Hot Percival Calls Out Front Office

Troy Percival, one of baseball’s best closers, accused the Angels Friday of violating confidential contract talks and said he has no desire to stay with the club.

“At this point,” he said in a phone interview from Anaheim, “I have no desire to remain with an organization that doesn’t respect me.

“I’ve always conducted my business discreetly and professionally, but they’ve chosen to paint me in a very bad light at a very difficult time in the country.

“They’ve chosen to air their dirty laundry in public.

“It’s not my style to communicate through the press, but they’ve forced my hand.”

Percival’s angry reaction was triggered after a reporter approached him Thursday with details of his midsummer contract talks with the Angels that the closer and agent Paul Cohen said could only have been leaked by club officials.

“Troy is a very proud guy,” Cohen said. “He believes the Angels have acted unethically, disgracefully. He’s crossed the line of no return.”

Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said he would not talk about any of Percival’s charges because they basically related to contract issues. He said he had a good meeting with Percival on Friday and while Percival indicated to him that he expects to be traded “he didn’t issue any demands.”

Stoneman, with the season ending Sunday, also said the club will exercise its 2002 option and “hopes to keep him beyond that.”

Percival, 32, went into Friday night’s game against the Angels having converted 39 of 42 save opportunities in his seventh season with the team.

He was paid $4 million this year, and the 2002 option calls for $5.25 million, after which he is eligible for free agency.

There have been no talks regarding an extension since July, but the Angels, in Percival’s view, are now trying to “portray me as being unsignable, and that wasn’t the case at all.

“I mean, what they’re doing is building a public case for trading me. It’s a personal attack. It’s basically what they did in running J.T. Snow, Jim Edmonds and Chuck Finley out of town.

“Every time they decide to trade one of their [prospective] free agents they paint him in a negative light in the papers. What they’re doing with me now sends an unmistakable message about the direction they’re going. They’re getting ready to get rid of some of their core players, and I won’t be put under the gun this way. I want to pitch for a team that wants to win.”

Amid trade rumors before the July 31 deadline, Percival authorized Cohen to meet with the Angels in an effort to determine whether he was being shopped and whether the club had interest in him beyond the option.

“It’s not like he was some rookie the club was trying to project out,” Cohen said. “He’s one of the two or three best closers in the game, and he was simply trying to determine what interest the Angels had going forward.

“We set a 15-day deadline because we didn’t want a projected negotiation though the heart of the season, and there was an agreement it would be kept private.”

Cohen refused to reveal details, but sources said he proposed a four-year, $30-million extension beyond the 2002 option.

The Angels countered with two option years for 2003 and 2004, and a $500,000 buyout if they didn’t pick them up.

Basically, since the Angels were within two months of having to pick up a $5.25-million option for 2002, the only additional guarantee they were offering in exchange for Percival giving up free agency in 2003 was $500,000.

“It was an embarrassment,” said Cohen, who wouldn’t confirm the specifics.

Additionally, according to the sources, the Angels sent Cohen a letter saying they didn’t think Percival measured up to the best closers in the game, obviously an absurd contention.

Said Cohen: “No matter what they offered or what they claimed Troy to be or not to be, he never talked to teammates about it, never talked publicly about it. Even now, all of that is secondary to the Angels breaching our confidentiality.”

Before talking with Stoneman, Percival, speaking from the clubhouse, said he was shocked, and expressed his dissatisfaction to key front-office people Friday. “I have nothing but respect for [Manager] Mike Scioscia, [pitching coach] Bud Black and people like [communications vice president] Tim Mead, but if this [front-office] regime is going to stay, I’m better off somewhere else.

“I mean, you don’t get rid of your closer unless you’re not interested in winning or have someone in mind in the market. If you don’t see me as one of the No. 1 closers, I don’t need to be here.

“I love the fans, I love the area, I never really thought about going somewhere else until all that trade talk started in July. Now, they definitely seem to be laying the groundwork to get rid of me.”