Angels Need Relief, but Not in Bullpen

The last thing the Angels should be worrying about is trying to sign Troy Percival. A closer for Anaheim must feel like the Maytag repairman.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

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Jim Edmonds is playing in his second consecutive postseason, while it is likely I will be collecting Social Security before the Angels ever get there again.

I bring this point up because the Angels got very little for the alienated Edmonds when they traded him. The team is apparently bent on the same result, as the Angel front office devalues and angers Percival before putting him on the block.

That’s hardly the way to treat easily the best closer in franchise history, but it has been the Angels’ modus operandi ever since Disney bought the team in the mid-1990s.

General Manager Bill Stoneman has been around for only two seasons, so he can’t take full blame. That lies with Anaheim Sports President Tony Tavares. Given that the history of the other team Tavares oversees, the Mighty Ducks, is as miserable as that of the Angels, there’s little doubt his hand has been in all these debacles. Tavares somehow remains on the job, setting Ripken-like records for fan disillusionment that may prove impossible to break.

With fans abandoning the Angels and Mighty Ducks in droves and attendance slumping at the Disney theme parks, Disney Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner faces one of the biggest challenges of his career. So Mike, here’s a no-brainer for starting a turnaround: Assign Tony Tavares to a job more suited to his skills. Piloting one of the Disneyland Jungle Cruise boats sounds about right.

Ron Shinkman

Sherman Oaks