Angels Play 25 Questions

This is why they hold spring training:

So the Angels can learn that they didn’t get enough for Jim Abbott; that they should have protected Bryan Harvey; that Kelly Gruber’s shoulder injury is a big deal; that rookies get nervous; that six kids in the everyday lineup are probably too many; and that maybe Lance Parrish wasn’t so bad a catcher after all.

The Angels have spent five weeks in Arizona, played 24 exhibition games and practiced 160 hours to reach these conclusions.

This just in: The Angels will not be favored to win the American League West.

Now I am not suggesting that spring training is a complete waste of time. Many Angel players, for instance, have made dramatic improvements in their suntans. But has any real knowledge been gained, any enlightenment been achieved by the annual observance of this rite of passage/test of manhood/great chance to tune up one’s golf game?

Well, Julio Valera has a bum elbow.

Other than that, Angelcamp ’93 has gone pretty much the way we all expected. Going in, we had questions. Going in, we made educated guesses as to how those questions might be resolved. On the morning of March 29, educated guesses continue to carry the day.

The Jim Abbott Trade: Not A Great Move

How one-sided was it? A week before Opening Day, the Angels’ side stands:

--J.T. Snow: Batting .184 with two extra-base hits, no home runs, eight runs batted in and a .225 slugging percentage.

--Russ Springer: 7.23 earned-run average, ticketed for triple A.

--Jerry Nielsen: 4.09 earned-run average, ticketed for triple A.

Angels Manager Buck Rodgers believes the Abbott trade “is going to take two to three years to really evaluate,” and his point is not without merit. Certainly, a month in the desert is no kind of gauge at all.

But with two spots in the starting rotation there for the taking, Springer was unable to grab either, and Nielsen was not deemed to be among the top six relievers in a camp desperate for relief pitching.

That leaves Snow alone to serve as the immediate payoff for Abbott--and if Angel fans were expecting the second coming of Don Mattingly, Rodgers is hoping they can settle for “a Mark Grace-type player who doesn’t have the luxury of Wrigley Field.”

With the luxury of Wrigley Field, Grace hit .307 with nine home runs and 79 RBIs. “Snow should give us eight to 10 home runs this year,” Rodgers says, “and hit .260, .275. In a couple years, he could be a .290-type hitter. . .

“Eventually, he’s going to be a good player. Not a superstar, but I think he’ll be a good, solid player.”

And in a couple of years, Jim Abbott could win a Cy Young Award.

Joe Grahe: He’s No Bryan Harvey

While Harvey has been pushing the speed gun to 94 m.p.h. in Florida Marlins camp, Grahe and the rest of the Angel relief corps have been pushing their ERAs to the 6.00 vicinity and beyond.

Grahe (6.97), Steve Frey (5.78) and Chuck Crim (5.78) compose the veteran nucleus of the Harvey-less bullpen. Rodgers wants to open the season with six relievers, but that means finding three more from a grab bag of Scott Lewis, Gene Nelson, Mark Holzemer, Darryl Scott and Nielsen.

“Obviously,” Rodgers says, “if I was happy with our bullpen, I wouldn’t have to bring a couple kids who have never pitched in the big leagues back to Anaheim for the Freeway Series.”

Harvey, his arm apparently fit again, could have solved many problems in Tempe, but last November, the Angels chose to protect John Orton, Luis Sojo and Ron Watson instead.

“Leaving Bryan Harvey out there was a gamble,” Rodgers concedes. “But I still think it was a good gamble. Joe did a good job as closer last year. He got 21 saves out of 24 chances. Just because he hasn’t had a real good spring training doesn’t mean the decision-making process has been concluded . . .

“I hope we made a mistake, for (Harvey’s) good. He could come back and have a big save year. He could save 20, 25 games this year.”

Is there an Angel today who can, with confidence, make a similar claim?

Too Many Kids, Too Many Catchers Who Can’t Hit

Angelcamp ‘93, in a nutshell:

Rodgers would like to carry two catchers on his 25-man roster, but because he has three candidates and not one of them is hitting .220, the Angels will open the regular season with all three of them in uniform.

How’s that again?

“Say I want to pinch-hit (Greg) Myers for Orton,” Rodgers says, envisioning a common-place scenario, “and they bring in a left-hander to pitch to (the left-handed hitting) Myers. I’ve got to be able to make the rest of the move. I don’t want to be sitting there saying, ‘Oh, . . . I can’t hit for Myers because I don’t have another catcher.”

So Rodgers will keep Ron Tingley (.219) for such instances. Meanwhile, Orton (.179) and Myers (.192) will platoon as the starter.

“It used to be that you tried to get 120, 125 games out of your starting catcher and 40 out of the backup,” Rodgers says. “Now, I have to find out if I can get 162 out of the three of them.

“I’d probably get sued if I had one of them catch 150 games. ‘Mean and inhumane treatment’--that’s what their agents would call it.”

And what might Rodgers’ agent say about him entering a season with two-thirds of his lineup owning two years of major league experience or less? Orton has two years in, shortstop Gary DiSarcina and center fielder Chad Curtis have one year and Snow, second baseman Damion Easley and right fielder Tim Salmon are rookies.

The Angels have trumpeted their 1993 “youth movement”--how else are they supposed to sell season tickets?--but isn’t there a danger in banking on so much inexperience at once?

“If they can’t play, there a real danger,” Rodgers says. “There’s a real danger of me getting fired.”

Rodgers laughs as he speaks, but then, it’s early.

Check back with him next week.