Canseco Let Go in Favor of Hill

The Jose Canseco experiment never made it out of the petri dish. Concerned about nagging injuries and a potential lack of production, the Angels released the designated hitter Wednesday and replaced him with slugger Glenallen Hill, who was acquired in a trade from the New York Yankees.

The Angels were hoping Canseco, who has 446 home runs, would fill the power void created by Mo Vaughn’s season-ending elbow surgery, but the 36-year-old missed 10 consecutive games this spring because of lower-back and hamstring injuries and another game because of a twinge in his neck.

When he did play, Canseco did not impress the Angels with his .231 average (nine for 39). He had no home runs, no walks and nine strikeouts in 13 games.

“It’s not just the cold numbers,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’re looking at what a player’s skills are--his bat speed, durability, how he moves in the field. We still think he can hit major league pitching, but instead of guessing with Jose, we know what Glenallen Hill can do.”

Canseco, informed of the move during a morning meeting with Scioscia and General Manager Bill Stoneman, insisted he could have played regular-season games with the injuries he had this spring.

“I’m in shock--there was definitely no indication of this happening,” said Canseco, who was already in contact with the Baltimore Orioles about an outfield/DH job by Wednesday afternoon.

“Whether or not I had an opportunity to show my ability is hard to tell. I was ready to play three days before I came back [from the hamstring injury] and they wanted me to wait. I was going to play with that twinge in my neck, but they took me off the bus to Tucson. I’m really kind of confused.”

So were the Angels--by Canseco. They looked at his health history--he has been on the disabled list seven times in six years and underwent back surgery in 1999--saw how much ice it took to soothe his many sore spots after games and decided to go in another direction.

“There’s a difference between playing hurt and performing hurt,” Scioscia said. “Jose could go out and swing the bat, but could he get to the pitches he needs to get to in a major league game if he’s nicked up? We all felt that was a big if. When Hill’s name popped up, we felt this was a surer way to go. He brings more of the total package we’re looking for.”

Hill, who was traded for double-A outfielder Darren Blakely, is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound DH who can provide considerable power from the right side.

Acquired by the Yankees from the Cubs last July 21, Hill, 36, hit 10 homers in his first 51 at-bats with New York. Four of them came during a four-game series against the Angels from Aug. 17-20, when Hill went eight for 14 with five runs batted in.

“He’s one of the three strongest--if not the strongest--players in the game,” former Angel pitcher Kent Mercker marveled at the time. “That guy has unbelievable power.”

In 104 games last season, Hill had 27 homers and 58 RBIs in only 300 at-bats. Sixteen of those homers came in 40 games for the eventual World Series champions.

But with Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch moving to left field, David Justice moving to DH and reserve outfielders Henry Rodriguez, Michael Coleman and Shane Spencer available, Hill was expendable. The Yankees also welcomed a chance to shed Hill’s $1.5-million salary for 2001.

“When he’s hot, he can really do some damage,” Angel right fielder Tim Salmon said. “He killed us last year. He can hit some bombs. And he should help with all the left-handers we’ll see in our division.”

Hill, who will be the Angels’ full-time DH and bat sixth, is not that vulnerable against right-handed pitchers--he batted .287 against them over the last three seasons.

But he batted .324 against left-handers during that span and will see plenty of left-handers in the American League West--the Rangers have three (Kenny Rogers, Darren Oliver, Doug Davis) in their rotation, and the A’s (Barry Zito, Mark Mulder) and Mariners (Jamie Moyer, John Halama) each have two.

“Hill is someone we have more confidence in,” Stoneman said. “He did a good job for the Yankees and did some serious damage to us. He’s a real competitive guy. He’s going to be a good fit.”

He comes with some baggage. Hill has very little cartilage in his left knee and must play with knee braces. He’s a below-average outfielder with little speed. He went on the DL because of hamstring strains in 1999 and 2000.

And there’s his fear of spiders. While playing for Toronto in 1990, he went on the DL after suffering cuts, bruises and scrapes to his knees and feet while attempting to escape an arachnophobic nightmare.

But compared with Canseco, Hill was a more durable option. And that’s something Canseco will never understand.

“I don’t know if the perception was that I was not healthy, but I am,” he said. “I may have had some typical spring training injuries, but I was ready to play. I never asked out of the lineup. I just didn’t fit in.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

For Openers

With Wednesday’s acquisition of designated hitter Glenallen Hill, here’s the Angels’ probable opening-day lineup, with 2000 statistics:

*--*

Player Po HR RBI Avg. Darin Erstad CF 25 100 .355 Wally Joyner 1B 5 32 .281 Tim Salmon RF 34 97 .290 Troy Glaus 3B 47 102 .284 Garret Anderson LF 35 117 .286 Glenallen Hill DH 27 58 .293 Bengie Molina C 14 71 .281 Benji Gil SS 6 23 .239 David Eckstein* 2B 4 39 .254

*--*

*Minor league statistics

*

GOING

Jose Canseco

He enters this season 23rd on baseball’s career HR list with 446.

COMING

Glenallen Hill

Angels will be the eighth stop in the 12-year career for journeyman outfielder.