Why He’s No Angel

Everything you’re seeing now in St. Louis, the excitement, the joy, the history, it could have been Anaheim.

You could have been part of it. You probably wouldn’t have caught home run No. 62. But maybe you would have been at Edison Field when it was hit. More likely, you wouldn’t have been but could have said you were 10 years from now, like people here say now about Kirk Gibson’s home run at Dodger Stadium.

Bill Bavasi, the Angels’ general manager, could have been king of the world this week, answering questions by reporters from almost every part of the globe about how it was that he acquired Mark McGwire.

Instead, he was sitting in his office at Edison Field on Tuesday, answering questions from one reporter about how it was that he didn’t acquire McGwire.

I wondered if he second-guessed himself.

Or if that’s something he relies on us in the media to do for him.

No, Bavasi said, he does it too.

“Like everything else in baseball, hindsight is 20-20,” he said. “But, let’s see, if we’d had his 65 or 70 home runs this season, that would give us about 40 more than what we’ll end up with as a team. Yeah, I’d take that.”

Don’t misunderstand. Bavasi is proud of the team he and scouting director Bob Fontaine built and Terry Collins has managed to first place in the American League West despite injuries to such players as Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad, Ken Hill, Jack McDowell, Todd Greene and Dave Hollins that would have long ago sunk another contender.

But McGwire might have made the difference in a team that is in a tight race with the Texas Rangers and one that, like the leaders in all the other divisions, could be using September to position itself for the playoffs.

McGwire might have made the difference in a team that appears on a collision course with the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs and a team that already could have clinched home-field advantage against the Boston Red Sox or Toronto Blue Jays.

McGwire might have made the difference in a team that will draw not quite 2.5 million fans to its renovated ballpark and one that could have easily surpassed the team’s attendance record of 2.8 million set in 1982.

Yeah, Bavasi would take that.

As would any of us who have followed the fortunes of McGwire and the Angels this season, right?

So what was Bavasi thinking?

He explained that Tuesday, establishing only one ground rule. He wouldn’t discuss names involved in discussions with the Oakland A’s when they made McGwire available in July of last summer because they knew they couldn’t sign him as a free agent in the off-season.

From sources in a position to know, however, it’s clear Oakland wouldn’t have considered a trade unless it included center fielder Jim Edmonds. With him and pitching prospect Jarrod Washburn in the deal, the A’s were at least willing to talk to the Angels.

But, while not confirming that those players’ names were mentioned, Bavasi said Tuesday that he told the A’s he wouldn’t talk to them about McGwire unless they also were willing to include third baseman Scott Brosius.

Bavasi said he would have changed his position only if the A’s had allowed him to contact McGwire or his agent and the Angels had obtained a guarantee McGwire would sign with them after the season. The A’s, Bavasi said, refused.

He, of course, knew McGwire had expressed a preference for playing in Anaheim, close to his own off-season home in Orange County and his 10-year-old son Matt’s home nearby.

But what if McGwire changed his mind after playing the last half of last season in Anaheim? What if he decided playing in Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco also met his personal needs and signed with one of them as a free agent?

In that case, Bavasi would have traded at least a couple of players, including, if our sources are correct, a gold glove center fielder, and started this season with no one to show for it.

So he insisted on Brosius, a .203 hitter for the A’s last season who, as Bavasi suspected he would, has rebounded nicely with the Yankees. But even though Bavasi was willing to sweeten the deal with additional prospects, the A’s suddenly were less interested.

They were not at all interested after St. Louis entered the negotiations, enabling the A’s to send McGwire not only out of the division but out of the American League.

End of story?

Not quite. Bavasi privately held out hope that McGwire would become a free agent and sign with the Angels.

Despite the perception Disney is too thrifty to pursue a $10-million-a-year player, Bavasi said he is confident the Angel owners would have given him the go-ahead if he could have convinced them it was a smart baseball decision. He talked to them while trying to trade for McGwire and not once, he said, did they object.

McGwire, however, signed with the Cardinals before testing the free-agent market.

That was the end of the story for Bavasi.

“I’ve been to St. Louis,” he said. “I know what baseball is like there. I guess that won out.”

If McGwire had started this season in an Angel uniform, though, Bavasi said he believes the spirit of St. Louis would also have prevailed in Anaheim.

“I have no idea what he would have done here,” he said. “He might have hit 30 homers. He might have hit 80. But if he’d done what he’s done this season, you would have seen a frenzy here just like in St. Louis.”

Instead, fans who go to the games at Edison Field are resigned to watching McGwire’s home runs on the Jumbotron and pondering what could have been.