Sele Doesn’t Take the Fifth

Mike Scioscia called his choice of a five-man rotation “the toughest decision I’ve had to make” in five years as Angel manager. Aaron Sele, the veteran right-hander who was left out of the rotation Wednesday, has a feeling the decision was made weeks ago.

“They told me this was going to be a competition,” said Sele, a 33-year-old who has made 292 starts -- and one relief appearance -- in his 11-year big league career.

Does he think there was a competition?

“I don’t know,” said Sele, who appears fully recovered from the shoulder surgery he had a year and a half ago. “Obviously, I’m not happy about it. We were told we would be competing for jobs, and I felt like I threw the ball very well” this spring.

Whether the decision to demote Sele to long relief was a fait accompli or went down to the wire, Sele chose to accept it. In a Wednesday morning meeting with Scioscia, Sele did not ask to be traded and said he would do his best to make the transition to the bullpen.

“They made their decision, and I have to live with it,” Sele said. “I’ve got to take my glove to the bullpen, and hopefully there’s some way I can help down there. I doubt it, with the bullpen we have, but maybe I can carry some extra food down there or something.”

Scioscia, as expected, named Bartolo Colon his starter for Tuesday’s opener at Seattle. Colon will be followed in the rotation by Jarrod Washburn, Kelvim Escobar, Ramon Ortiz and John Lackey. Escobar is lined up to start the Angel home opener against Seattle on April 13.

Though Lackey was slotted fifth in the rotation, the final spot came down to Sele, who is 1-0 with a 3.21 earned-run average in four spring games, and Ortiz, who is 1-0 with a 7.23 ERA in five games.

“We just felt what Ramon has done the last few years as far as winning games is going to continue,” pitching coach Bud Black said of Ortiz, who went 15-9 in 2002 and 16-13 in 2003. “There’s no reason to think he won’t be a 15- or 16-game winner in the future. Ramon has had his ups and downs this spring, but his velocity is fine.”

So is Sele’s. Scioscia said Sele, who was 7-11 with a 5.77 ERA last season while struggling to regain arm strength, is throwing “better than we’ve seen in two years.” In addition to long relief, Sele provides insurance in case of injury to another starter and a rotation option if Ortiz or Lackey struggles.

But it will be a challenge defining a bullpen role for Sele, whose only major league relief appearance came in 2001, when he came out of the Seattle bullpen on a day he was scheduled to throw between starts.

“I have no idea,” Sele said, when asked how he would begin his transition. “I’ll talk to some guys in the bullpen. It’s a whole new ballgame. I can’t run or lift weights the same. Your physical therapy changes. As a long guy, can I work out if I haven’t pitched in three days? I’m going to wing it and see what happens.”

Scioscia said he would try to ease Sele’s transition by giving him plenty of time to warm up and limiting the number of times Sele warms up without entering a game.

“Aaron is not at a stage where he can throw three innings one night and two innings the next, but I can see a role developing for him that could be important to us,” Scioscia said. “We’ve had guys like [Scot] Shields in that role that were important.... It’s obviously a decision he doesn’t agree with, and that’s fine. But he’s a professional, and he wants to contribute to the club.”

Several teams, including Milwaukee and Cleveland, have expressed interest in Sele, “but we want Aaron here,” Scioscia said. “I know he likes it here, and we love him. We haven’t told Bill [Stoneman, Angel general manager] to flat-out trade Aaron.”

Scioscia stressed to Sele that it’s rare a team goes through a season using only five starters, and that his role could change.

“It’s hard to be patient in this game,” Angel bench coach Joe Maddon said, “but the guy who’s ticked off now may be the guy who’s the hero of the last game of the World Series.”