POST ’87 SCRIPTS : ANGELS: It’s All Turned Around and There’s Nowhere to Go but Up

Authorities on the subject by now, the Angels may have completed their definitive work on post-playoff depression in 1987. From first place to last place, in just one whirlwind tour of the American League.

Around Anaheim, fallout from the Big One has been heavy before. After their inaugural AL West championship in 1979, the Angels all but vaporized the year after--plunging to sixth place with a 65-95 record, 32 games off the pace. And after title No. 2 in 1982, the Angels bounced back with a fifth-place standing in 1983--finishing 70-92 and 29 games out of first.

But in the continuing education of this franchise, those retreats can be chalked up and written off as painful learning experiences. Injuries waylaid the Angels from the start in 1980 and the Chicago White Sox blew away everyone in 1983.

The lesson in 1987, after last October’s near-miss against the Boston Red Sox, was altogether different.

This, without question, was the Angels’ master in disaster.

On Aug. 5, the Angels were four games above .500 and just a half-game behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins. Eight days later, after winning two of three games in Minnesota, the Angels were still within 2 1/2 games with a record of 59-56.

And then, obliteration.

The Angels returned to Anaheim for a 1-6 home stand and never recovered. They lost 10 of their last 17 games in August and went 7-20 in September. As tent-folding jobs go, this was one of the all-timers.

General Manager Mike Port tore into his team, first verbally and then physically. He accused the Angels of giving up and lacking heart. Within days, the Angels also lacked John Candelaria and Doug DeCinces. The house-cleaning had begun.

By late September, Manager Gene Mauch said he was “sick” and “embarrassed” by his club’s performance--to the point that he was considering retirement. Mauch, however, said on Sunday he is coming back.

“The way our players have been of late, I think you have to ask yourself the question, ‘Why would Gene Mauch want to come back?’ ” Port said.

The Angels’ present condition is a mess, a shambles, a pile of rubble--take your pick.

The foundation of the team, starting pitching, has been shattered. The 1987 Angels were built around the rotation of Mike Witt, Kirk McCaskill, Don Sutton, Candelaria and Willie Fraser--and, as Mauch says, “You can write a page-and-a-half about what happened to our pitching staff.”

Said Mauch: “We said at the outset of the season that we could put as many young people in the lineup as we did because of our great pitching staff. It was our great stabilizer.

“We had a youngster at second base (Mark McLemore), a youngster in right field (Devon White), a youngster in left (Jack Howell). We thought we had enough pitching to run them out there.”

They say you can never have enough pitching. And the ’87 Angels never even came close.

Witt won 16 games, but labored with an earned-run average of nearly 4.00. McCaskill underwent April arm surgery, returned in July and was out again by September. Candelaria, whose off-the-field problems became a summer-long headache for Port, was dispatched to the New York Mets. Sutton set a club record for most home runs allowed in a single season.

Of the five-man rotation Mauch had in April, the possibility exists that only the rookie--Fraser--will be back by next April.

Witt’s three-year contract has expired, and the Angels run the risk of losing him to free agency. There remains legitimate concern over McCaskill’s ability to recover from elbow surgery. And Sutton, at 42, with an 11-11 record, a 4.00-plus ERA and a tendency to tear up bullpens, doesn’t figure in Port’s blueprint for 1988.

“It’s an open question right now,” is how Port phrases Sutton’s status. “Don has to make some decisions and we have to make some decisions as to the direction we want to take.”

As for the rest of the rotation, Port says that “certainly, we would like to re-sign Mike Witt. There has been interest by other clubs in Willie Fraser, which tells us something about his ability. With Kirk McCaskill, there’s a guarded optimism about next year.

“Those three fellows give us some starting possibilities. But, there are still some holes. We hope we can find some answers.”

So desperate are the Angels for starting pitching that their big project this winter is turning long reliever Chuck Finley into a starter. Finley has yet to learn how to pitch from a full windup--and win baseball games. Personally, he was 2-7 in 1987. During all games in which Finley appeared, however, the Angels were 3-32.

