Glaus Offered Large Signing Bonus

The Angels have made what they feel is a very fair offer to first-round pick Troy Glaus, but the UCLA infielder, who was the third overall selection in the June draft, remains at his Carlsbad home, unsigned and inactive.

According to a baseball source, the Angels have offered Glaus a $2.1-million signing bonus, which would be $100,000 more than Kris Benson, the No. 1 pick in the 1996 draft, received from Pittsburgh.

The highest pick to sign from 1997 is No. 5 Vernon Wells, a high school outfielder who received $1.6 million from Toronto. A Detroit source said the Tigers have offered No. 1 pick Matt Anderson about $2.2 million. No. 2 pick J.D. Drew, who wants $10 million, and the Philadelphia Phillies are miles apart.

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The Angels complained when they had to fly from Anaheim after a Wednesday night game in June and play in Minnesota the next night--they arrived at their Minneapolis hotel at 6:30 a.m. the day of the game.

They won’t get any sympathy from the Tigers, though. Detroit played in Boston on Tuesday night, going 12 innings to defeat the Red Sox, and then flew 5 1/2 hours to Anaheim for Wednesday night’s game. They got to their hotel at 4:15 a.m. Wednesday and were groggy come game time.

“I don’t think I’m even going to touch coffee,” Tiger first baseman Tony Clark said. “If I took as much caffeine as I need to get through this game, I think I’d be sick.”

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TONIGHT’S GAME

ANGELS’ DENNIS SPRINGER (4-3, 5.81 ERA) vs. TIGERS’ FELIPE LIRA (5-6, 5.50 ERA)

Anaheim Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West. Radio--KTZN (710).

* Update--The Tigers, original members of the American League in 1901, will play their 15,000th game tonight. What better way to celebrate than to face Springer, the knuckleballer who has not won a game since June 8? Springer has given up 39 runs and 13 homers in his last nine starts. The Angels will get a close look at Lira, a right-hander whom they have shown some trade interest in. They’ll also be reminded again of another trade that didn’t quite work out--Damion Easley for Greg Gohr last July. Easley, a second baseman, is hitting .268 with a career-high 14 homers and 35 RBIs for the Tigers. Gohr, a pitcher, was at triple-A Vancouver this season before unexpectedly retiring in May.