Finley Stays After Pitch to Indians Doesn’t Sell

Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi left Edison Field Friday night thinking he had a trade in place to send pitcher Chuck Finley to the Cleveland Indians.

But when Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins began, there was Finley, the 6-foot-6 left-hander, the 14-year veteran who has been an Angel institution, seemingly an Angel for eternity, on the Edison Field mound, receiving a warm ovation from a crowd of 37,011.

Finley isn’t going anywhere. At least not this season. The Angels refused to budge on their demand for infielder Enrique Wilson, highly regarded minor league pitchers David Riske and Jared Camp, and either big league reliever Jimmy Hamilton or minor league starter Willie Martinez.

The Indians deemed that price too steep, and Cleveland General Manager John Hart called Bavasi Saturday afternoon and said no deal.

Finley, 36, then went out Saturday night and showed the Indians might have made a wise choice and the Angels might have asked for too much, getting shelled for five runs and eight hits in six innings of an 8-0 loss to the Twins.

An anemic offense supported Finley with three hits. With the scoreboard flashing Cleveland’s 13-10 victory over Chicago, one couldn’t help but wonder if Finley, who wants to pitch in the playoffs again before he retires, should have demanded a trade instead of merely saying he was open to one.

“It’s easy to sit here and watch [the Indians and Yankees] take off every night and project yourself in that situation,” Finley said. “But I’m deep-rooted with this team. No one has been through the highs and lows like me.

“I was here in 1986 [when the Angels last made the playoffs]. That was the high point, and this is the lowest point. Deep in my heart, I know it’s no fun going about it the way we are now, but I know good times are ahead.”

Finley said he tried to “stay in the middle of the road” when thinking about a possible trade. It seemed he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay or go. Judging from their asking price, the Angels didn’t seem eager to deal Finley.

“We had set the bar at a certain level, giving them a group of players we would take, and we didn’t want to go through a lot of counteroffers,” Bavasi said. “ . . . You can keep the bar up, but you can’t make someone jump over it. I thought we were real close to a deal, but it was too rich for them.”

Before the game, the news put a positive charge in an Angel clubhouse that has been full of negative energy.

“He’s staying? That’s awesome,” right fielder Tim Salmon said. “This team is not done. We may be done this year, but next year and the year after we have a chance to win if we’re healthy. So why trade a guy like that?

“We’ve had a bad season from Day 1, and it’s because we’re not healthy. If the Yankees didn’t have Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez all year, would that justify trading away David Cone? Now, I just hope they re-sign Chuck.”

Bavasi said he would like Finley back next season, and the Angels are expected to resume talks about a contract extension soon. But if Finley, in the final year of a four-year, $18-million deal, decides to leave as a free agent, the Angels will regret not finding common ground with the Indians.

A clause in Finley’s contract prevents the Angels from offering arbitration at the end of the deal, so if Finley signs elsewhere, the Angels would receive no draft picks as compensation.

Of course, if Finley keeps pitching the way he has this season--he is 5-10 with a 5.76 earned-run average--the Angels may regret not making this deal regardless of whether he stays or goes.

Wilson could have filled the void at second base created by Randy Velarde’s trade to Oakland and brought much-needed speed to a lumbering lineup, and Riske and Camp are considered two of Cleveland’s top young pitching prospects. It is believed the Indians would have parted with three players, not four.

But Bavasi felt he could aim high with the Indians because Finley has a 16-9 career record and 3.49 ERA against the Yankees, Cleveland’s projected American League championship series opponent.

“He was a special commodity in the market because of his status as a Yankee killer,” Bavasi said. “So I thought, yeah, they would do this.”

Texas General Manager Doug Melvin called Bavasi to inquire about Finley late Saturday afternoon, a few hours before the 9 p.m. (PDT) non-waiver trading deadline, but talks went nowhere.

The Yankees also expressed interest in Finley, but their intentions were more to keep him away from Cleveland and drive the price up for the Indians.

“There was one serious team, and the other was a mirage,” Bavasi said. “It took us a day or two to flush them out and stop talking to them. . . . Had we been in a position to, we would have played Cleveland off New York, but that wasn’t the case, and the Indians knew that.”

The Angels made no trades Saturday, but Bavasi said a team, believed to be the Phillies, made a late run at pitcher Jack McDowell, who has had two impressive starts after being sidelined for 10 months because of shoulder and elbow problems, “but the [other] club chose not to do it.”

As for Finley, he doesn’t think his contract should be a top priority at this point.

“We have more issues to work out on this team than me,” he said. “I think this has been a big distraction for the team. It’s kind of embarrassing the way we’ve played, and I don’t think it would be right for me to start pounding Billy’s door down.”

Would Finley need to see more improvement in the Angels before he signs with them again?

“I’ve got to see improvement in myself in order to be asked to sign here,” Finley said. “I’m one of the reasons we are where we are. I need to start pulling my weight a little better.”

This is one of Finley’s worst seasons in an Angel career that has lasted so long he has played for 11 managers or interim managers (Gene Mauch, Cookie Rojas, Moose Stubing, Doug Rader, Buck Rodgers, John Wathan, Bobby Knoop, Marcel Lachemann, John McNamara, Joe Maddon and Terry Collins), four general managers (Mike Port, Dan O’Brien, Whitey Herzog and Bill Bavasi) and two owners (Gene Autry, the Walt Disney Co.).

Finley holds club records for wins, starts, innings pitched and games pitched, and he has weathered everything from the disastrous Game 5 of the 1986 A.L. championship series, to the 1992 Angel bus crash, to the great collapse of ’95 and the near-misses of ’97 and ’98.

“He deserves to end his career with the team he started with, like Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, guys who don’t leave their organizations,” shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “He’s done a lot for the organization, and he’s taken a loyal approach to the team.

“I can’t imagine coming to an Angel clubhouse without Chuck or reporting to spring training without Chuck. He is the Angels. He’s been here through the good and the bad. . . . I’m glad he’s staying on our side.”

BASEBALL

PERSISTENCE WILL PAY OFF: Contact hitters Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs are aptly approaching the 3,000-hits milestone at the same time. Page 6

DEALS MADE BEFORE DEADLINE: Pitchers Kevin Appier, Juan Guzman, Terry Mulholland and Billy Taylor were among those traded before the deadline. Page 5

RED SOX BEAT YANKEES: The Red Sox spoiled Roger Clemens’ return to the Fenway Park mound in a Yankee uniform by beating New York, 6-5. Page 4

SOSA HAMMERS TWO HOMERS: Sammy Sosa hit his major league-leading 39th and 40th homers in the Cubs’ 17-10 victory over the Mets at Chicago. Page 7

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Finley File

Chuck Finley’s Angel statistics and ranking among all-time Angels.

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Career statistics Angel rank Seasons 14 1 Wins 158 1 Losses 139 1 Games 425 1 Starts 368 1 Innings 2,596 1 Strikeouts 2,068 2 Complete Games 56 4 Shutouts 14 4

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