Angels Are Playing Right Into Waiting Hands of Disney

As the Angels embarked on a 10-day tour of some old ruins--the mythic sacrificial grounds of Boston, New York and Baltimore, revisited for the first time since the crash of ‘95--their new owners were orchestrating an “Anaheim Angels Now!” rally on the less-than-neutral territory of the Pond parking lot.

This was a “grass-roots” gathering of “the people,” who may or may not have been Disney and/or Angel employees and who may or may not have been handed “homemade” signs by Disney organizers before the rally and instructed to hold them aloft, preferably in the direction of the newspaper photographers.

As promised at the previous night’s Angels-Indians game, free hot dogs and peanuts were served and former Angel players were in attendance.

Two of them, actually.

Clyde Wright and Darrell Miller.

Miller, now a scout for the Angels, might have been there to see if anyone in the crowd, male or female, had any starting pitching experience and ask if he or she could possibly give the club five quality innings. How does next Tuesday sound?

Wright, meanwhile, implored the Anaheim City Council to finally and officially sanction the Disney deal because “If the Angels move, where will those 12,000 to 15,000 kids [who regularly attend Angel home games] go? They’ll be on the street. You’ll have to hire 400 to 500 more police.”

In truth, the city would like to hire more police, and more firemen, but can’t. That money, to be siphoned from the city’s tax revenue reserves, will instead be used to build state-of-the-art concession stands or private field-level suites inside the newer, smaller (corporate sponsor’s name here) Anaheim Stadium.

Monday’s rally was much ado about a foregone conclusion. To put it in baseball terms, Disney was attempting to steal third with a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth.

It was overkill, it was over the top, it was wholly unnecessary, but that’s Disney. Leave no stone unturned and unsqueezed, because you never know--it just might bleed.

Point: Disney’s purchase of the Angels was endorsed by the Anaheim City Council last month. The vote was 3-2, with Mayor Tom Daly and Councilman Lou Lopez firmly in favor. Was a full-scale pep rally, complete with Disneyland jazz band, really required just to make sure Frank Feldhaus was still on board?

Point: With or without Disney, the Angels are Anaheim’s through 2001, when the team’s lease with the city expires. Barring unforeseen intervention by John Shaw, the Angels aren’t moving anywhere for at least the remainder of the century.

Since April 3, the question hasn’t been “Will Disney get the Angels?”

Today, as it was then, the question is “Now that Disney has the Angels, what is it going to do with them?”

First, it clears out many offices in the marketing and publicity departments, along with incumbent team president Richard Brown’s. It will be swift, but not painless. Last weekend, the pall in the Angel press box was palpable, with longtime team employees looking at the clock and over their shoulders, awaiting the arrival of the mouse-eared Grim Reaper.

The dirty work should be finished by the time the Angels return from this trip.

Then, it’s their turn.

Attrition has begun already.

Mark Langston, co-ace of the starting rotation--gone, for at least six to eight weeks.

George Arias, the first Angel third baseman to jump from Class AA to the starting lineup since Carney Lansford--gone, assigned to make up that class in AAA.

Lee Smith, major league all-time saves leader--good as gone, just as soon as Marcel Lachemann completes the difficult task of showcasing Smith without sacrificing too many late-inning leads and Bill Bavasi completes the more difficult task of trading him for someone who might help the Angels before 1998.

Gone, too, is the unabashed optimism of March and April, when the Angels were consensus favorites, for the first time since 1987, to win the American League West. These Angels, just like those Angels, are tied for last place--and they did not arrive there by accident.

When 60% of your starting rotation answers to the names “Grimsley,” “Sanderson” or “Springer,” pennants do not fall out of the sky.

When you have more quality closers than starters--it’s Smith, Troy Percival and Mike James over Chuck Finley and Jim Abbott, 3-2--it’s nearly impossible to find enough victories to save to go around.

When you have to replace your 24-year-old third baseman with a two-man platoon with a combined age of 73, you face the prospect of spraying more Ben Gay around the clubhouse this season than anything sweet and bubbly.

Right now, the Angels need two more starting pitchers, a full-time third baseman, a full-time catcher and a leadoff man who actually steals bases. The Angels didn’t break into double figures in stolen bases until Rex Hudler stole second Sunday night against Cleveland. That was the fourth of the season for Hudler, a utility player who leads all Angels in that department.

Anaheim Angels Now?

Disney is smarter than that.

Keep these Angels as they are now and the next thing you know, fans at Anaheim Stadium will be rooting for the other team.