The trade of Mo Vaughn for pitcher Kevin Appier was not the only significant off-season move the Angels made in preparation for the 2002 season. Only one day before the Vaughn-Appier trade, Stoneman signed free-agent pitcher Aaron Sele to a three-year contract worth $24 million.

Sele had won 17 and 15 games, respectively, in the previous two seasons with the Seattle Mariners, who had no interest in re-signing him. That might have seemed a little odd, especially considering Sele won 19 games and 18 games in his two seasons with the Texas Rangers in the two years before that.

Sele was criticized in those cities for not being able to win big games, going 0-6 in playoff games. And there were rumors that there might have been problems with Sele's right (throwing) shoulder. Nevertheless, the Angels figured if they could get the regular-season production out of Sele he had achieved in the previous four years, he'd be worth it. And with Appier also on board, the Angels had a definite upgrade in the starting rotation from the previous season, having replaced Ismael Valdes and Pat Rapp.

There was one final piece the Angels needed, and that was a designated hitter. In 2001 they Angels experimented and failed with Jose Canseco, Glenallen Hill and many others. By season's end, the Angels had used 15 different players and got only eight home runs in the DH spot. They needed an upgrade there, and they got it when they found the Toronto Blue Jays in the process of dumping salary.

The Angels acquired Brad Fullmer, who had averaged 25 home runs in the previous two seasons, for minor league pitcher Brian Cooper. Spring training was set to begin, and for the first time in many years, the Angels seemed to be settled.

''I think we're much more well-rounded than in years past,'' right fielder Tim Salmon said. ''Every team has areas to fill going into the off season, but not every team is able to do it. We did.''

With another year of development under the belts of starting pitchers Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz and Scott Schoeneweis, and the expected return to normalcy of Salmon and Darin Erstad, who both slumped in 2001, the Angels felt confident. And that confidence exuded from the top.

''We've taken huge steps forward in important areas,'' said Scioscia, who was about to start his third season with the club. ''The starting rotation, and not just Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele, but also the development of the three younger guys. They're developing at a pace where they've made footsteps in the major leagues and they're ready to take off from there. And the offense. Even though the names are the same in some areas, they're better just with experience.''

PERCIVAL VS. VAUGHN, ROUND 2

Just when it appeared the Angels would have a nice quiet spring, a reporter asked closer Troy Percival how the Angels would make up for the leadership of Mo Vaughn. Percival scoffed at the notion the Angels would miss the leadership of someone who had not been around.

''We may miss Mo's bat, but we won't miss his leadership,'' Percival said, noting Vaughn rarely came around the team as he rehabilitated from surgery on his left arm. ''Darin Erstad is our leader.''

In Percival's mind, the comments weren't a slap at Vaughn, simply a statement of fact. They could not miss something they didn't have. But when a reporter picked up Percival's comments and relayed them to Vaughn, now in Port St. Lucie, Fla. in spring training with the Mets, the first baseman reacted angrily.

''Who the (expletive) is Troy Percival?'' Vaughn said. ''What has he done in this game? Has he led his team to a pennant? Has he ever (expletive) pitched in a big game that meant something? ... He hasn't done (expletive) to lead them anywhere. I got hardware, I got playoff appearances. I got an MVP. I've been to the playoffs twice. What the hell has he done? Who the hell is he?''

About the Angels, Vaughn said: ''I tried to be cool here. I tried to be nice of this whole situation concerning the Angels all the way around. Ain't none of them done a damn thing in the damn game, bottom line. They ain't got no flags hanging at (expletive) Edison Field, so the hell with them.''

Predictably, reporters went back to Percival for his reaction to Vaughn's comments, looking for another slam in this cross-country tennis match. But it didn't happen. Percival took the high road and ended the controversy right there.

''What I said and what I'll continue to say is that last year we missed his bat,'' Percival said. ''But you ask 25 guys in here and they'll tell you the same thing: Darin Erstad is the leader of our team. Did Mo Vaughn lead our team last year? No, he wasn't here. You can't miss somebody that wasn't here.''

Percival also said he had no problems with Vaughn's comments about never playing in the postseason.

''You know what? You take out all the expletives, and he's right,'' Percival said. ''How many times have I been to the playoffs? How many times have I won? It's not an individual game. I don't play it that way. ... I don't live in the past. We don't have a lot of pennants. We don't have a lot of World Series. But I came back here because the future of this team looks bright. That's why I'm here.''

Still, Vaughn remained hot on the other side of the country, blaming the Angels for not diagnosing the injury soon enough. ''That organization frickin' destroyed my arm,'' Vaughn said in reference to the surgery he had to repair a torn biceps tendon. Vaughn felt pain toward the end of the 2000 season in his arm, but played out the year. It was discovered later he needed surgery.

But ever the level-headed one, Scioscia cooled the situation.

