Kennedy Knows What Could Happen

The trade deadline is three days away, and never has Adam Kennedy felt more vulnerable.

His heir apparent at second base, Howie Kendrick, is already in the big leagues, showing why he’s the organization’s top hitting prospect, and Kennedy could be expendable in a deal for an impact bat or reliever.

But Kennedy, who has played all seven of his big league seasons in Anaheim, is not feeling much trepidation. In a strange way, he has sort of gone through all this before, as a minor leaguer with the St. Louis Cardinals.

“My first couple years we had five good shortstops, one at each level, and every trade deadline it was, ‘Which one of us is going?’ ” Kennedy said. “Pablo Ozuna got traded for Edgar Renteria, Brent Butler got traded for Darryl Kile, and I got traded for Jim Edmonds. That prepared me for this.”

What Kennedy is having difficulty preparing for, though, is the very real possibility that he won’t be an Angel next season. He’s in the last year of a three-year contract, and even if he’s not traded it seems doubtful, with the way Kendrick is hitting and playing defense, that the Angels will retain Kennedy as a free agent.

“The thought of leaving makes me cringe, but the reality of it is there are other guys who have been more integral parts of this organization who have gone elsewhere too -- it’s part of the game,” said Kennedy, who was born and raised in Riverside.

“I don’t have a choice, but it would be rough to have to leave. It’s a pretty good gig here. It’s tough to beat this situation.”

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Angels ace Bartolo Colon, who left Wednesday’s start at Tampa Bay after one inning because of an irritated elbow, will be re-evaluated today, but the right-hander appears doubtful for his next start.

In preparation of a likely promotion to replace Colon in the rotation, triple-A left-hander Joe Saunders has been scratched from Saturday’s scheduled start for Salt Lake and will be replaced by Jonathon Rouwenhorst.

Saunders, who is 10-4 with a 2.56 earned-run average for Salt Lake and gave up two earned runs in seven innings in his only big league start this season, a 7-5 win over Cleveland on July 18, is expected to pitch Tuesday against Oakland.

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From today until Aug. 30, the Angels will have one day off, so Manager Mike Scioscia plans to use his bench -- and the designated hitter spot -- to rest his regulars.

“I don’t think there’s a guy who ever played who, as you turn into August, doesn’t feel the gas tank is getting a little low,” Scioscia said. “We have some depth. Hopefully we can keep guys fresh and sharp, but we won’t know until after we get through the season and look back if we were able to do that.”