Jeff Weaver Sent to the Cardinals

You don’t get a high price when you run a clearance sale, and so the Angels didn’t get much in return for Jeff Weaver. The Angels traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday for a minor league outfielder who needed five years to advance past the Class-A level.

The Angels also paid much -- but not all -- of the $4 million left on Weaver’s contract. If they had not traded him by Sunday, they would have had to release him, paying off the contract and getting nothing in return.

General Manager Bill Stoneman said eight teams expressed interest in Weaver and three offered major league players in return, some in deals that Stoneman said “would have washed the money out.” In the end, Stoneman said, “This one turned on talent.”

In return for Weaver, the Angels acquired Terry Evans, with an eye toward addressing their shortage of power-hitting prospects and chronic deficiency in outfield prospects. Evans will play center field at double-A Arkansas, Stoneman said.

Evans, 24, is hitting .308 with 22 home runs and 26 stolen bases in 81 games this season, split between Class-A Palm Beach and double-A Springfield. His career minor league average entering this season was .239, so the Angels are hoping this season represents a breakout.

“When you look at his career numbers, there’s nothing prior to this year to suggest he’d be playing like this,” Stoneman said. “But he is playing like this.”

Weaver went 3-10 with a 6.29 earned-run average for the Angels, and they designated him for assignment last week. Stoneman said he “never even got close” to trading Weaver for the impact hitter the Angels seek.

“The bat we’ve got in mind is pretty high-end,” Stoneman said.

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Orlando Cabrera extended his streak of reaching base to 62 consecutive games. The streak is the sixth-longest in major league history, according to Herm Krabbenhoft of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Ted Williams had three of the top five streaks -- the record 84 in 1949, 69 in 1941 and 65 in 1948. Joe DiMaggio reached base in 71 consecutive games in 1941 and Bill Joyce 64 in 1891, for the Boston Reds of the American Association.

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Infielder Edgardo Alfonzo, released by the Angels in May and the Toronto Blue Jays in June, signed with the Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League.

The Blue Jays paid about $32,700 for the 18 days Alfonzo spent on their roster, a prorated part of baseball’s minimum wage. The Angels remain responsible for the rest of Alfonzo’s $7-million salary this year.