Tender Knee Makes Salmon Take It Easy

When the Angels open the exhibition season Friday, outfielder Tim Salmon is not expected to be in the lineup.

Salmon, who underwent knee surgery in November, said he cannot yet run daily without some discomfort. The Angels have limited his running during workouts. He is taking batting practice but not participating in outfield drills.

Manager Mike Scioscia said the Angels plan to work Salmon into Cactus League play gradually, first as a designated hitter and then as a right fielder.

“By no means did we expect Tim to be at a level where he’d be ready to play right field from Day 1 of spring training,” Scioscia said.

The Angels believe Salmon will regain his fitness in plenty of time for opening day. However, Salmon is a notoriously slow starter -- he hit .192 last April -- and the Angels generally try to get him the most spring at-bats among their starters.

If his Cactus League debut is delayed by more than a few days, the Angels could get him extra at-bats in simulated games or by sending him to minor league exhibition games in which he could bat in every inning.

“He likes a lot of spring training at-bats. He needs a lot of at-bats,” Scioscia said. “We’ll have to get creative.”

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Kevin Hallinan, security chief for Major League Baseball, said two officials traveled to Puerto Rico this week to continue preparations for the 22 games the Montreal Expos will play there this season, three against the Angels in June.

Hallinan said major league officials, working with appropriate government agencies, intend to implement the same level of security for fans and players in unfamiliar settings -- including Puerto Rico and Mexico City, where the Dodgers play two exhibition games next month -- as in major league ballparks.

Hallinan acknowledged that American stadiums might represent high-profile terrorist targets but said neither the threat of terrorism nor the possibility of war against Iraq should keep fans from attending games.

There are no plans to curtail games in the event of war, he said.

No problems were reported during the 2001 World Series in New York, just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. Since then, he added, cooperation with government officials and availability of federal resources has increased.

“The public is probably safer than they’ve ever been” at ballparks, he said.

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The Angels are installing a new rubberized warning track in front of the dugouts and suites behind home plate, replacing one that had numerous lumps, holes and tears, some patched with duct tape. San Francisco first baseman J.T. Snow was sharply critical of the old surface after slipping and falling on it while chasing a foul pop in Game 1 of the World Series.

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Former Angel pitcher Kirk McCaskill, a native of Kapuskasing, Canada, was elected Monday to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. McCaskill, who played for the Angels from 1985-91 and the Chicago White Sox from 1992-96, won 106 games in his major league career, more than any other Canadian-born pitcher except Ferguson Jenkins.... ESPN cameras followed shortstop David Eckstein all day Monday, documenting a day in the life of a major league ballplayer. Eckstein failed to convince ESPN producers that his life was too boring for television.... The Angels signed outfielder Jeff DaVanon and pitchers Bart Miadich and Derrick Turnbow to one-year contracts.