BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Rodgers at a Loss With His Bullpen

Manager Buck Rodgers knows he has no choice, but he can’t help but feel exasperated at times this season, never summoning someone from his bullpen without being worried about the consequences.

Yet, Rodgers said, shrugging his shoulders, what can he do?

“I’m open to suggestions,” Rodgers said. “If you can find me a closer, give me a call. If Mrs. (Jackie) Autry wants to get me one, I’m all for it.

“You think we can get Harv (Bryan Harvey) back?”

While the Angels regret the day they exposed Harvey in the expansion draft, it’s up to Rodgers to juggle his bullpen each night to come up with a closer.

“You don’t have to be a baseball genius to recognize we have some bullpen problems,” Rodgers said. “But we’re not the only ones. It would really tee me off if we had (Dennis) Eckersley blow five games, but we don’t have someone like him.

“Right now, we’re in a holding pattern trying to figure out who we’re going to give the ball to. Joe Grahe is the closest one in the group we have to be a one-man closer, but I’m still not convinced he is 100%.”

*

Harvey, with the Florida Marlins, is on pace to obtain a career-high 54 saves this season. With 14, he should break the expansion record of 16. The previous four National League expansion teams’ stoppers combined for only 25 saves in the first year of their franchises.