Angels May Try to Acquire Johnson

The Angels have resisted attaching any sense of urgency to Bartolo Colon’s starts, but if the right-hander does not show some improvement tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays or in his next two or three games, it could greatly alter the team’s strategy as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.

Starting pitching was considered a strength of the Angels, who signed Colon to a four-year, $51-million contract to be their ace. But with Colon in a dreadful slump -- he’s 2-7 with an 8.19 earned-run average since April 28 -- the Angels may determine that they lack the dominant, front-of-the-rotation starter needed to fulfill owner Arte Moreno’s World Series aspirations.

That’s why they are closely monitoring the Randy Johnson situation in Arizona. The cash-strapped and last-place Diamondbacks have not publicly expressed a desire to trade the 6-foot-10 left-hander, who threw a perfect game against Atlanta on May 18, but that could change if Johnson, 40, determines Arizona won’t be competitive in 2005 and agrees to waive his no-trade clause to go to a contender.

The New York Yankees covet Johnson, the Boston Red Sox are very interested -- though General Manager Theo Epstein denied a television report claiming he received permission to speak to Johnson -- and the Angels are expected to pursue Johnson vigorously if he goes on the market and Colon continues to struggle.

Johnson had a 50-minute conversation with Arizona General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. in the dugout before Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers, fueling speculation he may be warming to the idea of a trade.

Johnson was coy with reporters, saying the discussion was about the 1966 contract holdouts of Dodger pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. He wouldn’t address whether he would ask for a trade and has been vague on the subject in recent days.

Diamondback owner Jerry Colangelo has said repeatedly that he wants Johnson, who makes $16.5 million this season and is signed for $16.5 million in 2005, to finish his career in Arizona. Asked Wednesday whether anything had changed since last week, Garagiola said, “I guess not.”

The Angels are believed to have had preliminary talks with the Diamondbacks to determine what it would take to acquire the five-time Cy Young Award winner should Johnson become available.

The price would be steep -- Arizona would want Jeff Mathis, the Angels’ top catching prospect, and either Dallas McPherson, the power-hitting third baseman who is batting .392 with seven homers and 17 runs batted in in 14 games for triple-A Salt Lake after hitting .321 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs in 68 games at double-A Arkansas, or first-base prospect Casey Kotchman.

The Diamondbacks also are interested in reliever Scot Shields, and they might consider taking disgruntled reliever Ramon Ortiz in a deal.

Many say the Angels would be front-runners for Johnson -- he owns a home in Newport Beach, has a good relationship with Moreno and has said he has no interest in playing in New York, and the Angels are one of the few organizations with the high-caliber prospects to satisfy the Diamondbacks’ trade demands.

The question is, would Colangelo approve a trade of his franchise player, a dominant pitcher who recently surpassed the 4,000-strikeout mark, to the Angels?

Relations between Colangelo and Moreno have been strained since Moreno, former minority owner of the Diamondbacks, tried to buy out his Arizona partners in 2001, and those close to Colangelo say he would be reluctant to deal Moreno a player who could help the Angels win the World Series.

The Angels also might balk at the idea of mortgaging a good chunk of their future for a pitcher who has virtually no cartilage left in his right knee.

“My philosophy hasn’t changed, and I don’t see it changing,” Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said Thursday. “The strength of any organization is its scouting and player development, and I’m not going to disrupt that to jeopardize the future.”

That could change, though, if Moreno, who has shown some of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner’s win-at-all-costs tendencies, decides he wants Johnson.

The upside to such a deal is obvious: Johnson, who is 10-6 with a 2.90 earned-run average and 139 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings, has the power and presence to alter the pennant race and any postseason series.

“That’s a lot to give up for one guy,” Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn said. “But he’s one of the best ever.”

The Angels, meanwhile, continue to show faith in Colon, despite the fact that he has the highest ERA (6.57) of any American League starter and has had two good starts in the last two months.

“Mentally, this has been tough on him, but I don’t think we’re all at the end of our rope yet,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s been a tough stretch, but we have all the confidence in the world in him. Right now, we feel it’s best for him to pitch through this, and hopefully in three weeks we’ll be talking about how well he’s throwing and how positively it’s affected the team.”

But what if Colon, who was 15-13 with a 3.87 ERA for the White Sox last season and a combined 20-8 with a 2.93 ERA for Cleveland and Montreal in 2002, doesn’t regain his form?

“He will,” Stoneman said. “With his track record, he’s going to get it going. It’s been a while since he’s thrown well for us, but it doesn’t make sense for a guy with his track record to struggle this long. We think he’ll turn it around.”

Scioscia, who is convinced Colon’s problems are mechanical, doesn’t want Colon to feel pressured to turn it around immediately.

“I don’t think it’s going to serve any purpose to lay out a block of games and say it’s important to a player’s standing on the club or in the rotation,” Scioscia said. “The only way we’ll back him off a bit is if there’s a health-related problem or if we need to take some pressure off him. We think the reason for his struggles are real tangible. There’s a lot he can clean up.”