No Twitch of the Nose Can Solve Angel Woes

In the spring of 1999, three young filmmakers descended into the bowels of Edison Field to see whether they could document evidence of a curse on the Angels. They were never seen again.

Their unedited footage, however, has recently been discovered, revealing a fright-a-minute baseball season in Anaheim guaranteed to provoke nervous tension even at its dullest moments, screaming and fainting.

Jim Edmonds undergoes surgery before the season, Gary DiSarcina goes down in spring training after being hit with a ball off a coach’s fungo bat, Mo Vaughn falls into the dugout chasing a pop foul on opening night and suffers an ankle injury that doesn’t heal, Tim Salmon goes down with an injury, players revolt over a proposed contract extension for Manager Terry Collins, Collins gets the extension and later quits, players revolt in the clubhouse because Vaughn doesn’t join a brawl, General Manager Bill Bavasi quits, the season ends with the Angels in last place in the American League West and Disney trying to sell.

This makes “The Blair Witch Project” look like “Bewitched.”

Another difference is that the “Blair Witch Project” was made for $50,000. The Angels had $51 million in salaries on the disabled list at one point this season.

Is it any wonder that Disney has decided to rechannel its resources into movies and out of baseball?

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Although they finished 22 games below .500 and 25 games out of first place, the Angels weren’t as bad as they seemed. Bavasi recognized that, and although his proposed application of Band-Aids might not have been sufficient, it was preferable to team President Tony Tavares’ recommendation of major surgery.

Considering that the Mighty Ducks still haven’t recovered from the damage done by his scalpel a couple of years ago, I would prefer a second opinion.

I’ll say this about Tavares. From his second-guessing of managers and players during games, it’s clear he knows some baseball. So, when he calms down, he should be able to see that Vaughn, Salmon, Edmonds, DiSarcina, Darin Erstad, Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus, when all are sound, form a good nucleus of everyday players.

He should also be able to see that the Angels can’t contend with the pitchers they have.

They do not have a No. 1 starter. That’s not an overwhelming problem. Not many American League teams have No. 1 starters. The problem for the Angels is that with the aging of Chuck Finley and Tim Belcher, the fragility of Ken Hill and the youth of Ramon Ortiz they may not even have a No. 2 starter.

If the Expos continue providing baseball with a bargain basement until they either build a new ballpark in Montreal or move, they might be tempted to part with Dustin Hermanson for a couple of the Angels’ young pitchers.

If not, the Angels will have to trade at least one of their core players.

They would happily offer Anderson. Although he won the Gene Autry Trophy this season as their most valuable player, that was as much in recognition of his endurance (157 games) as his contributions (.303 average, 21 home runs and 80 runs batted in). The Angels don’t believe he’s a gamer. For reasons that have never been adequately explained to me, they have the same doubts about Edmonds. Other teams, knowing what the Angels know, probably won’t trade a reliable starting pitcher for either.

That means the Angels might have to think about the unthinkable, trading Vaughn.

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It doesn’t matter what I think--or Tavares, for that matter--because Vaughn has a contract requiring his approval before he can be traded. This discussion might be moot.

I’ll be the first to admit that it also might be dumb.

Vaughn did not have the year at the plate that the Angels anticipated when they signed him to a six-year, $80-million contract. Considering his ankle, though, he probably gave them more than they could have realistically expected.

His bat, however, was only half the reason they targeted him instead of Mike Piazza as a free agent. They wanted Vaughn because of his leadership in the clubhouse, and it was there that he disappointed them.

It was not the most tumultuous Angel team in history. No one packed any pistols that we know of. But there were plenty of opportunities for Vaughn to rise above the turmoil and take his teammates with him. Instead, it seemed as if he felt them out before taking a stand. That’s not leadership. That’s politics.

If injury-free, Vaughn has promised, he will be the force on the field next season that he was in seasons past. Now that he has had a year in his new clubhouse, he has promised that he also will be a force there. It could be a monumental mistake to trade him without finding out whether he can deliver.

On the other hand, if a team will give up a dominating pitcher for him. . . .

I’m not saying Mo must go. I’m just saying the Angels would have to consider it.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.