Baseball: Next step for Phillips, Angels unclear after the player’s arrest for alleged cocaine possession.

The future of Angel designated hitter Tony Phillips remained unclear Monday, one day after his arrest on suspicion of felony possession of cocaine in an Anaheim motel room.

The Angels are expecting Phillips to be with the team, and possibly in the starting lineup, in Chicago today. Officials of the baseball players’ union, however, are recommending he go to New York as soon as possible to be examined by doctors representing baseball and the union, insiders say.

Phillips allegedly bought $30 worth of crack cocaine as an undercover officer and surveillance equipment monitored the deal.

When other officers burst into the motel room, Phillips was inside with “a loaded pipe in one hand and a lighter in the other,” Anaheim Police Lt. Dave Severson said. The informant who led police to Phillips said she had previously sold drugs to him.

Phillips, arrested early Sunday and released on bail later that day, has been one of the Angels’ leaders since he was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in May. His case is also a problem for the Angels’ owners, the Walt Disney Co., over how to handle the arrest of such a high-profile player.

“Tony is scheduled to rejoin the team in Chicago,” Angel spokesman Bill Robertson said. “What we need to do is let the legal process run its course, and we will reserve judgment until all the facts are compiled and reviewed.”

Phillips could not be reached for comment. Manager Terry Collins said Monday after the team arrived in Chicago: “The only thing Tony told me is he thought he got set up. As much as I disliked it, I had to accept that and we have to let the law run its course. He says he’s innocent and he is until the system proves him guilty. So we have nothing to go on.”

Baseball allows players charged with a first drug offense to fight the charge in the legal system or admit to a problem and seek help. In most cases, a player seeking help would be put on the disabled list and enrolled in a treatment program.

But the Angels and union and baseball officials were unsure which course Phillips would take.

“Phillips has been charged with a crime,” said Lou Melendez, associate counsel of the owners’ Player Relations Committee. “Until that’s resolved, baseball will monitor the situation.”

Phillips could go to New York later in the week. The Angels end their seven-game trip in Baltimore with a weekend series.

The Orange County district attorney’s office could receive Phillips’ case by today, but it will probably be later in the week, police said.

“We felt there was no real hurry, since he is not in custody at this time,” Severson said.

Police say the woman who allegedly sold the cocaine to Phillips is a confidential informant who had agreed to work with undercover officers to help them arrest some of the dealers in the area. Phillips’ arrival and alleged request to buy drugs from the informant was simply happenstance, Severson said.

“We didn’t go out of our way to arrest him,” Severson said. “He wasn’t our goal.”

But, Severson added, the detectives were not going to ignore Phillips when he arrived to buy drugs.

Earlier that night, the same informant had bought three $10 rocks of smokable cocaine from a 40-year-old Santa Ana parolee, who was then arrested on a drug-sale charge by the undercover officers.

Those same three chunks of the drug were then sold to Phillips by the informant in her motel room while a plain-clothes officer looked on, posing as the informant’s friend.

Phillips’ arrival at the two-story motel came as no surprise to detectives, however. The informant told police last week she had sold drugs to Phillips.

The informant was working with the department’s seven-member Street Narcotics Unit, which made 40 arrests in July and averages 30 a month, Severson said. Use of informants is a common tactic, but Severson declined to reveal too much about the woman involved in this case in an effort to shield her from the widening publicity surrounding Phillips’ arrest.

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PHILLIPS STATUS

Will Phillips play today? Unclear. Angels expect him to join team in Chicago, but players’ union officials would like him to go to New York to be examined by doctors. vl,3 What are his options? He can fight the charge in the legal system or admit to a problem and seek help. In most cases, a player seeking help would be put on the disabled list and enrolled in a treatment program. PHILLIPS’ IMPACT

How the Angels have fared in key offensive categories: *--*

BEFORE PHILLIPS WITH PHILLIPS 20-19 Record 46-32 .513 Winning % .590 .279 Batting Avg. .277 5 Runs Per Game 5.5 .340 OB% .361 .332 OB% (leadoff spot) .369

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Times Staff Writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this story.