BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Trade Is ‘Very Unlikely’

General Manager Bill Bavasi held an informal news conference in the dugout Wednesday afternoon so “you guys will understand that trading an outfielder at this point is very, very unlikely.”

He did admit that “common sense” dictates the Angels make a move and as much as admitted that Garret Anderson is the likely candidate, but he said the price of any of their four young outfielders--Anderson, Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds and rookie Darin Erstad--would be prohibitive.

“If another club is willing to overpay, we’ll listen, but we’re very lucky to have these guys,” Bavasi said.

“We’ve all been burned by making the mistake of trying so hard to improve one area of your club that you’re the one who overpays. We’re not going to do anything stupid.”

Bavasi said he would trade one of the four outfielders only for a No. 1 starter, a very good No. 2, or “a slew of top prospects, because that’s what you have to get to be sure you’ll hit on one.

“That said, I’m probably not going to get a whole lot of calls, so I’d say [Anderson] has virtually nothing to worry about.”

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Bavasi says the Angels are in “no hurry” with Erstad and would be comfortable sending him back to the minors when Edmonds returns from his thumb injury sometime later this month.

But Erstad, who turned two ground balls to shortstop into hits and sparked the Angels’ ninth-inning rally Tuesday night, has already made a huge impact.

“He definitely puts pressure on a defense,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “You can’t catch the ball, read [American League President] Gene Budig’s name and then throw it over. You’re going to have to make a play every time.”