Chuck Finley

The Angels could have signed Chuck Finley to a contract extension last spring training and chose not to. They could have offered him a new deal or traded him to Cleveland for two or three players in July and chose not to. Will the Angels come to regret those decisions? Most likely, yes, because it's now open season on the left-hander, and the market for Finley, one of the top pitchers in this winter's free-agent class, figures to be brisk.

Free-agent pitcher Chuck Finley made his second visit in three days to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dana Point Tuesday, and this one, unlike Sunday's, wasn't for breakfast. Nor was it to visit the Angels, whose period for exclusive negotiating rights to the left-hander expires Thursday. Finley met with officials from several teams, including the Cleveland Indians, but the Angels were not on his agenda.

While it seems inconceivable that their relationship would end in anything other than a two-year contract extension, Chuck Finley and the Angels tried it one more time on Thursday night, for old times' sake. He pitched in their uniform, on the verge of free agency, and with the serenity of a lifer. Finley pitched seven sturdy innings, gave up four runs and left without a decision.

If Don Baylor is to be the Angels' next manager, the process won't begin until the Atlanta Braves are finished playing this season. When Baylor was hired as the Braves' hitting instructor last off-season, he promised Atlanta General Manager John Schuerholz he would not pursue another position during the regular or postseason. "Right now, I'm interested in this job," Baylor said before Wednesday night's game against the New York Mets.

Angel pitcher Chuck Finley will spend this October like every one of the last 12 Octobers, tinkering with his golf swing and planning his winter vacation to some exotic locale while baseball's postseason pitchers experience the thrill of the playoffs and World Series. And you can bet the thought of an idle Finley will haunt the Cleveland Indians.

Chuck Finley swears that not a day has gone by since July 31 when he has thought about his future--or potential lack thereof--with the Angels. There have been no contract talks between the left-hander and the team as free agency looms, no hint from either side whether a 14-year relationship between the pitcher and the Angels will endure or end. That might change soon.

Manager Joe Maddon described his closer as "crispy" and his starting pitcher as "snappy." That starter, Chuck Finley, said an injury he termed a strained "SI joint," not to be confused with the SI jinx, in his right hip was "a little cranky."

Pitcher Chuck Finley has been on a roll since the nonwaiver trade deadline passed, but he doesn't know what it will net him. Finley, who will be a free agent, said he has yet to speak with General Manager Bill Bavasi about a new contract, but seemed open to the idea . . . when the time is right. "We have more problems than that to worry about," Finley said. "He still has things to do and I still have things to do. We don't have the time right now. I want to finish the season strong.

This is how it was in the summer of 1997, when Chuck Finley won the first 10 games of an eventual club-record 14-game winning streak before breaking a bone in his wrist when he slipped and fell while backing up home plate.

It wasn't Old-Timers Night in Edison Field on Tuesday. It only seemed that way, with former Angel Mark Langston, who will turn 39 this month, pitching for the Cleveland Indians and Langston's old buddy, 36-year-old Chuck Finley, starting for the Angels.