Angels’ Matt Palmer still has a positive attitude

More than a month of the off-season passed between John Lackey’s Dec. 17 signing with the Boston Red Sox and Joel Pineiro’s Jan. 21 signing with the Angels, just long enough for Matt Palmer to get his hopes up . . . and dashed.

Palmer was a savior last season, joining a rotation reeling from the death of right-hander Nick Adenhart and thinned by injuries to Lackey and Ervin Santana, and going 9-1 with a 4.66 earned-run average in 13 starts after his April 23 recall from triple-A Salt Lake.

A 31-year-old right-hander who spent seven years in the minor leagues before a three-game stint with San Francisco in 2008, Palmer also pitched well in relief, closing 2009 with an 11-2 overall record and 3.93 ERA in 40 games.

When weeks went by after Lackey, the former Angels ace, signed a five-year, $82.5-million deal with Boston, it appeared Palmer would enter spring training as the team’s fifth starter behind Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, Santana and Scott Kazmir.

Then the Angels signed Pineiro, the 31-year-old right-hander who was 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA for St. Louis last season, to a two-year, $16-million contract, a move that will probably push Palmer back to Salt Lake.

“For a while, I thought, man, they’re not going to do anything,” Palmer said. “Then, I kind of figured they’d do something. I’m a guy who can step in and do any role, but I’m not a proven guy, so they went out and found someone who is. I thought I had a good shot, but we have a pretty solid rotation, and I’m happy about that.”

Palmer will compete with right-hander Brian Stokes, acquired from the New York Mets in the Gary Matthews Jr. trade, for a long-relief spot, but Palmer, a sinker-ball specialist, will probably be stretched out as a starter so he can step into the rotation in case of injury.

“They haven’t said one word to me,” Palmer said. “I’m just going to go out and have the same mind-set I have every day.”

That is, of a guy who must scratch and claw for a job. Palmer, a horticulture major at Missouri State, nearly quit baseball to start a landscaping business a few years ago, so he knows a roster spot won’t be handed to him.

“I don’t think you’re ‘established’ in this game until you have 10 years in the big leagues,” Palmer said. “A lot of people don’t like that, but it’s the truth. Baseball is a job, and there are people behind you who can take your job. Until you get your tenure, you have to compete. You can’t let up. You can’t relax.”

Easy does it

Reliever Kevin Jepsen, who threw a career-high 54 innings last season and had some shoulder tendinitis in September, will join fellow relievers Scot Shields (recovering from knee surgery) and Fernando Rodney (sore shins) on the slow track this spring.

The three aren’t expected to throw off a mound until late February.

Jepsen said his arm is fine, but because short relievers don’t need to stretch out their arms as much as starters, Manager Mike Scioscia is easing their throwing progressions.

“With a starting pitcher, there’s more of an urgency to be long-tossing when you get to camp and to begin bullpen sessions,” Scioscia said. “As a reliever, you have more leeway to hold a guy back a bit.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com