Who Are These Guys, Anyway? : Angels: Rodgers faces formidable task. There could be as many as seven new players in opening-day lineup.

Walking into the Angel clubhouse at Gene Autry Park for the first time this winter is enough to make some of the returning players wonder if they should ask for a media guide.

“I’ve never met half these guys,” Lance Parrish said, gesturing at the unfamiliar names taped above the lockers. “There are a lot of new faces. It’s pretty dramatic.”

It’s not only the newcomers who make Angels’ training camp different. In the equipment room, a jersey with Wally Joyner’s No. 21 hangs awaiting a name. It soon will belong to Alvin Davis, a challenger to Lee Stevens for the first base job that opened when Joyner signed as a free agent with Kansas City.

This is the Angels’ first spring training under Manager Buck Rodgers and Whitey Herzog, the team’s senior vice president for player personnel. They were hired during last season, but this is where the attempt to revive a team that finished last in the American League West really takes hold.

“I think this is the California Angel club we were hired to build and start working with,” Rodgers said. “We had to get rid of some people. We had to do that last year. Some people elected not to come back, and basically that’s what happened with the people we lost. We can’t do anything about that.”

Rodgers must make a multitude of decisions before the Angels choose the 25 players they will break camp with. Of the 53 players expected to report to Gene Autry Park in time for the first full-squad workout Wednesday, only 24 wore an Angel major league uniform last season.

There might be as many as seven players in the opening-day lineup who weren’t in it last year.

There certainly will be three, replacing Joyner, Dave Winfield and Dave Parker. And of the six opening-day starters who are back, excluding pitchers, only third baseman Gary Gaetti and left fielder Luis Polonia seem to have a solid hold on jobs.

“There are not too many guys you can say are penciled in right now,” Rodgers said. “Polonia, Gaetti, Von Hayes, Hubie (Brooks). Then you go from there.”

Care to try to pick the opening-day lineup? Rodgers laughed and said: “You’d have a better chance at winning the California Lottery.”

He already is wondering about how he can comply with a league rule that requires him to start at least five front-line players in spring games.

“Well,” Rodgers says, raising his eyebrows, “I don’t know who five of my starting players are going to be.”

The stage is set for competition for jobs all over the field:

Catcher--Lance Parrish is the veteran, but he turned 35 last season and his average fell 52 points to .215. His 51 runs batted in were 19 fewer than the year before. John Orton, 26, has defensive skills and has entered the past two springs with a shot at the job. But he has yet to prove he can handle it offensively, batting .203 in 29 games with the Angels last season and only .224 at triple-A Edmonton. The Angels at one point seemed ready to hand the job to Orton until he did something to lose it, but perhaps in deference to Parrish, they have sided with the incumbent for now.

First base--Lee Stevens is entering his seventh professional season, and for the past two he has been waiting either to be traded or for Joyner to leave. The job was his after Joyner signed as a free agent with Kansas City, but then Stevens’ lingering injury to his right wrist made him a question. The Angels signed Davis, 31, who took more than a $1-million pay cut after batting .221 with 12 home runs and 69 RBIs last season for Seattle. He averaged .289 with 21 homers and 85 RBIs his first seven seasons. Stevens, after batting .214 in 67 games with the Angels when Joyner was injured in 1990, returned to Edmonton last season and batted .314 with 19 home runs and 96 RBIs. He batted .293 in 18 games with the Angels.

Second base--Luis Sojo, 26, acquired with Junior Felix in the trade that sent Devon White to Toronto, batted .258 and led the American League in sacrifice bunts with 19. He sometimes was spectacular defensively and sometimes erratic. Rodgers says there is a potential challenge from Bobby Rose, provided Rose is healthy after off-season shoulder surgery. Rose, 24, batted .298 with 56 RBIs in Edmonton, and .277 in 22 games with the Angels.

Shortstop--Dick Schofield’s fumbled free-agent year also might cost him his starting job. His market value was not what he was advised it would be, and he is under contract with the Angels for one year. The Angels have decided to give the job to Gary DiSarcina, 24, until he proves he can’t handle it. “We tried to sign Schofield (to a long-term contract) and couldn’t,” Rodgers said. “Now Schofield has to come back and win the job.” DiSarcina batted .310 in Edmonton last season, and .211 in 18 games with the Angels. Schofield fell to .225 after batting .255 the previous year.

Center field--Felix, 24, White’s replacement, appeared in only 66 games because of two lengthy stints on the disabled list because of a strained right calf. He also was sidelined because of a strained rib cage. He batted .283, but was a disappointment overall, and the Angels seem disenchanted with him.

Waiting in the wings is Chad Curtis, a converted infielder who tore up the Venezuelan League during the winter, leading all players with a .338 average. He had 18 stolen bases and 37 RBIs in 195 at-bats. Winter-league competition is judged to be at about the double-A level, but Curtis batted .316 with 46 stolen bases at Edmonton last season. “I think he gets a shot,” Rodgers said. “You’ve got to be a gritty player because the conditions down there are not too conducive to having a good year unless you’re a hard-nosed ballplayer. That’s what winter ball says to me.”

