Players Want to See Disney Make Its Move

There has been more at stake for the Angels in this final weekend with the Seattle Mariners than pride and a spoiler role in the American League West.

General Manager Bill Stoneman’s contract awards him a bonus if the club finishes at .500 or better. There are also bonuses for each step in the postseason, but those will have to wait for another year.

There is nothing unusual with the bonus concept. It has become as common among general managers as players.

However, Disney has added a twist, providing a bonus if the general manager stays at or under his budget, which could put a GM with less character than Stoneman to a test: Is he only interested in his money or does he damn the budget and bonus and insist that ownership pay any price to help the club win?

Disney’s budget concerns will be on trial in the aftermath of a promising season. Stoneman and Tony Tavares, the club president, said recently that the Angels will pursue a front-line pitcher. They added, however, they will not get into a bidding war nor break up their nucleus in a blockbuster trade.

Where that leaves them regarding a free-agent market in which Mike Mussina, Mike Hampton and Darren Dreifort are the only top-tier pitchers is unclear.

There is clubhouse concern--illustrated by Mo Vaughn’s desire to meet with Tavares next week to determine where Disney is headed-- that Disney is satisfied with a middle-of-the-road payroll that allows the Angels to be competitive--if nothing more.

There is also clubhouse concern that management may put too much stock in a young rotation that hasn’t proved itself and ended the season in disarray.

None of the young pitchers won more than seven games (reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa led with 10) and four--Jarrod Washburn, Seth Etherton, Jason Dickson and Matt Wise--were out because of physical problems at the end while a fifth, Brian Cooper, finished in triple A.

A sixth, Ramon Ortiz (8-6, 5.09 earned-run average), showed his Pedro Martinez promise at times but more often his inexperience, and a seventh, Scott Schoeneweis, the most advanced of the group, opened the season 4-0 but then lost 10 of his last 13 decisions.

Manager Mike Scioscia, attempting to keep the flickering playoff hopes alive in September, had no alternative but to keep starting a combo of overworked relief pitchers, further eating up his bullpen.

The remedy isn’t easy, but if the Angels are serious about a pitcher like Mussina or Hampton, it may take a preemptive strike of the Vaughn type.

Or perhaps, they need to address another trouble spot by pursuing Alex Rodriguez at a time when improving the offense and defense may be more feasible than improving the pitching.

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The season is ending much too soon for Darin Erstad. The most spectacular performance in Angel history deserves the spotlight of the postseason, as does that of Troy Glaus, who not only broke the American League home run record for third basemen in only his second full season but thrust himself into the Hank Aaron Derby.

That, of course, may be a little premature and unfair, but Glaus’ 47 homers at 24 is two more than the total that Ken Griffey Jr. hit in the year that he turned 24. The difference is that Griffey, who now has 438, had already hit 87 in four previous seasons while Glaus had 30 homers before the current season.

Aaron’s 755, of course, is safe for several more years, but the Glaus jump from 29 last year to 47 this year is an impressive display of muscle and maturation, and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.