Salmon Wants to Be Right in the Action

Manager Terry Collins hasn’t revealed his plan for how he’ll use his four outfielders, but the majority of his lineups are expected to include Jim Edmonds in center and Tim Salmon in right.

And if that’s not the case, Collins will have at least one unhappy outfielder.

“If the object is to put your best defense on the field, are you going to put Garret [Anderson] in center or right?” Salmon said. “That’s not a knock on Garret. He does a great job. But on any given day Jim can win a game with a great catch and I can win a game with a throw.”

Edmonds is a two-time Gold Glove Award winner who has a penchant for making diving catches in the gaps and running catches into walls, and he has an excellent arm.

Salmon, who is returning to the outfield after a foot injury relegated him to designated hitter for most of 1998, is an accomplished right fielder with one of baseball’s best arms.

Anderson, who will share time with Darin Erstad in left, is the most versatile of the four and is expected to spell Edmonds in center and Salmon in right, perhaps once a week for each. Though Anderson is a quality outfielder, he’s a notch below Edmonds and Salmon defensively.

Both Anderson and Erstad will spend more time than Edmonds and Salmon at designated hitter, but Collins seems to like the idea of using Edmonds and Salmon as a DH occasionally, Edmonds to avoid the bumps and bruises he seems to accumulate and Salmon so he can take a load off his feet every now and then.

That may not jive with Salmon’s plan, though.

“There’s 26 or 27 weeks in a season, and if I DH once a week, that’s 26 or 27 nights I’m not in right,” Salmon said. “I want to play 155-160 games in the outfield. I can see DHing the middle game of a three-game series on artificial turf, and if my foot’s hurting, I’ll say, hey, don’t play me in the field. But I can’t see DHing just to satisfy someone’s desire to play outfield.”

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In his final tuneup before Tuesday’s opening-night start against the Cleveland Indians, right-hander Tim Belcher threw five innings Thursday, giving up two earned runs and five hits, striking out two and walking one in a minor league intrasquad game at Gene Autry Park in Mesa, Ariz. . . . Shortstop Gary DiSarcina underwent surgery to have a plate screwed into the broken bone in his left forearm, and second baseman Justin Baughman underwent rod-replacement surgery in his broken leg Wednesday. Both were released from the hospital and are expected to begin rehabilitation soon. . . . World Boxing Council welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya will throw out the ceremonial first pitch when the Angels face the Aguascalientes Railroadmen of the Mexican League in an exhibition game Saturday night at Edison Field.