Gonzales Moves to Majors With Trip to Minors

Rene Gonzales had put off the trip to chilly Edmonton as long as he could, but on Friday evening, he boarded a plane at Los Angeles International Airport, bound for the minor leagues.

Gonzales spent last season on a divisional championship team, the Toronto Blue Jays, plugging up holes as a utility infielder. This year, the Angels signed him and invited him to spring training. But despite batting .333 and playing respectable defense, he didn’t quite make the team.

With five years in the major leagues under his belt, Gonzales, 30, was headed for triple A in a climate so harsh that games get frozen out this time of year.

At 6 feet 3 and 195 pounds, he tried to get comfortable in coach class as he made the long trip to Edmonton via Salt Lake City and Calgary. He got there about 1 a.m.

“I went up there, stepped outside, got a rental car and found out I wasn’t going to stay,” Gonzales said.

The Angels’ trade of Dick Schofield opened up a spot for a utility infielder, and Gonzales was back in the big leagues--or he would be, as soon as he conquered the return trip on the Edmonton-Calgary-Salt Lake City-Los Angeles route.

“It was coach going down, and first class coming back here,” Gonzales said, smiling.

He made a first-class debut, starting at third base Sunday and hitting a double and a three-run homer in the Angels’ 13-9 victory over Milwaukee at Anaheim Stadium.

Gonzales had taken a calculated gamble going to Edmonton. He had the right to refuse to report if the Angels demoted him to the minors. He thought about it long and hard.

“Sure, other teams had mentioned interest,” he said. But he saw the potential for an opening if Schofield were traded. Gonzales might have made the team as a utility infielder out of spring training, if Bobby Rose and Gary DiSarcina hadn’t won the second base and shortstop jobs.

He knew the Angels said they were trying to trade Schofield at the shortstop’s request. But the team didn’t make Gonzales any promises about bringing him back if they did.

Gonzales took a chance and took the offer. Stepping off the plane in Edmonton was enough to make anyone reconsider.

“It was single digits, I know that,” said Gonzales, who lives in Covina and once worked as an usher at Dodger Stadium. “It was so cold, my skin was about to crack. The first thing I did, I went and got some (lotion) and lubed myself up.”

After a partial night’s sleep in Edmonton, Gonzales spent Saturday flying back to Southern California. He found out he would be giving Gary Gaetti a day off at third base Sunday.

“That’s when they told me, right when I got here,” Gonzales said. “That’s what I’m here for, hopefully, to play. I didn’t want to show up to watch. It was good to know I was in there today.”

Gonzales, who also has spent time in the majors with Montreal and Baltimore, came up as a shortstop. “That was my first love,” he said. “Playing there has given me the tools and enabled me to play the other positions.”

But like his father, Ben, who played minor league baseball from 1956-60, Gonzales plays all over the field. Last season with Toronto, he played every infield position except pitcher and catcher.

“He can give (second baseman) Bobby Rose a day off, he can give (shortstop Gary DiSarcina) a day off,” Manager Buck Rodgers said. “I think we’ll be able to use him quite a bit.”

Gonzales thought so all along. “I tried to work out as much as I could, stay ready,” he said. “I knew my chance inevitably was going to come.”