BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Velarde Injured but Not Seriously

An intrasquad scrimmage took a scary turn when second baseman Randy Velarde leaned into a tailing Mike James fastball and was hit in the rib cage.

At first it appeared Velarde, the Angels’ probable leadoff batter, was hit in the wrist or forearm, and his reaction--he headed straight for the team’s Tempe Diablo Stadium clubhouse without even looking at first--gave an indication he might be seriously hurt.

But Velarde escaped with a bruised rib, which he said was getting a little sore Wednesday afternoon, and the former New York Yankee, who signed a three-year deal with the Angels over the winter, is not expected to be out for long.

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Reliever Bryan Harvey has not experienced any setbacks in his return from reconstructive elbow surgery, but the right-hander will not appear in a spring-training game until the middle of March, Manager Marcel Lachemann said.

Harvey, considered one of baseball’s premier closers before a series of arm injuries the past two years, is eager to pitch but understands the Angels’ cautious approach.

“I have to keep telling myself to do what I have to do to get ready,� said Harvey, who has been throwing every other day. “I can’t just come out firing in a spring training game.�

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About a week after making multiyear contract offers to outfielders Jim Edmonds and Garret Anderson, first baseman J.T. Snow and reliever Troy Percival, the Angels appear to be closing in on deals for Snow, Edmonds and Percival but are not close to agreement with Anderson.

Representatives of Anderson, who finished second in the 1995 American League rookie of the year voting, balked at the Angels’ initial five-year offer and were not pleased with the team’s recent one-year proposal.