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PEORIA, Ariz. — When Albert Pujols signed his 10-year contract with the Angels, the Angels had a new face of the franchise.
That did not last one year, let alone 10.
Mike Trout showed up one month into last season, and the spotlight has not left him. In a star-studded clubhouse — Pujols has three most-valuable-player awards, Josh Hamilton one — the 21-year-old Trout is the brightest star.
That is not just media hype, as a look at the Angels' promotional schedule shows.
Of the eight giveaway items featuring individual players, five are Trout items — a custom bobblehead doll, a blanket, a kids' jersey, a glass, and a cap with a trout jumping out of the front.
The Angels have scheduled one giveaway each for Pujols tfdfiifc, Mark Trumbo and C.J. Wilson. That means none for Hamilton, the former MVP signed to a $125-million contract last winter, and none for Jered Weaver, the home-grown ace who threw a
no-hitter and won 20 games last season.
Trout made his spring debut Monday with a single in his first at-bat. He also walked and scored two runs in a 9-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
Trout did not jump at every media and endorsement opportunity last winter. He did a lot but also turned down a lot, with his parents, his agent and the Angels all buffering him to "allow him to be 21 in the off-season," said Tim Mead, the
team's vice president of communications.
Trout said he does not mind the attention.
"Everywhere I go, I hear my name whispered: 'That's Trout! That's Trout!'" he said. "You can only do this one time."
As the Angels focus their promotional attention on him — more than on such established stars as Pujols and Hamilton — Trout said he would not let it affect him.
"We've got high expectations. Everybody has to do their role," he said. "You see my name everywhere. I've just got to go play the game. I can't worry about it. If you think about it, you just put pressure on
yourself."
The Angels are not apologizing for capitalizing on Trout's popularity. With his unanimous selection as American League rookie of the year, Trout won the first major individual award for the Angels since Bartolo Colon won the AL Cy Young Award in
2005.
"If Albert had been the MVP last year, perhaps there would be the same custom bobbleheads items pushing that," Mead said.
Cordero comeback
Chad Cordero, the former Cal State Fullerton star and former closer for the Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals, pitched one inning Monday. Cordero is trying to return to the major leagues for the first time since 2010, and with his hometown
team.
"I felt like a little kid again," Cordero said.
He and his wife lost an infant daughter on Dec. 4, 2010. He walked away from a minor league contract in 2011 but got the urge to play again after his son was born last year. He signed with the Angels three weeks ago after his agent showed General
Manager Jerry Dipoto cellphone video of his performance in the Fullerton alumni game.
Cordero figures to build up his arm strength at triple A, so the Angels can better assess his progress and their needs. For now, one inning is good enough.
"I'm just so grateful to be out there pitching again," he said.Find more information by http://www.funbobblehead.com/
I'm very disappointed in that, I'm sorry he would even do that," Lasorda said Thursday. ''I don't know what he was thinking."
If Piazza was thinking he was criticized on his way out of town, he's right, but it didn't come from Scully; it came from newspaper columnists who custom bobblehead accused him of being selfish, one of them writing, "It's time
for Mike Piazza to zip it."
Those words were mine. In that same 1998 column, I also wrote, "Piazza may love L.A., but he is not Eric Karros, he is an East Coast guy, he will disappear in a minute."
If that has not happened in the last 15 years, it's happened now, Piazza completely removing himself from the Dodgers landscape with an unfair blow to their living monument.
"I think it's inappropriate," said Fred Claire, the former Dodgers general manager who conducted those contract discussions with Piazza. "Vinny has always respected the game. He's deserving of that same respect."
Claire, who lost his job after protesting the Piazza trade tfdfiifc, believes that if Piazza had just kept his mouth shut back then, Piazza could have remained a Dodger for life.
"I wanted to sign him, the money was there to sign him ... we would have worked out this contract," Claire said. "They made a mistake about making an issue about the contract on opening day of the season. That was not good
judgment."
One wonders if Piazza's anger toward Scully in this book is actually misdirected anger at himself. He really should have been a Dodger forever. He should have been the Kobe Bryant of Chavez Ravine. He should be settling into retirement on the
fields of Glendale, behind the batting cage at Dodger Stadium, in the community where he was once the most beloved of ballplayers.
Even 15 years later, the fans would have embraced him. This was a guy who once hit a ball into the parking lot, who once knocked the San Francisco Giants out of the playoffs. If he had accepted the Dodgers' custom bobbleheads offer
last summer, you would still be hearing echoes of that standing ovation. How could he not have understood that? How could he have misread such affection for contempt, and responded with such venom?
"I wanted him to come back and be part of the festivities here, but he didn't want to do it," said Lasorda. "I kept telling him, 'Mike, believe me, I'll stake my reputation on those fans, they're not going to boo
you.' "
He can't say that now. It was indeed once a longshot that Mike Piazza could go from the 62nd round to Dodger Stadium. It is sadly now a longshot that he could imminently return.Find more information by http://www.funbobblehead.com/
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