Finley’s Career as an Angel Ends Without a Bang

There were no revelations in Chuck Finley’s final days as an Angel.

In fact, it surprised him to discover that Tuesday was it, the evening he passed officially out of the organization of his youth. His agent telephoned to remind him of it, and Finley barely paused at the news.

For the first time in his career, there would be no Angel contract. By 9 p.m., when the Angels could no longer employ him, the organization released a statement that wished him and his family well.

It came from General Manager Bill Stoneman, a man Finley, 14 years an Angel, never met.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and it really doesn’t hit me as hard as it should,” Finley said. “I’ve kind of been prepared for this for the last three months. I felt during the season like this was going to be it for me here. You know when you kind of get a gut feeling about something? I looked around and didn’t see anyone I recognized. We weren’t doing well. A whole bunch of bad stuff.”

Finley paused and he chuckled.

“They’ll probably get there this year,” he said.

He is reminded of Don Mattingly, who watched the Yankees win the World Series in 1996, the year he retired.

“I hope they do,” he said. “I hope good things happen, for the fans, especially. I hope they get rewarded with something.”

Ace of the Angel staff for more than a decade and the organization’s only link to its last playoff appearance in 1986, Finley will pitch elsewhere next season. The deadline passed without an offer from the Angels, leaving Finley, 37, to consider offers from Seattle, Cleveland and Boston.

A clause in Finley’s expired contract prohibited the Angels from offering salary arbitration, and therefore the Angels could not negotiate again with him until May 1.

So, rather than having the Angels bid farewell with a ceremony that retired his number or inducted him into their hall of fame, Finley departed with the sound of a deadline closing, of a technicality slamming, and with not so much as a draft pick to the Angels in compensation.

The front office, beginning with Finley’s friend, former general manager Bill Bavasi, changed. The team is sure to change as well.

“It was a whole new crew coming in, a whole new style, a whole new process about getting this team back together,” Finley said. “It was just such a tough year. I felt the players were acting in a way that was very unprofessional. I saw a whole team doing that. It totally frustrated me to see that, not because of the losing, but the way the game was being treated. Not to say that I’m better than anybody in that clubhouse, but I respected the game when I played. When I saw it all go by the wayside, I thought that it was something I couldn’t repair.”

In a period of change that could become an overhaul, the Angels have said that Finley’s contract demands of three years and approximately $25 million were beyond their means. The assessment seems to make unfortunate previous decisions not to sign him at a cut rate early in the season and not to deal him for younger talent at the trading deadline. Those choices came on the watch of Bavasi, who said Tuesday that he did not regret them.

“I don’t look back,” Bavasi said. “If I had an appropriate deal to make I would have made it.”

Without Finley, the Angels return one 10-game winner--reliever Mark Petkovsek. The rotation, as it stands, looks like Ken Hill, Tim Belcher, Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz and Brian Cooper. Hill pitched 38 innings after the All-Star break, partly because of a sore elbow and partly because of he was shoved into the bullpen. Belcher had surgery last week.

“We’re going to be dealing, and we’ll deal position players to get pitching,” Stoneman said. “At the same time, we’re not going to give up everything and weaken the club in order to get pitching. I’ve never been known as a guy who wouldn’t walk away from a bad deal.”

Tim Salmon said he was curious what direction the club would take; that is, did it allow Finley to depart because it didn’t want to spend the $25 million or because it didn’t think Finley was a sound investment? Stoneman insisted he is not under orders to cut payroll.

“Losing a guy like that, it makes you wonder,” Salmon said. “Are you doing it because you think you can improve your team without him? I don’t get that feeling right now. Who’s an improvement over Chuck?”

Finley leaves as the organization’s all-time leader in wins (165), starts (379) and innings (2,675). His 2,151 strikeouts are second to Nolan Ryan’s 2,416.

“I had the best years of my life here,” he said. “When I first stepped on that field to the day I last stepped on it 2 1/2 months ago, I left everything I had out there. Some nights it might not have been enough, and I’ve been guilty of trying too hard, but I never walked in that clubhouse and said, ‘God, I wish I had done more.’ ”

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Finley Is Chucked

Chuck Finley hasn’t been offered a contract by the Angels, so it appears he will pitch elsewhere next season. The left-hander’s career with the Angels and seasonal averages:

Seasons: 14

Victories: 11.8

Losses: 10

Strikeouts: 153.6

Walks: 79.9

Starts: 27

Innings: 191

ERA: 3.74

MARINERS LAND OLERUD

John Olerud spurned the New York Mets and accepted a $20-million Seattle offer. Page 7