Angels Retain Abbott

Jim Abbott budged--quite a bit--the Angels blinked, and the standoff that threatened to turn one of the most popular players in franchise history into an ex-Angel dissolved into a three-year, $7.8-million deal to retain the pitcher Monday night.

Forty-five minutes before a 9 p.m. deadline to re-sign Abbott, the left-hander consented to a contract that is expected to pay a base salary of $2.6 million--$400,000 less than he was looking for--and includes incentives that could boost his salary by about $130,000 a year.

“I don’t know if that’s important,” Abbott said when asked if he could have made more money elsewhere. “The fans here are tired of seeing my name involved in contract negotiations. . . . You owe it to yourself as a player to do the best you can financially, but this was always our first choice, and I really wanted it to happen.”

Those involved in negotiations weren’t real confident the deal would happen Monday afternoon. Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said there were calls between team counsel Mark Rosenthal and Abbott’s agent, Scott Boras, throughout the day, but “it was actually a slow day until the sun went down, then it got hot.”

“It heated up around 6 p.m. and started going at a very fast pace, where we kept each other on hold instead of hanging up and calling back,” Bavasi said.

The Angels’ offer Monday morning was about $2.5 million a year, a position the team has held from the start of negotiations in late November. Abbott believed he was worth at least $3 million a year, especially in light of the Florida Marlins’ Dec. 14 signing of Al Leiter to a three-year, $8.6 million deal.

The Angels increased their offer to $2.6 million Monday afternoon. Abbott, who made $2.8 million in 1995, countered with an offer in the $2.8-million range, but the Angels held their ground.

Abbott, who reportedly had a three-year, $9.5 million offer from the Toronto Blue Jays, felt remaining in Anaheim was more important than pitching elsewhere for more money.

“Lach [Manager Marcel Lachemann] was a big key for me--he’s someone I feel very loyal to,” Abbott said. “The Angel fans, and how well I’ve been treated here for a long time, also had a lot to do with it.”

Abbott played his first four seasons (1989-92) with the Angels, but when he turned down a four-year, $16-million offer after the 1992 season, he was traded to the New York Yankees, a deal that many fans never forgave the Angels for.

When Abbott returned to Anaheim in a six-player deal July 27, he was considered the final piece to the Angels’ playoff puzzle. But even though he stopped both of the Angels’ nine-game losing streaks in September, he couldn’t prevent the Angels from blowing an 11-game lead in the American League West.

Abbott was a combined 11-8 with a 3.70 earned-run average, 86 strikeouts and 64 walks in 197 innings for the Chicago White Sox and Angels. He was brilliant on the road after the trade, going 4-1 with a 1.51 ERA, but was ineffective in Anaheim Stadium, where he went 0-3 with a 7.54 ERA.

With Chuck Finley, who signed a three-year, $12-million contract last week, Mark Langston and Abbott under contract, the Angels believe they have a pitching staff that should keep them in contention for the AL West title.

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Angel Notes

The team was unable to come to terms with free-agent reserve outfielder Dave Gallagher Monday and will lose negotiating rights to him until May 1. . . . With Abbott signed, the Angels now hope to address two more pressing needs, a starting catcher and a right-handed pitcher. Free-agent catchers Joe Oliver and Benito Santiago remain high on the Angels’ catching list, and they have had discussions with Boras about free-agent pitcher Tim Belcher.