Angels’ Magic Kingdom a Big Time Fixer-Upper

It has become increasingly evident that it will take all of Disney’s magic to rectify the latest mess in Anaheim.

A year ago, the Angels were about to blow a 13-game lead over the Seattle Mariners.

This year, after a sizzling spring, they have not played well enough to blow anything more than the rest of their dignity.

Three consecutive losses in Detroit?

The uninspiring and underachieving Angels are a team with no leadoff man, no consistency from a revolving-door rotation, generally no power from the power positions of third base, first base and catcher, and no justification for having taken one of the best young outfields in baseball and turned it into a grumbling four-man rotation.

This is also a team that on an overall basis has received regressive performances from a list of players who received multiyear contracts since the end of ‘95: Jim Abbott, Chuck Finley, J.T. Snow, Gary DiSarcina and Jim Edmonds, although injuries have put Edmonds on the disabled list twice.

This also appears to be a team with more serious problems.

--Unwilling to re-sign the catalytic Tony Phillips in the last legacy of Jackie Autry’s payroll tyranny, the Angels have been left without a stand-up leader in the clubhouse, undermining the absence of a motivational firebrand in the manager’s office.

Marcel Lachemann has said his efforts in that regard have come up a zero. Shameful. Those twice-monthly paychecks should be motivation enough, but this is the pampered era of force feeding when highly paid players--young and older alike--often need reasons to hustle anywhere except to the bank.

--Players who privately have questioned Lachemann’s game strategy, pitching changes and lack of communication for two years, are now doing it openly. Snow, a Gold Glove first baseman and switch-hitter batting .198 right-handed, recently wondered why the manager didn’t explain his two-day benching against left-handed pitchers.

Rex Hudler, in turn, rationalized his mistakes as Snow’s replacement by saying Snow should have been playing and that Lachemann has been over-using him--this from a utility player who has always seemed willing to walk through fire to play.

Lachemann responded with a team meeting in which he said that he came up in an era when the man in charge didn’t have to justify every decision to his employees. Hudler openly apologized to Lachemann, but it carried the aroma of sarcasm. General Manager Bill Bavasi, when asked about it, dismissed it all as the byproduct of frustration and losing, but the undercurrent of clubhouse second-guessing didn’t just start.

--It is hard to believe that Lachemann and Bavasi wouldn’t be on the same wavelength, since it was Bavasi who fired the respected Buck Rodgers and replaced him with the unproven pitching coach. But there is evidence they may not be.

The Lee Smith saga left Lachemann and Bavasi saying conflicting things at different times, and Lachemann had openly been saying that the four-man outfield scenario couldn’t work.

Bavasi, who ultimately is responsible for roster composition, suggests indirectly that the Angels hoped to create trade interest in Garret Anderson before the Wednesday deadline, but unsuccessful in that effort they have now defused the four-man issue by returning rookie Darin Erstad to triple A.

In the meantime, the Angels weakened their greatest strength--initially motivated by Edmonds’ broken thumb--at a time when they were trying to get back in the division race.

Remarkably, they are still alive in that race, but there is the hint of a powder keg.

Asked about the chemistry, Bavasi said he is only concerned about it on the field and not in the clubhouse. He said he is satisfied with the effort of the players but not the results and added: “Right now we’re not finding the effective mix on the field, and that starts in my office.”

The accountability runs deep. Certainly, Lachemann has taken the blame for so many losses that it wouldn’t be a surprise if somebody started counting soon. It’s the familiar story: You can’t fire 25 players.

Not even Disney, which on some nights would like to turn this team over to the animation department.

LEFEBVRE NEXT?

Lachemann continues to receive front-office support, but is the patience fraying? Sources say the club has contacted former Seattle Mariner and Chicago Cub Manager Jim Lefebvre to feel out his availability--now or in the future.

Lefebvre, who currently works for an equipment company and gives clinics throughout the world, denied hearing from the Angels. Sources insist, however, that he and Sparky Anderson are on a list of potential replacements.

VATICAN EMISSARIES

Jim Leyland, Pittsburgh Pirate manager since 1986, has succeeded Tom Lasorda as the senior manager in the major leagues.

Leyland said Lasorda treated him like gold from Day 1, and added:

“He’s probably the Kirby Puckett of managers because of the good he did for the game. He’s preached the game . . .better than anybody in history.

“Tom Lasorda and Sparky Anderson are the Popes of managers.”

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

While embarrassed General Manager Jim Bowden said he would have every bat in the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse X-rayed for cork, reserve third baseman Chris Sabo insists he was the victim of someone else’s dirty work.

