Weaver Goes to Other L.A.

If you can’t bolster your offense with a much-needed power hitter, you might as well strengthen your rotation. That seemed to be the rationale behind the Angels’ pursuit of Jeff Weaver, a courtship that ended successfully Wednesday when the former Dodger right-hander agreed to a one-year, $8.325-million contract.

The addition of Weaver, the older brother of top Angel pitching prospect Jered Weaver, eases the loss of free-agent starters Paul Byrd and Jarrod Washburn and should give the Angels one of baseball’s best rotations, a staff that includes 2005 American League Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Ervin Santana.

The signing also enables the Angels to move projected No. 5 starter Hector Carrasco, a reliever for virtually all of his nine big league seasons, to the bullpen, strengthening a relief corps that seemed to thin out behind closer Francisco Rodriguez and setup men Scot Shields and J.C. Romero.

“A rotation is a unique animal, and one thing you have to be ready for is non-performance or an injury,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “You can have a rotation in ink, and it can change in an hour. We want to get as deep as we can.”

Weaver, who underwent a physical Wednesday and will be in uniform for the Angels’ first spring-training workout today, provides some insurance should Colon suffer a relapse of the shoulder injury that knocked him out of the American League championship series last October and eliminates any need for the Angels to rush youngsters such as Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders to the big leagues.

And here’s the kicker: The Angels snared the 29-year-old sinker-slider specialist with a one-year contract, almost unheard of in these days of four-year, $37.5-million deals for run-of-the-mill starters (that’s what Washburn got from Seattle), and especially rare for players represented by hard-driving agent Scott Boras.

“You don’t necessarily control your opportunities,” said General Manager Bill Stoneman, who has been criticized for his inactivity this winter. “You take advantage of them when you can.”

This one arose about two weeks ago, when Weaver’s market fell toward the Angels, who were interested only if Weaver was willing to sign a short-term deal.

Weaver, who went 14-11 with a 4.22 earned-run average for the Dodgers last season, entered free agency looking for a four-year deal in the $45-million range.

After rejecting an arbitration offer from the Dodgers, Weaver told them he’d be willing to sign a three-year, $27-million deal.

But the Dodgers never made a firm offer, talks broke off after a Jan. 8 deadline to consummate a deal, and by then, many teams had filled their rotation needs.

“I think all of the teams in baseball thought Jeff would be with the Dodgers,” Boras said. “Once they [pulled out] a lot of teams had already made some decisions. Jeff wanted to go to the right place. He wanted to go to a winning team.”

The Angels and Weaver discussed a one-year deal with an option for 2007 and a two-year deal, but Weaver, a Simi Valley native, wanted to retain the flexibility of pursuing a multiyear deal after 2006.

“We discussed some two-year proposals, but we felt a one-year situation would be good,” Boras said. “Jeff’s still a young pitcher, and he certainly wants a multiyear contract. He had offers for more money, but he decided to take one year and to review the situation at the end of the year.”

That strategy paid off for Kevin Millwood, who signed a one-year, $7-million deal with Cleveland last season, went 9-11 with a 2.86 ERA and parlayed that into a five-year, $60-million contract with Texas this winter.

It could pay off for the Angels too; they’ll have a pitcher who is highly motivated to have a huge year so he can reap the reward in free agency.

“I’ve heard that theory,” Stoneman said in response to a question about players excelling in the walk years of contracts. “I don’t know if statistically you can prove it. You want everyone on your club giving 100%, 100% of the time. You leave your contract at the door.”

Weaver, who can make an additional $600,000 if he starts 32 games and throws 200 innings, has a career 78-87 record over seven years, and though he is not one of baseball’s dominant starters, he is a reliable inning-eater with excellent control, a pitcher who usually keeps his team in the game.

Weaver, who has never been on the disabled list, went 27-24 with a 4.11 ERA in 444 innings for the Dodgers over two seasons, striking out 310 and walking 110. The only blips: Weaver gave up a career-high 35 home runs in 2005 after giving up 19 the year before, and left-handers batted .297 against him.

“He’s a horse,” Scioscia said. “If you break down his splits, as the game went on and he was facing hitters for a fourth time, he had a rougher time. But through six innings he was terrific. Hopefully with our bullpen, he won’t have to be extended to where he has to pitch into the eighth or ninth inning fatigued.”

Though Weaver’s signing probably will push Carrasco to the bullpen, the former Washington pitcher, who signed a two-year, $6.1-million deal with the Angels, in part because they told him he’d have a crack at the rotation, did not seem disappointed.

“Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do it -- if Mike wants to put me in right field, left field, catcher, I’ll do it,” Carrasco said. “I’d like to be in the rotation, but being in the bullpen is all right with me.”

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JEFF WEAVER’S RECORD

*--* Year Team IP W-L SO BB ERA 1999 Detroit 163.2 9-12 114 56 5.55 2000 Detroit 200.0 11-15 136 52 4.32 2001 Detroit 229.1 13-16 152 68 4.08 2002 Det.-N.Y. (A) 199.2 11-11 132 48 3.52 2003 N.Y. (A) 159.1 7-9 93 47 5.99 2004 Dodgers 220.0 13-13 153 67 4.01 2005 Dodgers 224.0 14-11 157 43 4.22 Totals 1396.0 78-87 937 381 4.44

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Brothers with arms

If Jered Weaver, the Angels’ first-round draft pick in 2004, can earn promotion to the majors this season, he and his brother Jeff, signed by the club Wednesday, could become the 22nd set of pitching brother teammates in history. The nine sets of teammates since 1950:

* Alex and Walt Kellner, 1952-53 Philadelphia Athletics.

* Lindy and Von McDaniel, 1957-58 St. Louis Cardinals.

* Dave and Dennis Bennett, 1964 Philadelphia Phillies.

* Joe and Phil Niekro, 1973-74 Atlanta Braves, 1985 New York Yankees.

* Gaylord and Jim Perry, 1974-75 Cleveland Indians.

* Paul and Rick Reuschel, 1975-78 Chicago Cubs.

* Mickey and Rick Mahler, 1979 Atlanta Braves.

* Pedro and Ramon Martinez, 1992-93 Dodgers, 1999-2000 Boston Red Sox.

* Andy and Alan Benes, 1996-97 St. Louis Cardinals

Source: baseball-almanac.com