pick, selecting pitcher Heath Timmerman out of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M; Community College, the same school rookie pitcher Jason Dickson attended.

Timmerman, a 6-1, 182-pound right-hander, went 3-8 with a 5.97 earned-run average this season, striking out 58 and walking 24 in 53 2/3 innings, but scouts were impressed with his velocity--his fastball has been clocked between 92 and 95 mph.

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Marci Salmon, the wife of Angel right fielder Tim Salmon, was resting at home Tuesday after undergoing a four-hour operation Monday to remove her thyroid and several lymph nodes at Anaheim Memorial Hospital, about two weeks after she was found to have thyroid cancer.

“Everything went fine, and she actually got out of the hospital a day early,” Salmon said. “The surgeon made it sound like they got everything they were looking for. It’s a delicate thing, but it went well.”

TONIGHT’S GAME

ANGELS’ ALLEN WATSON (3-3, 5.58 ERA) vs. ROYALS’ GLENDON RUSCH (3-2, 4.83 ERA)

Anaheim Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

TV--ESPN. Radio--KTZN (710).

* Update: Watson has been streaky, but he hopes to continue his recent trend of quality starts, which includes a seven-inning, four-hit shutout of Toronto on May 24 and a seven-inning, one-run, five-hit performance in a win over Oakland on Thursday. Second baseman Luis Alicea, who missed three games because of a tight right hamstring, returned to the lineup Tuesday. Pitcher Mark Gubicza, on the disabled list since early April, will undergo exploratory shoulder surgery today.