It can be argued that in 1987, the Angel pitching staff was held together by the right arms of a 30-year-old rookie and a 36-year-old discard of the San Francisco Giants. Relievers DeWayne Buice and Greg Minton combined to save 27 games--a stunning total that camouflaged the lengthy absence of Donnie Moore and the deficiencies of the starting rotation.

In nearly 40 games, one-fourth of the season, the bullpen had to pitch five innings or more. “Our manager is usually looking to the bullpen by the third, fourth and fifth innings,” Port said. Without Buice and Minton, the Angels could have very easily ventured into Cleveland Indians’ territory.

Can they realistically be asked to do it again? Remember Stewart Cliburn? Or, for that matter, remember Donnie Moore? Relief pitching is the most fragile art in baseball and, by the end of August, both Buice and Minton were showing signs of wear.

Moore, who saved 31 games for the Angels in 1985, has become poster boy in Port’s campaign to combat multi-year contracts. Shortly after signing a three-year, $3-million contract in January 1986, Moore hurt his shoulder and his ribs. The rib cage injury continued to vex Moore in 1987, rendering him a virtual non-factor as he managed to save just 5 games in 14 appearances.

Today, Moore is scheduled to undergo surgery to remove a bone fragment that is believed to be irritating nerve endings in his right rib cage. Doctors are hopeful Moore will be able to resume pitching in four months.

So how’s the rest of the team?

You had to ask.

With a .252 club batting average, the Angels had the worst offense in the major leagues. Those Hitless Wonders, the Chicago White Sox, hit five points higher. The Dodgers, for heaven’s sakes, batted a point higher.

Among American League teams, only Milwaukee and Seattle hit fewer home runs than the Angels. And that’s factoring in some unexpected totals--34 homers by Wally Joyner, 23 by Devon White.

This did not come as a complete surprise to Mauch.

“Plan A was us pitching good, stealing bases and shagging the ball,” Mauch said during September. “We were going to run like hell. But two of the guys who were gonna do the running aren’t playing right now.”

Those two guys are Gary Pettis and Mark McLemore.

Pettis played his way out of the lineup with what could be categorized as the most abysmal individual offensive season in Angel history. Pettis batted .208, struck out 120 times, drove in 14 runs and hit 1 home run--that an inside-the-park number.

Check the Angel record book for players with 350 at-bats or more in a season and only two even approach Pettis’ 1987 numbers. In 1983, Reggie Jackson hit .194 with 140 strikeouts in 397 at-bats. In 1984, Dick Schofield hit .193 in 400 at-bats. Of course, Jackson also had 14 home runs and 49 RBIs in ‘83, and Schofield was a 20-year-old rookie in ’84. Even at that, Schofield managed 4 home runs and 21 RBIs while striking out just 79 times.

Pettis’ problems came to a head in mid-August, when the Angels demoted him to Edmonton and recalled one-time power-hitting outfielder Tony Armas. A few days later, the Angels also shipped out McLemore, their .230-hitting second baseman, and traded for a 30-year-old replacement, Johnny Ray.

Along the way, the Angels also added 37-year-old designated hitter Bill Buckner, who was released by the Boston Red Sox and promptly became one of the Angels’ best hitters during the second half.

Some viewed such acquisitions as a selling-out of the Angel youth movement. Mauch viewed it more pragmatically.

“We were going to do it with pitching and speed,” Mauch said. “When that didn’t happen, we had to go out and get some hitting.”

What the Angels are left with, heading into 1988, are too many second basemen, too many designated hitters and too few quality outfielders.

Brian Downing could solve one outfield problem, but his disposition and his throwing arm make him more of an asset at DH than left field. That creates an awkward platoon situation at designated hitter between Downing and Buckner. Buckner believes he can hit .300 if he can get 400 at-bats next season and when’s the last time the Angels had a .300 hitter for an entire season? But the Angels also sorely need Downing’s power potential in the lineup.

