BASEBALL ’94 / SEASON PREVIEWS FOR ANGELS, DODGERS : Angels Are Thinking How West Can Be Won

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers takes off his glasses, gently rubs his eyes and stalls for time while collecting his thoughts.

This is a man who usually converts feelings to thoughts, and thoughts to words, with stunning ease. Now, he can feel the words on the back of his tongue, but somehow they will not come out.

Staring ahead, not wanting anything to break his concentration, his eyes glisten as he finally says: “I’ve waited a long time for this. This is why I manage. It’s one thing to develop players, and go through youth movements, but as a manager you’ve got to feel you have that chance.

“You’ve got to feel in your own mind you have the club that can win that brass ring. Well, I’ve got that club now.

“I believe in all my heart we can win this thing.”

Rodgers, 55, is considered the Ernie Banks of baseball managers. He has been widely acclaimed by his peers as one of the best in the business--none may be more adept at handling a pitching staff--but has seldom been given the opportunity to produce a winner.

He gets teams that are rebuilding, ones with self-imposed salary caps. He has been selected as manager of the year, has 768 victories, but has not had a team finish higher than third since the 1981 strike season.

That will all change, Rodgers vows, beginning at 5 tonight when the Angels open their season against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome.

It has been five years since Rodgers was given the players who had the potential to win the division title. Although he has had teams with more talent, never has he been in a division weaker than the new American League West.

“That’s why I like our chances,” Rodgers says. “Seattle is the team to beat in our division, but they’ve got holes like the rest of us. They don’t have a bullpen closer, and neither do we. They probably have a better rotation, but I like our lineup better.

“Believe me, if we didn’t think we could win this division, we never would have made the moves we did.

“The days of rebuilding are over.”

If the Angels were still rebuilding, they would be opening the season with rookie Jim Edmonds as the regular left fielder, not with a platoon of Dwight Smith and Bo Jackson.

If they were rebuilding, Kevin Flora would be their second baseman, not a platoon of Harold Reynolds and Rex Hudler.

If they were rebuilding, Brian Anderson and Russ Springer would be in the rotation, not John Dopson and Mark Leiter.

And if they were rebuilding, they never would have spent $1 million in guaranteed salaries to veteran relievers Craig Lefferts and Bob Patterson.

“We did everything we could to make this team a contender,” Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi says. “And if we’re contending late in the season and we need a boost, I think ownership will allow us to get that player we need.”

It was a year ago, of course, when the Angels did nothing to enhance their chances. They were only two games out of first place at the All-Star break, and decided to stand pat.

They were out of the race two weeks later.

Angel management vows that it will not happen again, and as proof they’ve spent $28.9 million on long-term contracts this spring. Perhaps it would be different if Chicago, Kansas City and Minnesota were still in the division. But they’re competing against two teams --the Mariners and the Texas Rangers--that have never won a title and another, the Oakland A’s, that finished last season with the worst record in the American League.

“I’m not sure if we could contend in any (other) division in baseball,” Bavasi says, “but believe me, I know we’re good enough to contend in this one. There’s no reason to be ashamed of this team at all.”

Perhaps most important to the Angels’ destiny is that they have their players believing they can win. No longer is there resentment toward the youth movement. None of the veterans want to be traded.

“The feeling in here has completely changed,” Angel starter Mark Langston says. “Last year, there was so much uncertainty, so much change, that no one knew what to expect.

“You look around here now, and there’s something wrong with you if you don’t think you can win this division. You’re only talking about beating three teams.

“Really, it’s not that difficult.”

The only component that remains the same is the public’s perception. This is a franchise that has failed to win the division since Reggie Jackson and Bobby Grich were playing in 1986. They have finished a combined 47 games out of first place the last two seasons, and have yet to place higher than third since ’86.

Now, after consecutive seasons of 90 or more losses, they’re asking everyone to believe that they can win.