“I don’t have a drill press in my house, and I don’t have cork,” he said. “I can barely change a light bulb. Look at my stats. I have three home runs and 16 RBIs, which is certainly no endorsement for the cork industry.”

TRADE NOTEBOOK

--If Tony Gwynn doesn’t return from his heel injury, San Diego Padre center fielder Steve Finley may ask for hazard pay with Greg Vaughn in left and Rickey Henderson now in right. If Gwynn does return, it isn’t clear what happens to Henderson, but Gwynn’s uncertainty, the division race, the Padres’ lack of power and the new stadium pitch led to the acquisition of Vaughn, who said:

“I think there was more pressure in Milwaukee. I was almost half the payroll there [at $5.7 million]. They expected me to get a hit and drive in a run every time I batted and they were disappointed when I didn’t. [With the Padres], I’ve got so many guys around me.”

Vaughn is eligible for free agency when the season ends, but agent Eric Goldschmidt is believed close to a three-year, $18-million extension with San Diego. The Brewers, unable to re-sign Vaughn, virtually conceded the wild-card race. However, they strengthened the bullpen with the addition of Ron Villone and Bryce Florie and acquired a potential Vaughn replacement in Marc Newfield.

The Padres ostensibly traded Florie and Andy Benes for Vaughn. They had acquired Newfield and Villone in the 1995 deal that sent Benes to the Seattle Mariners.

--The addition of Kevin Mitchell from Boston for two minor leaguers left Bowden, the Cincinnati general manager, salivating.

“This doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to win the division, but I guarantee that Houston and St. Louis are looking in their rear-view mirror,” he said. “They have to be afraid of us now.”

He may have been exaggerating, but if the Reds can truck Mitchell to the plate often enough, he could join Barry Larkin, Eric Davis and Reggie Sanders in supplying what Manager Ray Knight called “back-to-back-to-

back-to-back thunder” in the middle of the lineup.

--For the first time since the Montreal Expos acquired Mark Langston from Seattle in July of 1989, the Expos reversed their second-half pattern of dumping salaries to improve their wild-card pursuit by sending pitchers Tim Scott and Kirk Reuter to San Francisco for starter Mark Leiter.

It wasn’t a blockbuster, especially considering Leiter’s 4-10 record, but Montreal Manager Felipe Alou, in a testimonial to pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and his own sweet handling of players, said: “I know [Leiter’s] record is not very good, but people come here and just get better.”

--Two of the most frequently rumored trade candidates--

Baltimore’s Bobby Bonilla and David Wells--stayed where they are. The Orioles weren’t offered what they expected, and owner Peter Angelos, according to club sources, told his staff “it would be a breach of faith with fans” to unload any of the major components of his underachieving team. The Orioles have sold nearly a million tickets for their last 22 home games and are only four games out in the American League wild-card race.

--It may not have been the same domino reaction as when the Dodgers acquired Chad Curtis after the Padres acquired Vaughn, but the New York Yankees definitely made note of Seattle’s acquisition of left-handed pitchers Terry Mulholland and Jamie Moyer--coupled with the expected return of left-hander Randy Johnson--when they responded to their 15-16 record against left-handers and acquired right-handed hitting Cecil Fielder. The Yankees play Seattle six times this month and could be headed for a rematch of last year’s playoff loss to the Mariners.

--The trade that sent Cleveland second baseman Carlos Baerga to the New York Mets for Jose Vizcaino and Jeff Kent was one of the most interesting. Baerga, who will play third base for the Mets, was one of the rebuilt Indians’ cornerstone players.

“Teams in first place don’t make these kinds of trades,” Baerga said, coupling it with the recent departure of Eddie Murray. “These are the kinds of trades a team in second or third place makes, trying to shake things up.”

The Indians, who will play Vizcaino at second, had various concerns about Baerga. He had reported 30 pounds overweight last spring and battled a season-long offensive slump. Several pitchers had reportedly gone to the front office to complain about his loss of range and team-high 15 errors.

The Indians also worried about a lifestyle that included the renting of limos to get to and from ballparks on the road, and his $4.7-million salary in each of the next two years represented a potential hindrance if the Indians decide to re-sign Albert Belle or pursue the second baseman of their dreams: Chuck Knoblauch of the Minnesota Twins.

“We could live with Carlos when he was a big-time offensive player, [but] everyone saw the same defensive shortcomings in our club, and pitching and defense become a priority in the postseason,” General Manager John Hart said.

The loss of a leader?

“What is it that somebody said?” asked Indian pitcher Orel Hershiser. “Leadership is a three-run homer? Leadership comes when you’re producing on the field, and when a guy isn’t producing on the field, it’s sometimes tough to be a leader.”