Angels Are Busy Planning for Life Without Gaetti

Richard Brown arrived at Tuesday’s Orange County Sportswriters-Sportscasters luncheon bearing good tidings for Angel fans.

Gary Gaetti isn’t going to the Oakland Athletics.

“I saw where Oakland just signed Vance Law,” said Brown, the Angels’ new, new-look CEO. “Basically, that told people they were not going to go after Gaetti. I never thought they would. I had the pleasure of reviewing their payroll recently and, God bless ‘em, they’re an excellent team, but I did not think they would delve into the Gary Gaetti bidding.”

The not-so-good tidings:

Gaetti probably isn’t going anywhere.

“I’m just not convinced he wants to leave Minnesota,” Brown said. “I like to be in situations I can control, but I have no control in this one. And I don’t know if Gary really wants to leave. I’m feeling somewhat impotent right now.”

Already braced for the worst, Brown began bracing everybody else.

“We have to think of alternatives,” Brown said.

Uh-oh.

“And we have Jack Howell.”

Uh-oh.

“And Jack Howell’s not a bad alternative.”

Uh, oh, Rich, about that $10.8 million you’re offering Gaetti . . .

“Jack Howell is a guy who hit .375, .385 in the minors and we all expected him to reach his potential here,” Brown said, pressing onward, if not upward. “What’s happened so far doesn’t mean that he won’t. What it means is that we’re getting impatient.”

Brown talked about Howell’s fielding: “He never let his hitting affect his defensive prowess.” Brown talked about Howell’s throwing: “Rarely have I seen a stronger arm.”

Try as he might, Brown couldn’t talk Howell out of his .167 batting average against left-handers in 1990 or his .228 batting average against everyone in 1990.

Brown mentioned the dreaded word “platoon,” which rhymes with “maroon,” which is what the Angels did to their offense when they tried to platoon Howell with a) Rick Schu; b) Kent Anderson; c) Donnie Hill; d) Pete Coachman; and e) Bobby Rose.

The best answer, of course, was f) none of the above.

“We’re talking trade,” Brown continued, trying to brighten the mood. “There is still a third baseman out there, Jim Presley, who’s not signed yet. We’re giving that a good look.”

Presley batted .242 with 19 home runs and 72 runs batted in for the Atlanta Braves last season, but also led all National League third basemen with 25 errors.

The room was getting edgy. Brown asked for questions and someone wanted to know how many years General Manager Mike Port had left on his contract. Someone else got up and said he believed the Angels had lost ground in the American League West this winter--a winter they began 23 games behind the Oakland Athletics.

Brown did his best to disagree.

“I admit, I can be very, very naive,” he said, “but I am a baseball fan and after awhile you learn that there are so many intangibles that go into making a winning team. Chemistry. Why were the White Sox so good last year and so miserable the year before?

“We think we have a very competitive team. Two years ago, we won 91 games and then we had a lot of injuries last year. I always get a little nauseous when I hear someone say, ‘Without any injuries, we’re in for a good year,’ and then the injuries come. By now, I take it as a given--the injuries are going to happen. But this year, I think more depth is there.

“You win championships with defense and defense begins with starting pitching. The strength of this team is starting pitching. I don’t want to mess with that . . . As for free agents, we haven’t signed that many, but other than Reggie Jackson and Kirk Gibson, tell me a free agent who came in and immediately won his team a pennant. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I can’t think of any.

“I might as well give up this job tomorrow if I think (1991) is a lost season. Our competition is with the A’s and I see us sizing up better and better with them.”

Already the Angels have gained with the loss of Carney Lansford. They might be on to something there.

Ten-point-eight million might not get Gaetti, but it does buy the A’s a lot of snowmobiles. Up at the podium, Brown kept on pitching, insisting the Angels have benefited from addition as well as attrition.

“Junior Felix gives us some pop with the bat and some speed,” he said. “Devon White has untapped potential, and he could tap it in Toronto, but he was not going to tap that potential in Anaheim.

“Toronto was able to say to him, ‘Just catch the ball, don’t worry about hitting it. We have enough bats around you.’ The California Angels couldn’t say that to him . . .

“And we’ve vastly improved our defense at second base. We’ve heard marvelous reports about Luis Sojo. He can turn the double play with anybody. He’s going to remind you of the heyday of Bobby Grich.”

The Angels have heard less marvelous reports about their probable third baseman for 1991.

He’s going to remind you of the heyday of Jack Howell.