The Line on Bavasi

Bill Bavasi’s defining moves as general manager of the Angels:

THE BEST

* Signed young players Garret Anderson, Gary DiSarcina, Jim Edmonds, Darin Erstad, Troy Percival and Tim Salmon to long-term contracts, saving the Angels about $10 million this season alone.

* Persuaded Disney to invest in international scouting. Without it, the Angels lacked any surplus for trades or any sizable margin of error in player development.

* Persuaded free-agent Mo Vaughn to come to Anaheim, and persuaded Disney to spend $80 million to get him.

THE WORST

* Hired Marcel Lachemann as manager. Thoroughly miscast as a manager, he admitted making fundamental strategic mistakes and acknowledged he could not motivate his players in 1995, when the Angels collapsed late in the season and lost the AL West title by one game.

* Traded Damion Easley to the Tigers for Greg Gohr, who won only one game for the Angels before retiring. Easley, oft-injured and unproductive in Anaheim, blossomed into an all-star second baseman last year.

* Not trading with Oakland for Mark McGwire in 1997. Enough said.