Finley Trolls Free-Agent Waters

The Angels could have signed Chuck Finley to a contract extension last spring training and chose not to. They could have offered him a new deal or traded him to Cleveland for two or three players in July and chose not to.

Will the Angels come to regret those decisions? Most likely, yes, because it’s now open season on the left-hander, and the market for Finley, one of the top pitchers in this winter’s free-agent class, figures to be brisk.

At least seven teams, including the Angels, are expected to make offers for Finley in the next week or so, and it will probably take a three-year deal in the $26-million range to sign him.

The Angels held exclusive negotiating rights to Finley until Thursday night but did not make a contract offer. Other teams can begin making offers today, and the Indians, Rangers, Yankees, Mariners, Orioles and Rockies will bid for Finley, who turns 37 this month but has never had a major arm injury.

Finley, who has a 165-140 career record and 3.72 earned-run average, would have probably agreed to a two-year deal in the $14-million range in spring training, so even if the Angels are able to retain their franchise pitcher, a fan favorite who has played his entire 14-year career in Anaheim, it will cost them significantly more to do so this winter.

And if they lose Finley, the Angels will receive no compensation in the form of draft picks, because a clause in Finley’s four-year contract forbade the Angels from offering arbitration at the end of the deal.

It will take more than just millions for the Angels to sign Finley, though. He wants assurances the team will make the necessary moves to contend for the American League pennant and to eliminate the dissension that tore apart their clubhouse this past season.

“Money is not the most important thing for Chuck. He’s already set for life, and he knows he’s going to get the money wherever he signs,” said Tim Shannon, Finley’s new agent. “He just wants a fair-market deal with a team that’s headed in the right direction, that has a chance to win the World Series.”

The Indians, who tried to acquire Finley before the July 31 trading deadline, have been most aggressive in their pursuit of Finley since the end of the World Series, and they may have an edge because of Wednesday’s hiring of former Angel pitching coach Dick Pole.

The Rockies hope their recent hiring of Marcel Lachemann, the former Angel pitching coach and manager who was Finley’s mentor in Anaheim, is a strong lure, but the fact they play in baseball’s most hitter-friendly park and appear to be in a build-for-the-future mode won’t work in their favor.