“I know it sounds crazy to our fans and the public,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina says, “but guys really believe in this team. Even when we had those two nine-game losing streaks in the spring, no one panicked. To me, that’s the sign of a confident team.

“There’s no time for excuses anymore. We can’t blame our mistakes on youth. You won’t hear any of that this year.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m sick of losing. It gets old. If we don’t win this year, it’s time we’d better look at ourselves in the mirror.”

Here’s how the 1994 Angels stack up:

PITCHING Before anyone thinks about playoff tickets, the Angels must come up with a pitching staff better than last season’s.

Then, they had Mark Langston and Chuck Finley, and prayed for rain.

This season, they have Langston and Finley, and still are praying for rain.

Dopson, who will begin the season sandwiched between Langston and Finley, has failed to win more than seven games in any season since 1989.

Phil Leftwich, the No. 4 starter, has four major league victories.

Mark Leiter, the No. 5 starter, was released by the Detroit Tigers three weeks ago.

The bullpen consists of four pitchers who were released from other organizations and two who have never spent a full season in the big leagues.

The Angels went through 27 pitchers this spring, and this is the best they could come up with?

“We had so many guys around here,” Finley says, “I thought it was a Sizzler buffet. You didn’t know who we were trying next.

“It’s no secret our bullpen had some problems this spring, so really, Mark and I aren’t going to approach it any differently than we did last year. We’ve pretty much got to go the limit and hope guys are there to pick us up at the end.”

The Angels, who actually were counting on Frank Tanana, 40, to make the team, are hoping that left-handed starter Joe Magrane returns from the disabled list in a month. Magrane is guaranteed $1.5 million this season, which also guarantees him a spot in the rotation.

The bullpen still is a quagmire with no one asserting himself as the stopper. Mike Butcher, who was expected to receive the bulk of save situations, finished the spring with a 14.81 earned-run average. Joe Grahe, who inherits the role, had a 4.70 ERA.

OFFENSE The Angels’ offensive potential and versatility have fueled most of Rodgers’ optimism. They opened the season a year ago without a single platoon situation and absolutely no power off the bench. This year, Rodgers is platooning at three positions, with several veterans sitting on his bench.

Jackson easily proved to be Rodgers’ most pleasant surprise. He was a player the Angels had no interest in acquiring until late January, and now they wonder what they would do without him. Jackson finished the spring batting .362, with a team-leading six home runs and 18 runs batted in.

“I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody,” Jackson says, “but there was never a doubt in my mind that I can still play this game. I just needed the chance. The Angels gave me that chance, and now I plan on rewarding them for it.”

Perhaps the biggest question will be the production from designated hitter Chili Davis. He drove in a career-high 112 runs with 27 homers last season, but had only 12 homers and 66 RBIs the previous year.

“If I have the kind of year I had last year,” Davis told his teammates the other day, “we’ll be in the World Series. Of course, then, I’d have to retire.

“There’s no way the Angels could afford me after that.”

DEFENSE Privately, there’s more concern among the players about their defense than about any other aspect of their game.

One of the best defensive first basemen in baseball, J.T. Snow, is at triple-A Vancouver.

Flora, the most talented second baseman in the organization, also is at Vancouver.

Their best defensive outfielder, Jim Edmonds, is on the bench.

And perhaps their best defensive utility player, Rod Correia, is at Vancouver.

The Angels are sacrificing defense with their 25-man roster, but Rodgers wanted Spike Owen and Rex Hudler as his utility players, bypassing Correia, Torey Lovullo and Mike Brumley. He wanted Eduardo Perez as his first baseman, shipping Snow off to the minors, perhaps never to wear an Angel uniform again. He wanted Rex Hudler when no one else in baseball did.

“We’ve got guys in here who have great hearts and have great clubhouse makeup,” Rodgers says. “We needed winners in here, guys who know how to win, and guys who can teach the others how to win.

“We’ve got the kind of team a manager loves. Believe me, if we don’t win this thing, or at least contend, I’ll be the most surprised guy in the world.

“Maybe the most disappointed, too.”