Anaheim claimed Eric Cyr off waivers from the Padres yesterday. We discussed Cyr when San Diego promoted him last season and again after he was placed on the DL and later optioned back to AAA. Cyr struggled with arm problems for almost all of 2002 and underwent arthroscopic surgery on both his shoulder and elbow after the season. Consequently, he still needs at least a season of AAA before he'll be ready to contribute in the majors and beginning his rehab in AA would probably be even better. However, the 24-year-old still possesses considerable upside, so this waiver claim could work out quite well for the Angels.

The Angels signed IF-L Adonis Harrison and OF-R Dante Powell to minor league deals in February. Seattle drafted Harrison with their 24th round pick of the 1994 draft, but he did not sign until May of 1995. After spending the 1999 season in AA, he was taken by the Devil Rays in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. However in May of 2000, Tampa released him. He signed with Long Island in the independent Atlantic League that June and remained with them through this past season. The 26-year-old has displayed solid plate discipline throughout his career. Unfortunately though he's shown some interesting baserunning ability, he has negligible power skills. Harrison should need to spend most of this season in AA, and I'll be quite surprised if he shows sufficient promise to prompt the Angels to add him to their 40-man at the end of the season. However, he could do well enough to earn a AAA job with someone in 2004 and possibly move on from there.

San Francisco drafted Dante Powell out of Cal State Fullerton with the 22nd overall pick of the first round of the 1994 draft and traded him to Arizona for Alan Embree following the 1998 season. Arizona then traded him to St. Louis for Luis Ordaz following the 1999 season. After gaining free agency, Powell bounced around, spending time in the both the Giants and Devil Rays' organizations. In 2002 he began the season playing for San Francisco's AAA affiliate at Fresno but was released in June and signed with an independent Northern League team in July. Powell's primary failing appears to be a low contact rate. Meanwhile he offers moderate power potential. Triple-A Salt Lake will highlight his power, but based on their handling of their AAA players last season, I think it is unlikely Powell will appear in the majors even in September of 2003.

The 2002 World Champions look well placed to have another strong year with only a few injury concerns this spring. Darin Erstad underwent surgery on the hamate bone in his wrist in December and is still working his way back to a point where he can hit without pain. The surgery is common and hitters are usually able to begin rehab after about six weeks. Erstad may have a little less power in the first half of the season as the result of the wrist injury, and he could be a bit rusty at the beginning of the season, as he won't have received his full slate of spring at-bats. However, he's not expected to need to spend any time on the DL as a result of this injury.

Fellow outfielder Tim Salmon is in a different situation due to his off-season surgery. Salmon underwent arthroscopic surgery to clean up his left knee in November and still can't run without discomfort. Consequently, the Angels don't want to push him into playing the outfield this spring. However, he will continue to receive at-bats as the DH in Spring Training games and could also spend time at DH in the first month or so of the season, which could leave Brad Fullmer with a little less playing time and Anaheim's reserve outfielders with a few more at-bats. Salmon is expect to play full time.

Unfortunately Aaron Sele, who underwent shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in October, is not expected back until at least May and possibly not until June. Sele is still a week away from beginning to throw off a mound. Additionally, while he should be in the rotation most of the year, he's unlikely to bounce back to peak form until 2004. This season may resemble last year when he was fighting with the onset of the problem.

Hopefully, the Angels learned their lesson last season and will not use Scott Schoeneweis as Sele's substitute in the rotation. As we've discussed on numerous occasions, Schoeneweis performs acceptably in relief but has never displayed adequate command when starting. Luckily, the Angels' April schedule allows them, like many other teams, to run a four-man rotation for much of the first month. Accordingly, Anaheim should only need a few spot starts from someone and either Matt Wise or Mickey Callaway should be able to handle the task. Chris Bootcheck has also made a strong impression in Spring Training, but he would be best served by a return to AAA for another half season.

The only other potentially troubling injury on the team belongs to LHP Jarrod Washburn. Washburn fell on his left shoulder and sprained his AC joint while trying to avoid a collision with Brendon Donnelly during pitchers' fielding practice on Monday. He's expected to miss the next week to ten days, but the incident is not supposed to cost him his Opening Day start. Nevertheless even a minor arm injury can be serious, as at the very least pitchers don't want to additionally stress an area of their body that will likely eventually wear down do to strenuous use. Interestingly, Washburn does not have a good relationship with the spring, he started 2000 on the DL with a strained oblique and 2001 on the DL with strep throat. The phenomenon extends back to his minor league time as well with him spending time on the AAA DL in April of 1999. Consequently, I won't be surprised if this develops into something more troubling for the Angels.