Angels have dilemma with Colon’s return
Jered Weaver has won his first four big-league starts, but American League Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon is about to come off the disabled list.
That presents the Los Angeles Angels with a difficult choice regarding Weaver’s status: Does he stay in the rotation or go back to Triple-A?
“It’s a tough decision,” manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday night after Weaver held the Kansas City Royals to an unearned run over seven innings in a 4-1 victory. “There’s a lot of things to consider, and we’re going to consider everything.”
General manager Bill Stoneman isn’t tipping his hand, either.
“I think we’re in a good situation,” Stoneman said after the game. “We’ll have a roster move at some point to make, and we’ll discuss it at that point in time when it’s time to make that roster move.”
Weaver, the Angels’ first-round draft pick in June 2004, reduced his ERA to 1.37. Whether that’s enough to keep Weaver up here is another story.
“I haven’t heard one word,” the right-hander said. “They’ve got the Cy Young Award winner coming back, so whatever happens happens. It’s not my decision. My job was to make it pretty tough on them to decide, and so far I’ve done that. But I’m not going to let all the stuff that’s been circulating bother me. It just goes in one ear and out the other.”
Weaver, 23, the younger brother of Angels right-hander Jeff Weaver, struck out five and walked one. He has allowed just four earned runs, 16 hits and four walks in his 26 1/3 innings – and has received a total of 30 runs of support from his teammates.
“If I’m the odd man out and I get sent back down, it’s just going to make me want to work that much harder to get back up here and stay here for the long haul,” Weaver said.
A depressing situation
Kansas City’s dismal season is taking its toll on everyone, including second baseman Mark Grudzielanek.
Grudzielanek, who spent last season with St. Louis, went from a team that went 100-62 last year to a club that would have to win 84 of its remaining 100 games just to match that record.
“You try to keep your same approach and go out there in a positive and energetic kind of way and try to lift other people, but it’s not an easy thing to do,” Grudzielanek said. “It’s easy to quit and say, ‘Hey why play hard?’
“But everyone here is playing hard. For some of us who have been through some things, we know the difference. Reggie (Sanders) and I and a few other guys in here understand it, but the other 75 percent is what you worry about – guys getting used to this, playing nonchalantly, not understanding the little things and how to go about your business. That’s what management and other people are concerned about, and that’s what’s got to stop.”
Around the bases
Right-hander Brad Lincoln, the No. 4 pick in this month’s major league draft, reached terms with Pittsburgh and will get a $2.75 million signing bonus. … Philadelphia pitcher Julio Santana will miss the rest of the season because of a right elbow injury that will require ligament reconstruction surgery to repair. … St. Louis pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee.