Season-Ticket Sales Are Brisk

The Angels project another record year of season ticket sales, defying conventional wisdom that dictates sales rise the year following a successful season and fall the year following a miserable one.

After winning the World Series in 2002, the Angels sold a record 21,500 season tickets, including a renewal rate of 95%. Renewals are running substantially ahead of last winter’s pace, spokesman Tim Mead said Tuesday, and the Angels have sold about 2,800 new season tickets.

After the Angels slipped to third place in the American League West, owner Arte Moreno rejuvenated fans by committing $146 million to free agents Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar and Jose Guillen.

“They’ve seen the Angels in the news since the season ended, and they like what they see,” Mead said.

Before the Angels put tickets on sale for single games, they will sell close to 2 million tickets in season packages. The Angels drew a record 3 million fans last season, a figure Moreno believes can be repeated annually.

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The Angels will pay nearly as much for starting pitchers this year as they did for their entire championship roster two years ago.

The team agreed to one-year contracts with starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn and reliever Ben Weber, leaving shortstop David Eckstein as the lone player subject to salary arbitration.

In his second year of arbitration eligibility, Washburn signed for $5.45 million, up from $3.875 million last season. In his first year of eligibility, Weber signed for $900,000, up from $375,000 last season.

With John Lackey not yet eligible for arbitration, the Angels have committed $49.3 million to seven starting pitchers, including $5.75 million in signing bonuses to Colon and Escobar and $11.7 million to Kevin Appier, released last year and signed this year by the Kansas City Royals. The salary of Washburn, who won 18 games in 2002 and started Game 1 of the World Series, will trail that of Colon ($9 million), Aaron Sele ($8.5 million) and Escobar ($5.5 million). Ramon Ortiz is signed at $3.1 million.

The Angels’ championship roster carried a payroll of $62 million.

Eckstein exchanged salary proposals with the team, asking for $2.15 million while the Angels offered $1.6 million. A settlement at or near the midpoint of $1.875 million is more likely than a hearing in which an arbitrator would select either the salary proposed by the player or by the team. Eckstein, in his first year of arbitration eligibility, made $425,000 last season.