Stoneman Says Offer Was Made

While contract negotiations between the Angels and Garret Anderson remain dormant, General Manager Bill Stoneman said Thursday -- and agent Chris Arnold confirmed -- the team has made two four-year proposals to the All-Star outfielder in recent months.

“We haven’t had a response to either one,” Stoneman said.

Although Arnold said Wednesday the Angels had not fulfilled their promise to deliver a contract extension offer to Anderson, the agent clarified his comments Thursday, saying he did not consider either bid viable because Stoneman indicated the offers were non-negotiable. Stoneman said he simply alerted Arnold the Angels would not bid against themselves.

Anderson, cited by Manager Mike Scioscia as one of the top five hitters in the major leagues, will earn $6.2 million next season, in the final year of a four-year, $21-million contract.

Neither Arnold nor Stoneman would confirm the value of the Angel offers, but the first was believed to be similar to the extension signed by outfielder Darin Erstad (four years, $32 million) and the second was believed similar to the one signed by outfielder Tim Salmon (four years, $40 million).

Although Arnold said Wednesday the Angels would risk losing Anderson in free agency if an extension were not completed by opening day, both sides on Thursday expressed a willingness to resume discussions. Arnold spoke with Stoneman on Thursday and stressed that Anderson prefers to remain with the Angels.

“We want to do a deal with the Angels,” Arnold said. “We’ve made that very plain.”

With the Anderson talks on hold, the Angels continued negotiations Thursday with free agents. Although the Angels indicated they would pursue offensive help after last month’s signing of pitcher Kelvim Escobar, and although they have focused on outfielders Vladimir Guerrero and Shannon Stewart and shortstops Miguel Tejada and Kazuo Matsui, indications emerged that they might sign a pitcher and then trade for hitters.

“The next move doesn’t have to be a starting pitcher, but it could be,” Stoneman said.

An official from another major league team said he believed the Angels had offered pitcher Bartolo Colon a four-year, $48-million contract. Stoneman declined to confirm or deny the offer but said a deal was not imminent with any free agent. Mitch Frankel, the agent for Colon, did not return several calls.

By adding Colon, the Angels could offer Jarrod Washburn or Ramon Ortiz in trade and still keep Scot Shields in the bullpen as insurance against another faulty season by Aaron Sele. The financial commitment involved in signing Colon would probably preclude the Angels from signing Guerrero -- and perhaps Matsui and Tejada, given the interest of both New York teams in signing Matsui and the bidding that could result from the Detroit Tigers’ avowed willingness to overpay for Tejada.

Stoneman also indicated he had talked with the Montreal Expos about ace Javier Vazquez, traded Thursday to the New York Yankees.

“It would have required us to weaken ourselves in one area in order to strengthen ourselves in another,” he said. “That’s not something I wanted to do.”