BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Former Starter Perez Traded to Reds

Through his on-field struggles, injuries and demotions to the minor leagues, the company line on third baseman Eduardo Perez seemed to remain the same: “We haven’t given up on him,” front-office executives have been saying for the past year.

Friday, the Angels gave up.

Perez, the Angels’ starting third baseman going into the 1995 season and first baseman going into ‘94, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Will Pennyfeather, an outfielder who has spent eight seasons in the minor leagues and has virtually no chance of playing for the Angels.

How far has Perez’s stock fallen? The first-round pick (17th overall) in the 1991 draft was traded for a player with a .259 career average in the minor leagues, a 27-year-old who has a .196 average in only 46 major league at-bats, and who missed almost all of last season because of a knee injury.

“Though Eduardo was a guy with tools, we were spinning our wheels with him here,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “He didn’t realize success here, and we feel bad about it, but we didn’t want to beat it into the ground--let’s part ways and see if we can get another player out of it.”

Perez, who hit .221 (84 for 380) in parts of three seasons with the Angels, is the third recent Angel first-round pick to be traded in the past year. Outfielder McKay Christensen (1994) was traded to the Chicago White Sox last July, and pitcher Brian Anderson (1993) was sent to the Cleveland Indians this spring.

Pennyfeather will report to the Angels’ triple-A affiliate in Vancouver. Perez, who sat out spring training because of a knee injury, hopes to play for the team his father, Tony, starred on in the 1970s. Tony Perez was also fired as the Reds’ manager after only 44 games in 1993.

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An all-star in 1995, Angel pitcher Steve Ontiveros may not pitch before the all-star break in ’96. Ontiveros, who suffered another setback this week in his recovery from off-season elbow surgery, was bumped from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL Friday.

The transaction made room on the 40-man roster for reliever Dennis Springer, who was recalled from Vancouver Thursday when closer Lee Smith went on the 15-day DL because of swelling in his right knee.

This marks only the second time in his 15-year major league career that Smith, 38, has been on the DL.

“I sure as heck didn’t want to go,” said Smith, who blew a save opportunity by giving up two ninth-inning runs in Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Milwaukee. “I look at it as an insult.”

Smith, who ruptured the patella tendon in his right knee in a November hunting accident, did not fight the move, though. The velocity of his fastball was down, he did not appear mechanically sound, and the knee was swelling.

“I’ve been a little tentative coming off the mound,” Smith said. “I thought it might come around, but the knee is still pretty weak. I don’t think I’d be helping the team by pitching with it.”

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Catcher Ron Tingley, whom the Angels released last Sunday, will report to Class A Lake Elsinore on Sunday.