Angels’ Vaughn Puts Best Ankle Forward

Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn plopped his considerable frame into a clubhouse chair at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Tuesday, then spent much of his first interview of 2000 trying to convince reporters that his head and his heart were right where his body was.

“I’m excited about this team,” said Vaughn, who will join the Angels for their first full-squad workout today. “I heard all this stuff [this winter] about me wanting to get traded, but I’ve never not finished something I started. We’re going to get this right here. I’m not about to jump ship. . . . I hope there wasn’t a perception I’m not happy to be here.”

Actually, it was hardly a stretch to think Vaughn was having second thoughts about signing a six-year, $80-million contract with the Angels before the 1999 season when you consider that:

* Several Angel regulars, upset that Vaughn did not participate in a bench-clearing brawl in Cleveland last Aug. 31, threatened to boycott the game against the Indians the next night if Vaughn was in the lineup. Then-manager Terry Collins sat Vaughn and resigned two days later.

* Vaughn was often at the center of controversy in the Angels’ stormy clubhouse, and he blasted his teammates in mid-August, saying he was “sick and tired of all the bull . . . around here.”

* At least one Angel veteran, in a team meeting after a game in Boston in late August, criticized Vaughn for not being the kind of clubhouse leader the Angels had anticipated when they signed the former Red Sox slugger.

* After adding Vaughn and pitcher Tim Belcher and making a strong run at free-agent pitcher Randy Johnson in the winter of 1998-99, the Angels, amid speculation that Disney wants to sell the team, made no significant moves this winter and let their best pitcher, Chuck Finley, go without making a contract offer.

“It doesn’t matter what direction this franchise is going,” said Vaughn, who hit .281 with a team-leading 33 homers and 108 RBIs despite playing all of 1999 on a severely sprained left ankle. “I have nothing to do with that. I’m not a general manager. I’m here to play the game, and that’s it.”

Vaughn claimed he paid no attention to the Angels’ off-season moves or lack thereof. Nor did he fret about perception that the Angels failed to improve a team that went a disappointing 70-92 and finished last in the American League West after many had picked them to win the division title.

All Vaughn cared about was getting his ankle back in shape, and to that end, Vaughn reports he is at full strength after resting it for several months, and that he is able to run and pivot on the foot “a lot better” than he could last season.

“I should be fine,” said Vaughn, who injured the ankle when he fell into the visitor’s dugout chasing a foul pop in the first inning of the season opener last April. “Last year I played hurt and put on some weight that I didn’t want to put on. The ankle has been tested, and it’s at full strength. If I can make it through the first inning, we’ll be ready to go.”

The pitching-thin Angels will need a vigorous Vaughn, not to mention Tim Salmon and Jim Edmonds, for an entire season, because it appears their only hope of contending in the West will hinge on whether they can out-slug opponents.

There have been some hard-hitting and shaky-pitching Angel teams--1995 comes immediately to mind--on which the offense succumbed to the pressures of carrying the club and the team crumbled.

“But there have also been a lot of teams with one veteran pitcher and some young guys that won,” said Vaughn, who appears to have added some muscle to his upper body. “It’s not going to be offense versus pitching. It’s the attitude of the whole team that’s important. We’re going to go through some growing pains, but we have to do it as a team, not one versus another.”

The Angels were a wreck last season, but it wasn’t so much pitchers versus hitters. It was teammate versus teammate, the frustration of so many major injuries and major disappointments culminating in a second-half explosion of bickering and backbiting that tore apart the clubhouse.

Vaughn had a reputation for policing the clubhouse in Boston, and these were the types of situations many figured the Angels would avoid because of his strong presence. But Vaughn, who was limited to designated hitter for about half the season, never felt comfortable with that role in Anaheim.

“Regardless of what I expected last year, I wasn’t able to play the way I can play, so I was a different person,” Vaughn said. “I can’t lead if I’m not on the field. . . .

“But last year was last year. It’s a new situation now. Those things happen. You’re going to fight with your brothers. . . . If you look at the whole situation last year, me coming here, the losing, all the [bad] stuff that happened, I can see how someone might think I wasn’t happy. But Mo Vaughn never said anything about wanting to get traded.”

The Angels didn’t seem to rule it out, though, saying they would listen to offers for all of their players, regardless of stature and contract status. In an interview over the weekend, Finley, now an Indian pitcher, said he believed the Angels were trying to trade Vaughn.

Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman called Finley’s speculation “nonsense,” adding that Vaughn has not asked to waive his no-trade clause.

“You see so many guys in bad situations demand trades, but that’s not my style,” Vaughn said. “I still believe I made the right choice coming here. This organization took care of me. [Success] doesn’t always start right away. It took three or four years to get things right in Boston.”

Angel Notes

The latest Jim Edmonds rumor has the Angel center fielder going to the New York Yankees for pitcher Ramiro Mendoza, but there are questions about the Yankees’ desire to add payroll and where Edmonds would play in New York, considering that Bernie Williams is entrenched in center field there. . . . Dale Sutherland has been promoted to special assistant to Bill Stoneman but will continue overseeing major league and professional scouting. . . . Right fielder Tim Salmon had a message for Angel fans Tuesday: “How can you blame them for being jaded? But we still have the same group of guys, and we’re going to show you things will be different. We’re going to have to earn back their confidence, no doubt. It’s going to take time, but I definitely believe in this team.”

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Sizing Up Mo Vaughn

Mo Vaughn in his first season with the Angels compared to his previous career averages:

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VAUGHN AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB E 1999 .281 524 63 147 20 0 33 108 54 127 0 3 Before ’99 .304 478 76 146 25 1 29 94 65 119 3 12

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