Gruber’s Season Might Be Over : Baseball: He faces possibility of rotator-cuff surgery, which could mean he never plays as an Angel.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Third baseman Kelly Gruber reported to the Angels’ spring training camp Thursday and revealed that he might have to undergo season-ending rotator-cuff surgery within the next two months.

Gruber, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder Feb. 16, said he was advised by Dr. Lewis Yocum that he might need major surgery but decided to forgo an immediate operation in an attempt to play this season.

“They told me it’s an option right now, but it’s up to me.” Gruber said. “They’d cut me open, do the surgery and I’d be done for the year.

“Right now, I want to give it two months and see what happens after rehab treatment. If they find out that it’s still not coming around, then they’ll cut on me and restructure the whole rotator-cuff area.

“I trust these guys, and I know they’ll do what’s best for me. And, for once in my life, I’m going to make sure I’m 100% when I go onto the field next time.”

Gruber is scheduled to be examined today by Yocum, and a determination probably will be made within eight weeks whether further surgery is necessary.

“I think it’s premature to say he needs further surgery,” Yocum said. “It’s better than 50-50 that he’ll recover with treatment, but he could also fall apart the first month and we’d have to reassess.

“I want to give him an adequate trial period for rehab, and if he’s still sitting around in May, then it will be time to do something.

“It wouldn’t be career-threatening surgery, but probably somewhere between (Bert) Blyleven’s and (Orel) Hershiser’s. He’d be out this season, but probably could be back next year.”

If so, Gruber, who is in the final year of a four-year, $12-million contract, is not expected back with the Angels, who considered him a one-year fix at third base when the Dec. 7 trade was made. Also, if further surgery is required, Angel President Richard Brown said the club will ask the Toronto Blue Jays to pay Gruber’s entire $4-million salary for this season.

The Angels, who traded infielder Luis Sojo to the Blue Jays for Gruber and $1.7 million of his salary, have already decided not to ask that the trade be rescinded. Instead, they are expected to ask the Blue Jays to pay Gruber’s salary as long as he remains on the disabled list. If Toronto agrees to the Angels’ request, it will have to pay an additional $383,333 for each month Gruber misses.

“We don’t anticipate further surgery,” Brown said. “But if he needs it, hopefully we can come to an understanding to rectify the situation. Certainly, I’d like to recoup the damages.”

Gruber originally injured the shoulder, he said, in the third game of the World Series when he dived and fell while trying to tag Deion Sanders on a potential triple play. Team doctors examined his shoulder after the game, he said, but neither X-rays nor magnetic resonance imaging tests were performed.

“I told them it hurt, and that I needed help,” Gruber said. “But it was in the middle of the World Series. Man, I wasn’t going to come out. If they had suggested X-rays, I probably would have told them no, because I wanted to continue playing.

“It still was hurting during the winter, but to be honest, it felt like early spring training tendinitis. I was doing push-ups and sit-ups in January, and it still wasn’t responding. I figured I’d better do something about it because I didn’t want to start out with the California Angels and not be able to play.

“But I didn’t have any idea it would turn out this bad.”

Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president for baseball operations, met privately Thursday morning with Gruber, seeking information on whether anyone knew Gruber was injured at the time of the trade.

“From what I heard, everybody did pretty much what they’re supposed to,” Gruber said. “But they have every right to investigate this. They have a lot of money invested in me.”

If Gruber can’t return this season, his market value as a free agent is expected to plummet.

“I’m not concerned with that,” he said. “I won a World Series. I’ve been paid extremely well. If I can come back, I will. If I don’t, I’ll just move on and do something else with the rest of my life.

“I feel bad for the Angels, but what can I do?”