Angels Get Van Poppel Off Waivers

The Angels claimed former high school phenom Todd Van Poppel off waivers from the Detroit Tigers Tuesday, but their quest for right-handed pitchers is far from over.

The team has targeted several free-agent pitchers, and tops on its shopping list appears to be Chicago White Sox right-hander Kevin Tapani, who was 13-10 with a 4.59 earned-run average and 150 strikeouts in 225 1/3 innings last season.

Among the others the Angels will likely pursue are Houston’s Doug Drabek, Texas’ Kevin Gross, San Diego’s Bob Tewksbury and the Chicago Cubs’ Jamie Navarro. The team will also attempt to re-sign Shawn Boskie, who went 12-11 with a 5.32 ERA for the Angels in 1996.

“Everything will revolve around pitching,” Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “As good as the Yankees are, how did they win this year? With pitching. If we don’t pitch, we don’t win.”

Bavasi, who is attending this week’s general managers’ meetings here with the club’s new manager, Terry Collins, and several front-office executives, said once the team adds enough pitching, “then we might address the corner infield positions.”

The Angels aren’t convinced third baseman George Arias is ready for the big leagues, so they’ll pursue free agents Todd Zeile (Baltimore) and Dave Hollins (Seattle).

There also has been speculation the Angels might trade first baseman J.T. Snow, who slumped to a .257 average with 17 homers and 67 RBIs last season. The San Francisco Giants are believed to be very interested in Snow.

If the Angels can’t obtain a third baseman, they might pursue a second baseman--Pittsburgh’s Carlos Garcia has been mentioned in trade rumors--and move Randy Velarde from second to third.

But their first two moves of this off-season--the trade of Chili Davis to Kansas City for Mark Gubicza and the acquisition of Van Poppel--were for pitchers.

Van Poppel was the Arlington, Tex., star who struck out 170 in 101 innings as a senior and was the national high school player of the year in 1990; however, he has flopped in the pros.

The right-hander was projected as the No. 1 pick in 1990 but dropped to No. 14 after telling the Atlanta Braves, who had the top pick, he would not sign with them. Atlanta chose Chipper Jones and Van Poppel went to the Oakland Athletics, who signed him for $1.1 million.

But after going 18-29 in three futile years with Oakland, the A’s waived him last August. He was claimed by the Tigers and finished 1996 with a combined 3-9 record and 9.06 ERA. Detroit waived him after the season.

The upside? Van Poppel is only 24, he has had some success out of the bullpen, and he has never had arm surgery.

“We couldn’t let a good arm like that pass,” Bavasi said of Van Poppel, who is eligible for arbitration this winter after making $318,000 last season. “We figured we should take a shot at him.”

Angel Notes

Manager Terry Collins will meet with Rod Carew Thursday to discuss the possibility of Carew returning as the Angels’ batting instructor. Collins is spending this week interviewing potential coaching candidates, and among those he is considering are former Pittsburgh Pirate star Dave Parker and former Philadelphia Phillie Larry Bowa, who was interviewed for the Phillies and Boston Red Sox managing jobs. Collins has spoken with Joe Maddon, Eddie Rodriguez, Mike Couchee and Joe Coleman, who were Angel coaches for all or parts of the 1996 season.