Moreno still hopes to sign Rodriguez

TEMPE, Ariz. – As Francisco Rodriguez’s 4 1/2 -hour arbitration hearing wound down today in St. Petersburg, Fla., Angels owner Arte Moreno stood behind a batting cage in Tempe Diablo Stadium, expressing frustration over the team’s inability to secure the closer to a long-term contract.

“At end of the day, it gets down to, ‘What do you really want?’ ” Moreno said. “The last couple of years we’ve tried to sign him. We’ve been there a couple times, and things changed when [Mariano] Rivera got his deal from the Yankees and [Francisco] Cordero got his deal [with Cincinnati].

“We thought Frankie was going to sign, we thought he wanted to sign, and then the numbers changed. There’s only so much you can do. He made the decision he wanted to go to arbitration. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Moreno was told that a decision on Rodriguez’s case would be announced Friday morning. Rodriguez, who has a major league-leading 132 saves over the last three seasons, asked for $12.5 million; the Angels countered at $10 million.

The Angels extended multiyear offers to Rodriguez after the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and their last offer, made soon after the 2007 season, was believed to be in the three-year, $34-million neighborhood.

Then Cordero signed a four-year, $46-million deal, Rivera signed a three-year, $45-million deal, and the cost of doing business with Rodriguez, who went 5-2 with a 2.81 earned-run average and 40 saves last season, went up.

The Angels, knowing Rodriguez’s command problems in the second half – when he had a 3.45 ERA and four of his six blown saves and turned several save situations into adventures – and perhaps concerned about his violent, across-the-body motion that could leave him susceptible to injury, weren’t willing to go that far.

“Where do you reach a line economically, whether it’s number of years or money?” Moreno said. “You look at last year’s performance – someone said they should give you a little kickback at the games. It gives you gray hair, it makes your heart start jumping. There were a lot of interesting games. He’s a heck of a player, fun to watch, young.”

No matter the result of today’s arbitration hearing, Moreno said, he will remain open to signing Rodriguez to an extension, even though the closer arrived at camp last week saying this would “probably” be his last year with the Angels.

“We haven’t even started playing spring games – things change,” Moreno said. “I’m not one to close the door because we start the season. If we can reach an agreement, even if we have to go to next [off-season], I don’t want to close the door.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com