ANGELS TRADE LEE SMITH.

Byline: Tim Trepany Daily News Staff Writer

The Angels put to rest the controversy surrounding the role of closer on Monday, trading Lee Smith to the Cincinnati Reds for middle reliever Chuck McElroy.

In dealing Smith, baseball's all-time saves leader, the Angels are putting their late-inning fortunes in the hands of Troy Percival, who has been dominating this season but is in only his second year in the big leagues.

``Lee has been very good, but Troy has been exceptional,'' Angels general manager Bill Bavasi said.

The trade also puts an end to any further conflicts involving Smith, who readily gave advice to Percival but publicly complained about his role, even demanding a trade if he wasn't going to be the closer.

``I'm going to miss him, he's been great for me because he taught me a lot,'' Percival said. ``But it's better for us as a team and for me because he wasn't happy with his role.

``It was hard to get up (in the bullpen) when it was a closing situation sometimes with him down there. It's a relief. Our bullpen can get past it. There was no animosity before but now there's no question who will be out there.''

As proof of no lingering hard feelings, Percival showed off an Angels jersey of Smith's hanging in his locker. The future Hall of Famer signed it at Percival's request Monday afternoon when he was at Anaheim Stadium to gather his belongings before joining the Reds.

But Smith's outspokenness clearly became a sticky issue for the Angels. On May 5, Bavasi said Smith would be traded if he couldn't win the job as closer from Percival. But the next day, Angels manager Marcel Lachemann said Smith was the closer because he had given him his word.

That didn't last long. On May 8, Smith blew his second save opportunity of the season and Percival was the closer thereafter.

Lachemann refused to directly answer questions about whether Smith had turned the issue into a distraction for the team.

``That's not worth commenting on,'' Lachemann said. ``Lee Smith made a big contribution to this club last year. That's what you should look at. Things didn't work out this year. . . . That's done. It's over with. Now move on.''

Smith had 37 saves for the Angels in 1995 and appeared to be a lock to be the closer this season. But during the off-season he stepped in a hole while hunting, injured his right knee necessitating surgery and began the season on the disabled list.

By the time he was activated on April 24, Percival had established himself as a legitimate closer. Percival had 13 saves and in 20-2/3 innings had a 1.74 ERA.

``From listening to (Percival) talk, to not have that hanging over his head, it's a pretty good relief for him,'' said Mike James, who will be the team's set-up man with the departure of Smith. ``It might have become (a distraction). But the coaching staff has been pretty good about telling him what's going on. It could have been a heated deal, but Lee Smith is a professional and a nice guy and Troy is a professional about the whole thing.''

Smith won't hold the role of closer he covets so much. The Reds will use him as a set-up man to Jeff Brantley.

``We have Jeff Brantley, he's one of the best closers in baseball,'' Reds general manager James Bowden told reporters in Cincinnati. ``We just wanted to upgrade. Lee Smith to get to Jeff Brantley makes us a better team.''

The Angels were hoping to acquire a starting pitcher to bolster their injury-riddled rotation but teams weren't willing to part with such a player for Smith, who remains an effective reliever as his 2.45 ERA in 11 innings this season attests. The fact he was coming off knee surgery at an advanced age (38) and his high salary ($2.1 million this season) scared teams off.

So the Angels had to settle for McElroy, a 28-year-old left-hander who has seen his ERA balloon since posting a mark of 2.34 in 1994.

McElroy was 3-4 with a 6.02 ERA in 1995 and picked up two wins against no losses in 12 relief appearances this season. His ERA is 6.57 compared to 3.53 for his career.

He will be used in late-inning situations.

``We tried for quite a while to limit the search to starting pitching and just couldn't,'' Bavasi said. ``They're just not available and Lee Smith wouldn't bring us a starter right now; he was the one we're moving.''

McElroy had difficultly finding a flight out of Florida, where the Reds are playing the Marlins, and isn't expected to join the Angels until Wednesday.

``He makes us more versatile,'' Lachemann said. ``Several scouts we had who looked at him the last week to 10 days turned in positive reports.''

Closing a chapter

A look at his career statistics:

Year, Team IP W-L Sv SO ERA

1980, CHC  22 2-0 0 17 2.86

1981, CHC 67 3-6 1 50 3.49

1982, CHC 1172-5 17 99 2.69

1983, CHC 103-1/3 4-10 29 91 1.65

1984, CHC 101 9-7 33 86 3.65

1985, CHC 97-2/3 7-4 33 112 3.04

1986, CHC 90-1/3 9-9 31 93 3.09

1987, CHC 83-2/3 4-10 36 96 3.12

1988, Bos 83-2/3 4-5 29 96 2.80

1989, Bos 70-2/3 6-1 25 96 3.57

1990, Bos 14-1/3 2-1 4 17 1.88

1990, StL 68-2/3 3-4 27 70 2.10

1991, StL 73 6-3 47 672.34

1992, StL 75 4-9 43 60 3.12

1993, StL-NYY 58 2-4 46 60 3.88

1994, Bal 38-1/3 1-4 33 42 3.28

1995, Angels 49-1/3 0-5 37 43 3.47

1996, Angels 11 0-0 0 6 2.45

Totals 1224 68-87 471 1201 2.94

Playoffs

Yr, Opp IP W-L Sv SO ERA

1984, SD 2 0-1 1 3 9.00

1988, Oak 3-1/3 0-1 0 4 8.10

Totals 5-1/3 0-2 1 7 8.44

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Chart

Photo: (1--color) SMITH

(2) All-time saves leader Lee Smith was traded by the Angels to Cincinnati for middle reliever Chuck McElroy. Smith has pitched in the majors for 16 years, compiling 471 saves.

Associated Press 

Chart: Closing a chapter (see text)