Advertisement

BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Eichhorn Traded for Two Blue Jays

Share via

Hours after a hitless relief inning made Mark Eichhorn the winning pitcher in the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Mariners, he was traded to Toronto for catcher Greg Myers and outfielder Rob Ducey.

After the game, the Angels cleared a roster spot when they waived outfielder Jose Gonzalez, who was signed as a minor league free agent last January. Gonzalez flied to center as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, leaving him with a .182 average, no homers and two RBIs in 55 games.

“You can’t do much when you play once every two weeks,” Gonzalez said. “It’s hard for any player in this situation. I don’t blame them. They have no room on their roster. It’s frustrating. You don’t expect things like that.”

Advertisement

Myers, a Riverside native, hit .262 for the Blue Jays in 107 games last season but is hitting .230 in 22 games this season. Ducey was one for 21 in 23 games with Toronto and has a career .234 average with two home runs and 30 RBIs over parts of six seasons with the Blue Jays. Both players will join the Angels today in Texas for the opener of a seven-game trip.

The Blue Jays had offered both players to the Angels in a proposed five-for-one deal involving Jim Abbott, but that deal now appears dead. The Angels wanted Myers as insurance against John Orton’s weak bat and weak right shoulder, but the overall package wasn’t enough for them to trade Abbott. Team sources also denied reports from New York that the Angels were near a deal that would send Abbott to the Yankees.

Eichhorn was 2-4 this season with two saves and a 2.38 earned-run average in 42 games. He began his career with the Blue Jays and signed with the Angels as a free agent in December, 1989.

Advertisement

Matt Keough, whose comeback from rotator cuff surgery halted when he was hit in the head by a foul ball and underwent emergency brain surgery March 16, hasn’t ruled out a return to the mound. He plans to see his neurosurgeon next week to determine whether an eye problem bothering him can be corrected enough for him to pitch again.

Keough, who is scouting for the Angels, said he has repeatedly experienced a flash across his field of vision he has dubbed “Tinkerbell.” It mostly occurs at night, and is annoying without being painful.

“I sure don’t want to go out on the mound and face a hitter if I have a hole in my vision,” Keough said. “It could be a small split in the cornea and some eye fluid goes in there. That’s pretty common and they can fix that. I’ll know more in a week.”

Advertisement

Outfielder Chad Curtis didn’t start for the first time in 25 games because of a stiff left elbow, the result of being hit by a pitch Wednesday. . . . Pitcher Scott Bailes underwent X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging on his left knee, which he said has been bothering him for two months. No results were available.

Advertisement