Shop Talk

Bill Stoneman of the Angels met with agent Scott Boras at this week’s general managers’ meetings at Amelia Island, Fla. Stop hyperventilating, Angel fans. It’s not what you think.

The meeting was about pitcher Tim Belcher, who is another client of the agent representing the greatest athlete in the history of the Milky Way Galaxy--says so, right in the 50-page manifesto Boras gave to baseball executives--shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Though the Angels enter the free-agent season with a huge hole at shortstop and are owned by a company that would seem to have the financial resources to pursue the best player on the market, they have no plans to enter the A-Rod sweepstakes. Not when bidding could go as high as $250 million for 10 years.

“Our budget is good--we have sufficient funds to put a competitive team out there--but it’s not likely we’ll be in that market for guys commanding those kinds of dollars,” said Stoneman, who returned from Florida on Thursday night.

“This is a team game, and to throw a disproportionate amount of money at one guy is not something we want to do. We’re a good mid-market club. To start pretending we’re something we’re not might get us in trouble.”

Or, it might make the Angels, an 82-80 team that spent most of 2000 on the fringe of the division race, a legitimate pennant contender.

Stoneman said the Angels’ 2001 budget will be “similar” to last year’s $57-million payroll and that the Angels “are not looking to dump salary,” despite speculation they would welcome trade offers for high-priced first baseman Mo Vaughn.

If that’s true, the Angels should have roughly $18 million to spend this winter. They have six players--Vaughn, outfielders Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson and Darin Erstad and relievers Troy Percival and Shigetoshi Hasegawa--under contract for 2001 for $30.1 million.

A conservative cost estimate for an additional 15 players--third baseman Troy Glaus, second baseman Adam Kennedy, catcher Bengie Molina, pitchers Ramon Ortiz, Jarrod Washburn, Scott Schoeneweis, Seth Etherton and Matt Wise, relievers Mike Holtz, Al Levine, Mike Fyhrie and possibly free agent Mark Petkovsek, outfielder Orlando Palmeiro and utility players Scott Spiezio and Benji Gil--is $9 million, bringing the payroll to $39.1 million.

The Angels saved $19.5 million by dropping pitchers Ken Hill and Kent Bottenfield, catcher Matt Walbeck and not picking up options on Belcher and shortstop Gary DiSarcina. If they were willing to stretch their budget to the $62-million range, they could make a run at Rodriguez.

But Stoneman said improving starting pitching is still the Angels’ top priority, with shortstop, backup catcher and designated hitter falling in behind, so the Rodriguez option will not be explored.

That doesn’t mean the Angels will be serious contenders for Mike Hampton, Mike Mussina and Darren Dreifort, the top three in a weak free-agent pitching class, players who should command at least $10 million a year.

Neither Hampton, the New York Mets’ left-hander, nor Mussina, the Baltimore right-hander, appear to have a desire to play on the West Coast, and the Dodgers are the favorite to retain Dreifort.

That will leave the Angels pursuing pitching from a second-tier group that includes the Mets’ Rick Reed, the New York Yankees’ Denny Neagle, Atlanta’s Andy Ashby, Oakland’s Kevin Appier, Detroit’s Willie Blair, Arizona’s Armando Reynoso and possibly Belcher, who is willing to return for far less than the $5.1 million option the Angels declined.

Don’t expect much movement soon. If the market mirrors last winter’s, when many marginal pitchers settled for far less than their original asking price and didn’t sign until January, the Angels might wait for prices to drop.

“It may take a lot of patience, or a lot of money,” Stoneman said. “First, we’ve got to see what these guys are asking for.”

The Angels could explore a trade for pitching, with Colorado’s Pedro Astacio and Montreal’s Dustin Hermanson two possibilities. Salmon, Vaughn and Percival could be dangled in deals--Salmon has drawn interest from the Diamondbacks, Rangers and Yankees--but it’s highly doubtful the Angels would find a taker for Vaughn, who is owed $61 million over the next four years.

The Angels are trying to bring back DiSarcina, who sat out most of 2000 because of rotator-cuff surgery and is willing to sign an incentive-laced deal with a lower base salary, but four other teams--the Houston Astros, Chicago White Sox, Mariners and Orioles--have expressed interest, and the Angels want to wait as long as possible to evaluate his health.

Toronto’s Alex Gonzalez, the Mets’ Mike Bordick and the White Sox’s Jose Valentin top a thin free-agent shortstop class behind Rodriguez, but the Angels could pursue a trade for the Mets’ defensive whiz, Rey Ordonez, who has three years and $16 million left on his contract but will be expendable if New York lands Rodriguez.

Stoneman could also pursue trades for “younger guys who are ready to be in the major leagues but have guys ahead of them.” Among the shortstop possibilities: Montreal’s Tomas De La Rosa, Toronto’s Cesar Izturis and Felipe Lopez, Cincinnati’s Travis Dawkins and Florida’s Pablo Ozuna.

There’s a slim chance Walbeck could return as the backup catcher. The Angels could also pursue Seattle’s Joe Oliver or the Dodgers’ Todd Hundley, who could back up Molina and serve as a designated hitter. The pursuit of a designated hitter will hinge on how much money the Angels have left after the bulk of their shopping is done.

Two other high priorities for Stoneman this winter: Sign Erstad, who is entering the final year of a four-year, $7.25-million deal, to a contract extension and lock up Glaus, who led the American League with 47 homers, to a long-term deal.

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Tim Wallach, who played for the Dodgers and Angels, will manage the Angels’ Class-A team at Rancho Cucamonga next season. The Angels also named Mike Brumley as their double-A Arkansas manager and former double-A manager Don Wakamatsu as their minor league field coordinator.