Angels’ Gruber Is Out Until Mid-April at Best : Baseball: Third baseman has surgery on left shoulder and will miss all of spring training.

Third baseman Kelly Gruber will miss all of spring training and at least the first two weeks of the regular season, the Angels confirmed Tuesday after completion of his rotator-cuff surgery.

Dr. Lewis Yocum, who performed the 1 1/2-hour operation on Gruber’s left shoulder, repaired a partial tear in the rotator cuff and a small tear in the labrum muscle. He said Gruber will wear a sling for two or three weeks and cannot play for the Angels until at least mid-April.

“This is the basic projection,” Yocum said, “and to go beyond that is premature. The eight weeks is a number, and that’s all. We don’t want to paint him in any corner, and we have no real knowledge on how he’ll react to therapy.

“We at least now have confirmation to the extent of the injury.”

Gruber believes he was injured in Game 3 of the World Series when he dived to tag Atlanta’s Deion Sanders on an attempted triple play. Gruber later hit a home run in the game, ending a postseason-record 0-for-23 streak, but said his shoulder ached the rest of the series.

Although the rotator-cuff tear is in Gruber’s non-throwing shoulder, Yocum said the recovery time or prognosis would not be any different if it had occurred in his right shoulder.

“It’s better than his throwing shoulder but that’s still his power hand for a powerhitter,” Yocum said. “We’re going to approach it just as cautiously.”

The Angels informed the American League office of Gruber’s surgery but say it’s unlikely that they will ask to rescind the trade of Dec. 7, 1992, in which they obtained Gruber from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president for baseball operations, Tuesday telephoned American League President Bobby Brown. The Angels will send medical reports and Yocum’s prognosis to the league office.

“I don’t think any of us think Toronto tried to pull a fast one on us,” said Whitey Herzog, Angel vice president for player personnel. “It’s just a crazy thing that happened. It seems that they happen a lot these days.

“We’re not going to ask for any compensation right now, but if for some reason Gruber was out the whole season, it’d be a different story.”

Toronto officials refused comment Tuesday when informed of Gruber’s surgery, saying only that they had not known of any injury before the trade.

“The first I knew of his injury was when I read about it this morning,” said Gord Ash, assistant Blue Jay general manager.

Said Toronto General Manager Pat Gillick, “I can’t discuss it.”

The Angels, who are required to pay about $2.5 million of Gruber’s $4-million salary this season, are encouraged that no further surgery is expected. Until they are told differently, they expect Gruber back by May.

“Really, I think this is pretty good news,” Herzog said. “You’ve got to remember, he’s a tough kid. He hurt the thing during the World Series and still kept on playing. I just wish we’d have found the thing earlier so he’d be ready for spring training.

“I’d venture to say he’s going to be all right. He just has one year left on his contract before he’s a free agent, so I still think it’s still a good gamble for us.”