“Right now, I prefer to look at it as a pleasant predicament,” Port said.

Jack Howell can also play the outfield but not nearly as well as third base, the position he inherited with the release of DeCinces. Howell is an intense, introverted personality--he has been called Downing Jr.--who performs best when happiest. There has been talk of moving Ray to third base, returning McLemore to second base and keeping Howell in left, in order to beef up the attack, but Howell prefers third base. After taking over the position last week, Howell hit four home runs in nine games, raising his season’s total to 23.

At 26, Howell is a player the Angels might want to keep happy.

Presently, an infield of Joyner at first base, Ray at second, Howell at third and Schofield at shortstop rates as the Angels’ strength.

Joyner has driven in 217 runs in his first two seasons--this year’s total of 117 the second-highest in Angel history. His 34 home runs are the fifth-best total in club history.

“I don’t know how you can do any better than Wally Joyner at first base,” Port said, a statement Joyner figures to remind Port of during contract negotiations.

Schofield has developed into a dependable all-around shortstop--no longer a liability at the plate--and Ray hit better than .300 with the Angels. He’s not nearly the fielder McLemore is, but range can be, and will probably have to be, sacrificed at second base, which could make McLemore expendable.

At catcher, the Angels have an interesting dichotomy--Bob Boone, the most durable catcher in baseball history, backed up by brittle Butch Wynegar and Darrell Miller. Wynegar has an arthritic toe condition that required mid-season surgery, which still failed to correct the problem. Another operation this winter is a possibility. Miller, the No. 3 catcher, spent two stints on the disabled list with a bad hand.

Boone will be 40 next season. Yet, make book on this: He’ll have less trouble signing a 1988 contract with the Angels than he had in 1987.

In the outfield, only White is set. Where he plays--right field or center field--depends on Pettis, and maybe Port.

The Angels would like to trade Pettis but, after his 1987 washout, his stock has never been lower. Port may have no choice but to cut his losses, bring Pettis back to spring training, hope he hits well enough to impress someone--or at least enough to reclaim center field in Anaheim.

“Gary Pettis is a better baseball player than he has shown,” Port said. “Here is a man who won two Gold Gloves the past two years. He can help a club if he hits .250.”

But not when he hits .205.

Right now, the other outfield position in Dial-A-Has-Been: Ruppert Jones, George Hendrick, Tony Armas. The top hitting prospect in the organization, Dante Bichette, is an outfielder, but Port discounts him as a factor for 1988.

“I don’t think he’ll be ready next year,” Port said of Bichette, who batted .300 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs with Edmonton. “He missed close to two months with a hand injury--and that was coming out of Class A. Realistically, he needs to progress another year in Triple-A.”

It all adds up to what should be an active winter for Port. He will attempt to trade for starting pitching and a power-hitting outfielder. Failing that, he may even consider, yes, another foray into the free-agent pool, where such names as Jesse Barfield, Jack Clark and Dale Murphy could become available.

“It’s an open possibility,” Port said of Angel free-agent shopping. “I’ve never polarized myself on the position, saying we’d never sign another free agent.

“We’d prefer to build from within and, then, through trades. But free agency remains there as an alternative. It is there and it is worth investigating.”

Dire circumstances dictate dire measures. Port isn’t certain that the skid of the past six weeks is an aberration, a case of quality talent succumbing to frustration over the quashing of high expectations. It is apparent that the Angels’ late-season collapse has attracted the general manager’s attention.

“There’s a collective disappointment on the club, but also a collective realism,” Port said. “On the basis of ability, no, this is not a last-place club. But on the basis of actuality, yes, we are there.

“Although I have a positive feeling about the nucleus of our club, I still sit here and look at the standings. Obviously, this is not the time to sit tight and stand pat.”

And as Candelaria and DeCinces discovered, the changes have started already.