Angels at a Glance

Who’s New

*--* OF Eric Owens, LHP Rich Rodriguez, C Wilbert Nieves Who’s Gone OF Orlando Palmeiro, OF Alex Ochoa, RHP Al Levine, RHP Lou Pote, LHP Dennis Cook Biggest Question of Spring Will pitcher Aaron Sele be ready to start the regular season? If so, the Angels will have no major roster decisions to make this spring. By trying to strengthen a torn rotator cuff via therapy in the hope he could return for the playoffs -- the Angels did not include him on their postseason roster -- Sele delayed surgery two months. Without those extra two months of rehabilitation, he becomes a question mark this spring Job Seekers If Sele is not ready, the candidates to replace him in the starting rotation include Mickey Callaway and Matt Wise, rookie Chris Bootcheck and relievers Scot Shields and Scott Schoeneweis. The Angels plan to audition a horde of unproven outfielders for a reserve spot, including Jeff DaVanon, Nathan Haynes, Gary Johnson, Julio Ramirez, Barry Wesson and Pacific Coast League MVP Robb Quinlan. If one of those outfielders emerges as a potential right fielder in 2004, allowing the Angels to move Tim Salmon to designated hitter, so much the better Keep Your Eye On Bootcheck and fellow right-hander Bobby Jenks, the next two starters likely to emerge from the Angels’ farm system. With Kevin Appier 35 and Sele 32 and coming off injury, the Angels believe they have insurance in Callaway and Wise and future replacements in Bootcheck and Jenks. They prefer to start Bootcheck, 24, at triple-A Salt Lake and Jenks, 22 and armed with a 100-mph fastball, at double-A Arkansas Reasons to Be Excited John Lackey and Francisco Rodriguez started last season in the minor leagues -- Rodriguez did not arrive in Anaheim until September -- but the Angels get a full season from both pitchers this year. The Angels won a club-record 99 games -- and then the World Series -- with a lineup that returns intact and that does not depend upon one or two players to be successful. No player on the roster is older than 35, and Salmon is the only everyday player over 30 Reasons to Be Worried The pitching depth is solid, but the depth among position players is thin. The minor league system has yet to develop the outfielder who could replace Salmon, should he go onto the disabled list for the fifth time in six years, or Gold Glove center fielder Darin Erstad, should he suffer serious injury during one of his trademark crashes into a fence or dives onto the ground. At the end of the long season, Sele was injured and three other starting pitchers -- Appier, Lackey and ace Jarrod Washburn -- were exhausted

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*--* MANAGER Mike Scioscia, the American League manager of the year, is in his fourth season as a major league manager, all with the Angels. His career record is 256-230 (.527). This season, he becomes the first Angel manager since Bill Rigney -- the first manager in franchise history -- to lead the Angels on four consecutive opening days. Scioscia is the only returning manager in the AL West, with newcomers in Oakland (Ken Macha), Seattle (Bob Melvin) and Texas (Buck Showalter)

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*--* PROJECTED LINEUP SS ... David Eckstein CF... Darin Erstad RF ... Tim Salmon LF ... Garret Anderson 3B ... Troy Glaus DH ... Brad Fullmer/Shawn Wooten 1B

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*--* PROJECTED ROTATION 1. ... Jarrod Washburn 2. ... Ramon Ortiz 3. ... Kevin Appier 4. ... John Lackey 5. ... Aaron Sele

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*--* BULLPEN LH setup ... Scott Schoeneweis RH setup ... Francisco Rodriguez Closer ... Troy Percival

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-- Bill Shaikin

*--* Exhibition schedule All times Pacific Feb. 28 -- vs. Seattle (ss) at Tempe, Ariz., noon March 1 -- vs. San Francisco at Scottsdale, Ariz., noon. 2 -- vs. Colorado (ss), noon. 3 -- vs. Milwaukee (ss), noon. 4 -- vs. Chicago Cubs at Mesa, Ariz., noon. 5 -- vs. Seattle (ss), noon. 6 -- vs. Arizona at Tucson, noon; vs. Oakland (ss) at Tempe, noon. 7 -- vs. Milwaukee, noon. 8 -- vs. Oakland at Phoenix, noon. 9 -- vs. Texas at Tempe, noon; vs. San Francisco (ss) at Scottsdale, noon. 10 -- vs. San Diego at Peoria, Ariz., 6 p.m. 11 -- vs. San Francisco, noon. 12 -- vs. Kansas City at Surprise, Ariz., noon. 13 -- vs. San Diego, noon. 14 -- vs. Texas at Surprise, noon. 15 -- vs. Chicago Cubs, noon. 16 -- vs. Milwaukee at Maryvale, Ariz., noon; vs. Oakland (ss) at Phoenix, noon. 17 -- vs. Chicago White Sox at Tucson, noon. 18 -- vs. Oakland, noon. 19 -- vs. Chicago Cubs (ss) at Mesa, noon; vs. San Francisco at Tempe, noon. 21 -- vs. Chicago White Sox, noon. 22 -- vs. Texas at Surprise, noon. 23 -- vs. San Diego, noon. 24 -- vs. Kansas City, noon. 25 -- vs. Colorado at Tucson, noon. 26 -- vs. Chicago Cubs at Mesa, noon. 27 -- vs. Chicago Cubs, 11 a.m. 28 -- Angels at Dodgers, 7 p.m. 29 -- Dodgers at Angels, 7 p.m

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*--* Key dates Today: First workout for pitchers and catchers Wednesday: Position players report Thursday: First full-squad workout Season opener: March 30 vs. Texas, 5 p.m All times Pacific

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