Starting Job One of Few Openings

There isn’t much competition for jobs in the Angels’ camp this spring. It’s difficult for even a talented prospect such as 1995 No. 1 draft pick Darin Erstad to take an outfield spot from Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds or Tim Salmon, for example.

The fight for the No. 5 starter’s spot in the rotation is one of the few job openings this spring.

So far, Shawn Boskie and Jason Grimsley have impressed Manager Marcel Lachemann most of all. Phil Leftwich, who starts today against Oakland, also has pitched well. Scott Sanderson has not.

Boskie has pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Leftwich has given up two earned runs and five hits in five innings. Sanderson has given up nine earned runs and 11 hits, including two home runs, in five innings.

Grimsley, acquired in the trade that sent left-hander Brian Anderson to Cleveland last month, struck out five and gave up three hits and one run in four innings Sunday against Colorado at Tucson.

The knock against Grimsley has been his lack of control. “If he’s had some problems [with his control], we haven’t seen it,” Lachemann said.

Boskie, who pitched four shutout innings Saturday against Oakland, won a career-high seven games last year, pitching out of the fourth and fifth spots in the Angel rotation.

With Steve Ontiveros, slated to be the No. 4 starter and slowed by a sore right elbow, it’s possible Grimsley and Boskie could be in the starting rotation by opening day.

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Closer Lee Smith, recovering from surgery to repair the patella tendon in his right knee, threw off a mound for only the second time this spring.

Smith, who injured his knee while hunting last November, is scheduled to throw off a mound again today.

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The Angels played the last of their split-squad games Sunday, losing to the Rockies, 14-5, at Tucson and defeating Oakland, 15-10, at Las Vegas.

At Tucson, right-hander Julio Valera gave up seven runs and seven hits in only a third of an inning, another setback in his return from reconstructive elbow surgery in July, 1993. Valera is expected to be assigned to the Angels’ minor-league camp this week. He has not pitched in the majors since undergoing the “Tommy John” procedure. He was 8-11 with a 3.73 ERA in 28 starts for the Angels in 1992.

At Las Vegas, Salmon and Chris Pritchett each homered twice. Salmon had five runs batted in and Pritchett, an infielder, had four RBIs. Sanderson gave up five runs and six hits in three innings.