Many Concerns for Scioscia, but Percival Is High on List

Given his emotional and reactive personality, the Angels probably haven’t heard the last from Jose Guillen -- no matter how much arm twisting management did in eliciting his apology for accusing the club’s pitchers of failing to protect Vladimir Guerrero and himself.

Ultimately, however, Manager Mike Scioscia may face an even bigger challenge than stifling free speech, coping with a barrage of injuries and now dealing with Raul Mondesi’s head.

He might have to deal with the delicate task of replacing Troy Percival in the closer role with Francisco Rodriguez.

It’s a move Scioscia isn’t ready to make yet, nor should he.

Five saves away from 300 going into the weekend, Percival, 34, has simply made too many contributions over too many years to be cast aside after only two months of an inconsistent start to his ninth full season as the closer.

At the same time, this is a team with World Series aspirations, and nothing hurts more than late-inning setbacks.

Percival, who had not blown more than four saves in any season since 2000, has already blown four of 16 opportunities, including three of his last five.

His strikeout ratio is significantly down, his hit ratio significantly up.

In eight previous seasons as the closer, Percival gave up 6.11 hits per nine innings while striking out 10.79.

This year, he is giving up 10.8 hits per nine innings while striking out only 4.86.

Opposing batters are hitting an alarming .294, and his 4.32 earned-run average is the second highest of his career.

Then there’s Rodriguez, whose dynamite combination of mid-90s fastball and slider has limited opposing hitters to a .198 average and two earned runs in 25 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.70. The 22-year-old right-hander has struck out 38, walked only six and given up only 18 hits.

As Percival has said, pitching the ninth inning is different than pitching the eighth, and it may be Rodriguez won’t be put to the closer test until 2005, but one thing seems certain in that regard:

The early results may translate to Percival’s cost-cutting departure as a free agent in November.

Meantime, Scioscia is reluctant to contemplate what may eventually become an inevitable move and reluctant at a still early juncture to subscribe to the demands of nervous fans that Rodriguez at least be allowed to pitch both the eighth and ninth innings on occasion.

The manager has a long season to consider, and is also operating without the valuable Brendan Donnelly to pick up any slack and serve as a set-up man -- no matter who the closer is.

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The check is in the mail? The answer to that timeless question has finally become a positive one for the more than 650 players awaiting interest payments on the damage awards they had previously received in the collusion cases of the mid-1980s.

The checks, a union official confirmed, were distributed this month, 18 years after the cases began and more than 13 years after the owners agreed to pay the players $280 million for conspiring to rig the free agent market.

The players’ union had the responsibility for deciding who received what, and many of those decisions were appealed by the players through arbitration, delaying distribution of the checks. The protracted process enabled a Nashville money manager to conservatively invest the $280 million. Ultimately, the total payout, with interest, came to $434 million.

The largest check went to former Atlanta Brave first baseman Bob Horner, who last played in 1988 and received $7,034,112. Next in line: Lance Parrish, $5.8 million; Jack Clark, $4.4 million; Doyle Alexander, $4.06 million; Kirk Gibson and Doug DeCinces, $3.7 million each.

About 3,800 claims were rejected by the union, and among the losers was Steve Garvey, the former Dodger and San Diego Padre first baseman. Garvey did receive a check for $9,146.64 with interest, but he had sought far more and had challenged the union’s comparatively modest award of $5,000 in court, the only player to reject arbitration. He lost in federal court, won on appeal but lost again when the Supreme Court overturned the appellate decision.

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Former Dodger Chan Ho Park has gone back on the Texas Ranger disabled list because of a sore back. It’s the fifth time Park has been on the DL since signing a five-year, $65-million contract as a free agent in 2002. He’s won 12 of 40 starts in that time, translating to about $2.7 million a victory.

The Dodgers may be thinking “better them than us,” but that’s a thought better left unsaid given that Darren Dreifort’s five-year, $55-million contract doesn’t expire until after the 2005 season.

Dreifort has won nine games since signing the contract, translating to about $3.95 million per win.