Giving Seattle the Needle

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

March 29, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

To Seattle Manager Lou Piniella, Angel President Tony Tavares’ prediction that his team could reach the American League championship series if it signed pitcher Jack McDowell was the equivalent of a batter in the box, pointing to center field and calling his shot.

So Piniella responded the way any self-respecting opponent would: He fired a zinger right under Tavares’ chin.

“Your guy over there already gave them the pennant, so there’s nothing to talk about,” Piniella said when asked recently to size up the AL West race. “I find it curious that we haven’t even played a game, and they’re hanging the flag over there.

“You’ve got to win on the field, and that’s fortunate for us. But if he’s right, I want stock-market tips next year.”

In Tavares’ defense, he made that statement in February, when catcher Todd Greene’s shoulder was feeling strong and second baseman Randy Velarde’s elbow was feeling great, and both were poised to add a considerable boost to the Angel lineup.

But about the time the Angels signed McDowell, the 1993 AL Cy Young Award winner, Velarde and Greene suffered major setbacks, and both will begin the season on the disabled list.

There’s an outside chance Velarde will return in April, but Greene, a slugger with the potential to hit 25-30 home runs, could sit out the first two months, and now Tavares probably wishes he never made his bold prediction.

“They don’t have two of the eight guys they were counting on to be regulars, so to put that in perspective, 25% of their lineup is hurt,” Piniella said. “So that’s a loss.”

And with Seattle possessing one of baseball’s most potent offenses, a rotation that still includes Randy Johnson, and the experience of winning two of the last three division titles, it’s a loss the Angels could not afford.

“I think we can compete, but what we’ll miss is another guy who is capable of popping 25 home runs at the bottom of the order,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said.

“We have to replace that in a different way. Some other guys, including myself, have to have big years. And maybe Todd and Randy can come back and give us a huge lift.”

Right fielder Tim Salmon sees things a little differently. Velarde sat out last season because of elbow reconstruction surgery, and Greene suffered a season-ending wrist injury in August after playing only 34 games, so how can you miss what you didn’t really have?

Salmon points to a rotation that includes a sound Chuck Finley, Ken Hill for a whole season and added McDowell, and an offense that added 30-homer threat Cecil Fielder to a team that hung with Seattle until September, and figures things can only get better in 1998.

“I think we can stay with Seattle,” Salmon said. “We’ll definitely be better when [Velarde and Greene] return, but we’re still solid. We have depth and pitchers who are going to give you innings and know how to win.

“It’s always going to come down to pitching. That was the only reason we were still in the race last year, because Seattle’s pitching faltered, and it was the main reason we fell out of the race, when we lost pitching.”

No one will confuse the Angel rotation with Toronto’s or Atlanta’s, but compared to 1997, when the Angels took a staff of Mark Langston, Jason Dickson, Allen Watson, a gimpy Mark Gubicza and Shigetoshi Hasegawa to Anaheim, they are in much better shape.

Finley has shown no effects of the broken wrist that ended his season Aug. 19, Hill has been the Angels’ best pitcher this spring, and McDowell, trying to rebound from season-ending elbow surgery in May, has had several strong spring starts.

Watson, who gave up a major league-leading 37 home runs last season, has mixed in more sinkers and changeups and given up only one homer this spring, and Dickson hopes to build on his strong rookie season (13-9).

“We went into last season with a bunch of question marks,” Manager Terry Collins said of his rotation. “Now, we know what we have.”

Stronger starting pitching should ease the burden on a bullpen that blew a major league-high 27 save opportunities last season.

“Our pitching wore out last season--we used a four-man rotation [in August], and our bullpen was exhausted,” closer Troy Percival said. “That’s not an excuse, it’s fact. But this is the first time since I’ve been here we’ve had the caliber of starting pitching we have.

“We’re going to get the ball in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings instead of the fourth, fifth and sixth, and that’s going to make a big difference.”

The first through sixth batters in the lineup--Darin Erstad, Jim Edmonds, Dave Hollins, Salmon, Fielder and Garret Anderson--have excellent run-scoring potential, but what often separates teams in the American League is the bottom third of the order.

The best teams--such as Seattle (Glenallen Hill, Dan Wilson, Russ Davis); Cleveland (Travis Fryman, Sandy Alomar, Shawon Dunston); New York (Darryl Strawberry, Scott Brosius, Joe Girardi) and Baltimore (B.J. Surhoff, Chris Hoiles, Mike Bordick)--have bottom thirds that can inflict considerable damage, and this is where the Angels may not stack up.

Phil Nevin, who will platoon at catcher with Matt Walbeck, had an excellent spring, hitting .275 with four homers and 12 RBIs and throwing out eight of 10 runners in Cactus League play, but he has caught only five games in the big leagues and has never hit more than nine homers in a season.

Walbeck’s career high for homers is five, and second baseman Norberto Martin, though he is a .299 career hitter, has never homered more than twice in a season and has never been an everyday player.

Greene had nine homers in 34 games last season and Velarde hit 14 in 1996, so there’s a significant difference between a lineup that ends with Walbeck/Nevin, Martin and DiSarcina and one that ends with Greene, Velarde and DiSarcina.

“But if the 3-4-5 guys don’t do the majority of the work on any team, you’re going to have trouble,” Collins said. “The meat of the order has to get it done.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

ANGEL LINEUP / ROSTER

PROJECTED OPENING-DAY LINEUP

1. Darin Erstad, 1b; 2. Jim Edmonds, cf; 3. Tim Salmon, rf; 4. Cecil Fielder, dh; 5. Garret Anderson, lf; 6. Dave Hollins, 3b; 7. Matt Walbeck, c; 8. Noberto Martin, 2b; 9. Gary DiSarcina, ss

PROJECTED ROSTER

Catchers--Todd Green*, Matt Walbeck

Infielders--Darin Erstad, Randy Velarde*, Gary DiSarcina, Dave Hollins, Noberto Martin, Cecil Fielder, Steve Scarsone, Chip Hale

Outfielders--Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon, Phil Nevin, Orlando Palmeiro

Pitchers--Chuck Finley, Ken Hill, Allen Watson, Jack McDowell, Jason Dickson, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Rich LeLucia, Mike Holtz, Mike James, Troy Percival, Omar Olivares

*--Will open season on disabled list

Angels at a Glance

GENERAL INFORMATION

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Lower view MVP: $11

Lower view box: $9

Upper view: $8.50

Club Loge: $22

Left field family pavilion: $4 adult / $2 child

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