Angels Need More Than Realignment

The Fab Four they are not. Any way you want to look at the six divisions composing big league baseball’s realigned state, they would have to rate as the final four.

The team with the best starting pitching in the division, Seattle, has no relief pitching.

The team with the best hitting in the division, Texas, has no starting pitching.

The team with the best tradition in the division, Oakland, has no Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando or Bert Campaneris.

And the team allegedly building around kids today for a brighter tomorrow, the Angels, will open this season with a 33-year-old playing second base, a 31-year-old and a 30-year-old platooning in left field, a 34-year-old at designated hitter and four starting pitchers between the ages of 30 and 33.

Greetings from the American League West, where the best teams in the division are no longer in the division.

The Chicago White Sox, champions of the AL West in 1993, have moved to the AL Central, which they are expected to own in 1994. Kansas City and Minnesota have moved over as well, taking with them a combined three World Series championships since 1985.

What’s left are the Mariners and the Rangers, who have played a combined 50 seasons without qualifying for the playoffs once; the Angels, who have played 33 seasons without winning the pennant once; and the A’s, who are coming off their worst finish in 15 seasons.

Guess what?

One of these teams will be in this year’s American League playoffs.

What a concept: Win 83 of 162 games, win a division championship. That’s all it would have taken in 1993, had realignment struck 12 months earlier. Seattle, a mere 82-80, just a called strike or two above .500, would have finished second--nine games ahead of the Angels and 14 ahead of the A’s.

No wonder the Angels are bristling with optimism as they fly to Minneapolis for Tuesday’s opener, toting with them:

--A pitching staff that produced mushroom clouds in Arizona and ought to be checked for unsafe radiation levels.

--An infield with three new starters, including rookie Eduardo Perez, moving from third base to left field to first base; virtual rookie Damion Easley, moving from third base to second base back to third base; and 33-year-old second baseman Harold Reynolds, moving from Baltimore to San Diego to Anaheim.

--A left-field platoon consisting of two pinch-hitters--Bo Jackson, who has had hip replacement surgery, and Dwight Smith, who is considering glove replacement surgery.

--And not one carry-on item left over from Whitey Herzog’s trade of trades, Jim Abbott to the New York Yankees for three minor leaguers who, 16 months later, remain minor leaguers. J.T. Snow, Russ Springer and Jerry Nielsen will all begin this season at triple-A Vancouver.

Had Herzog never made that deal, and protected a certain relief pitcher in the expansion draft of ‘92, the Angels would be odds-on favorites to win the West today.

How would a rotation of Mark Langston, Chuck Finley, Jim Abbott, Phil Leftwich and John Dopson look in a division where Bobby Witt is considered the ace in Oakland and Kevin Brown, Kenny Rogers and Jack Armstrong are the Big Three in Texas?

How big an impact would Bryan Harvey make in a division where the on-paper favorite on April 4, Seattle, will attempt to close out games with either Bobby Ayala (three saves in 1993) or Bobby Thigpen (two saves in a season-and-a-half)?

Herzog set the program back two, three years with those two moves, and that’s not saying anything about the Kelly Gruber, J.R. Phillips and Joe Magrane moves. You won’t get Bill Bavasi to say it, but the new Angel general manager’s first three months on the job have been devoted to cleaning up after Whitey. Grab a push broom and sweep those old miscalculations as far into the corner as you can.

Snow was brought in by Herzog to play first base for the Angels for the next 10 years.

Bavasi and Buck Rodgers reassigned Snow to Vancouver and now are considering all offers.

Spike Owen was brought in by Herzog to platoon at second base with Kevin Flora.

Bavasi and Rodgers traded for Reynolds, sent Flora down and told Owen to back up Gary DiSarcina.

Whitey Ball professes that speed and defense will outrun the three-run home run every time.

Bavasi and Rodgers replaced Snow’s potential Gold Glove with Perez’s potential 20-home run bat, gambled on Bo’s all-or-nothing swing and signed Smith on the basis of his .300 batting average, ignoring the red flags about his ability in left field.

The Abbott and Magrane decisions left Rodgers with two gaping holes in his five-man rotation, so Bavasi went out and plugged them with Dopson and Mark Leiter. That could change just as soon as Bavasi trades Snow for anyone better than Anthony Young, or as soon as Brian Anderson wets his feet in triple-A, but until then, it’s reassuring to know that the Angels won’t have to play any games without a starting pitcher.

Where are these Angels headed?

Well, they go to Minnesota today, Milwaukee on Friday and Baltimore on the 19th . . .

As for the AL West standings, I’d have to say that after Seattle and Texas, everything’s up for grabs.

With very few exceptions, the remaining superstars in the division reside in these two ports of call--Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., Juan Gonzalez, Tom Henke, Jose Canseco. Put the Mariners and the Rangers down for 1-2, one way or the other.

But the Angels will be in the mix, somewhere, and when’s the last time this franchise could say that without the room breaking out in laughter?

So it’s an inferior mix?

So what?

If the Angels are still playing meaningful games come Sept. 15, realignment will be hailed as the greatest thing to hit Anaheim Stadium since the cinnamon roll.