Starting pitching--There are at least two starting spots open. Rodgers says the leading contenders are Joe Grahe, who came back during the second half of the season after losing a starter’s job to Scott Lewis last spring, and Don Robinson, a veteran though often-injured former San Francisco pitcher.

Bullpen--There are a lot of youngsters in the running for jobs. Should they all come through, it would be a remarkably inexperienced lineup.

“There are a lot of guys who I think have something to prove, or should have something to prove. One, that they can play in the major leagues. Or two, that they can still play in the major leagues.”

The Changing Face of the Angels Only three holdovers are assured of starting positions. Younger players are challenging three other veterans. Two newcomers are vying for the first base job; newcomers are set in right field and as the designated hitter, while two free-agent pitchers are battling a returner for the last two starting slots. SP--Joe Grahe/Dave Johnson/Don Robinson Joe Grahe was one of host of pitchers given shot as fifth starter last season. Grahe, 24, was 3-7 with a 4.81 ERA in 18 games. Johnson A 32-year-old right-hander, Johnson was 4-8 with a 7.07 ERA in 22 games with Orioles in ’91. Robinson, Posted 5-9 won-loss record and 4.38 ERA with San Francico Giants last season. He’s a 34-year-old right-hander. 1B--Lee Stevens/Alvin Davis Stevens, 24, drove in 96 runs in 123 games at Edmonton last season, but troublesome wrist injury forced team to sign Alvin Davis as insurance. SS--Gary DiSarcina/Dick Schofield Trapper of the Year at Edmonton last season, DiSarcina, 24, is being given a shot at starting shortstop. He hit .310 there last year, with 58 RBIs and 121 hits, 29 for extra bases. CF--Chad Curtis/Junior Felix Curtis, 23, hit .316 with 61 RBIs, 44 Extra-base hits and 46 stolen bases for Edmonton in ’91 LF--Luis Polonia 3B--Gary Gaetti C--John Orton/Lance Parrish Despite .203 average in 29 games with parent club last season, 26-year-old Orton will get the chance to be No. 1 catcher ahead of the veteran Lance Parrish.

Meeting the New Players While Jim Abbott, Chuck Finley and Mark Langston are expected to give the Angels three of the best starting pitchers in baseball, the success of the team will rely heavily on three newcomers who have put up some big numbers during their careers: Alvin Davis / 1B Signed free agent contract Feb. 13 for base salary of $800,000, $1 million less than he received from Seattle Mariners last year. Davis, a 31-year-old native of Riverside, hit a disappointing .221 in 1991 with 12 HRs. CAREER AVERAGES SEASONS: 8 AVG: .281 AVG: 272 HITS: 145 RUNS: 70 HRs: 20 RBIs: 83 Von Hayes / OF A 33-year-old obtained Dec. 8 in a trade with Philadelphia for pitcher Kyle Abbott and outfielder Ruben Amaro, Hayes missed three months of the 1991 season with a right wrist broken by a Tom Browning pitch June 14. CAREER AVERAGES SEASON: 11 AVG: 270 HITS: 121 RUNS: 67 HRs: 13 RBIs: 61 Hubie Brooks / DH A 35-year-old former Dodger acquired Dec. 10 in a trade with the New York Mets for Dave Gallagher, Brooks is coming off a sub-par season (.238 average, 85 hits, 50 RBIs) and disc surgery on his neck Sept. 12. career averages SEASONS: 12 HITS: 123 RUNS: 51 HRs: 12 RBIs: 63

Spring Training The Angels will work out daily at Gene Autry Park, 4125 East McKellips in Mesa until spring training games begin. The first 13 games will be played at opponents’ stadiums before the schedule switches March 20 to Palm Springs.

Date Opponent Location Time 3/6-9 Padres Yuma Noon 3/10 Milwaukee Chandler Noon 3/11 Oakland Phoenix Noon 3/12 Chic. Cubs Mesa Noon 3/13-14 Cleve. Tucson Noon 3/15 Seattle Tempe Noon 3/16 San Fran. Scottsdale Noon 3/17 Oakland Phoenix Noon 3/18 Seattle Tempe Noon 3/20-21 Milwaukee Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/22 Seattle Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/23-24 San Fran. Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/25 Chic. Cubs Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/26-27 Oakland Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/28 Cleve. Palm Springs 1 p.m. 3/29-31 Padres Palm Springs 1 p.m. 4/1 Padres Palm Springs 1 p.m. 4/3 Dodgers Anaheim 7:35 p.m. 4/4 Dodgers L.A. 7:05 p.m. 4/5 Dodgers L.A. 1:05 p.m.

HOW TO GET THERE: FROM Orange County, follow the 91 freeway east to Highway 60 to Interstate 10 wxiting on either Palm Canyon Dr. (111) or Gene Autry Trail.