''I've never had any conversations with Mo that would say he couldn't go out and play,'' Scioscia said. ''He wanted to go out and play, and he did well. Mo's a gamer. His rehab didn't go smoothly, but that's not unique to rehab. Mo's injuries were probably the toughest things he went through out here. It was tough for him to assume a leadership role. That's a fact, I don't think it's a slam at Mo. We wish Mo well. There are no hard feelings.''

And with that, the Mo Vaughn era was officially over.

THE HAYMAKER

Arizona's Cactus League games started out like any other year in spring training for the Angels, with the starting pitchers getting their work in, and the position players building up stamina and finding their rhythm and timing at the plate. The intensity level at the games is not high, and it carries over into the seats. The fans at spring training games in Arizona are there to catch some rays as much as catch a foul ball.

But the serenity of spring was rudely shattered one afternoon at Tempe Diablo Stadium when the Angels and Padres took the field and quickly engaged in two bench- and bullpen-clearing fights.

The first fight took place in the top of the first inning when with two out and nobody on base, Angels pitcher Aaron Sele hit the Padres Ryan Klesko in the back on the first pitch. Klesko immediately charged the mound and fought with Sele as players from both teams piled on.

Klesko was ejected but jawed with Scioscia before leaving the field. Sele had to go to the trainer's room because his contact lenses had popped out. He returned to the mound and gave up a two-run homer to Phil Nevin before getting out of the inning.

Then in the bottom of the first, the Angels had a runner on first with one out when Padres pitcher Bobby Jones threw a fastball inside to Troy Glaus, who glared back at Jones. After a called strike, Jones threw the next pitch high and tight, Glaus hitting the dirt to avoid the pitch. He immediately got up and charged Jones, but was tackled by catcher Adan Amezcua before reaching Jones.

Klesko ran back onto the field in street clothes, but didn't fight. An enraged Scott Spiezio, though, did. Spiezio, who started the game at third base for the Angels, threw punches at Padres coach Tim Flannery and manager Bruce Bochy, connecting when he swung at Flannery. Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher emerged with a cut under his right eye. Spiezio, Jones, Nevin and Glaus were thrown out after the second fight.

Why such temper in a spring training game? According to Klesko, Sele was upset with him after hitting a home run against Sele in an interleague game in 2001 when Sele was with the Mariners. It wasn't the home run that upset Sele, but how Klesko appeared to pose, freezing at the end of his follow-through.

''(Sele) told Nevin if he saw me again he would hit me,'' Klesko said. ''We kind of knew it was coming. It's obvious, it's the first pitch, the first time I've seen him (since). He hits me in the back, what am I supposed to do? Go to first?''

However, Sele denied there was any bad blood between the two.

''It sounds like a long theory,'' Sele said. ''I was trying to throw hard, in. If he thought I was throwing at him, he did the right thing (by charging). I have absolutely no problem with somebody trying to protect themself.''

The pitches that nearly hit Glaus, though, incensed many of the Angels, particularly Spiezio.

''Throwing at a guy's head is off limits,'' Spiezio said. ''It should have been taken care of when Klesko went out there, then they throw at Glaus' head? What was that crap? The first fight was more of a reaction, the second one, I was angry.''

Nevin, a former Angel, said he had no problem with the actions of Sele, Klesko, Jones or Glaus, but Spiezio's actions wouldn't be forgotten.

''Fights happen, but when guys come in throwing cheap shots, they need to be taught a lesson,'' Nevin said. ''And there are a couple guys over there that need to be taught a lesson.''

After the field was cleared following the second fight, Spiezio made one last trip to the field to talk to plate umpire Brian Gorman.

''There was something I wanted to clear up,'' Spiezio said. ''Bruce Bochy said I was kicking guys in the first melee, and that wasn't the case at all. I told the umps, watch the tapes, I'd never do something like that.''

After an investigation by Bob Watson, Major League Baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, Spiezio was hit with a six-game suspension that would be enforced beginning on opening day. Spiezio entered camp expecting to get most of the starts at first base in place of the departed Vaughn, sharing time with Shawn Wooten.

But Wooten tore a ligament in his thumb during spring training and would be out until July. So the Angels' opening day first baseman was utility player Benji Gil. Spiezio, though, would be back. And in a big way.

MAN WITH A BAND

Catch Scott Spiezio away from the ballpark and one would hardly imagine he was a major leaguer. Some might say he's too friendly. Others yet might say he belongs on stage. And in fact, he is.

On road trips during the baseball season, Spiezio often stays up all night writing music and lyrics for his rock band, Sandfrog.

''My main focus is baseball, it always will be,'' Spiezio said. ''My love for baseball outweighs music by far. But one thing music does is it keeps my mind consistent. If I had a great game I don't gloat about it and if I had a bad game I don't worry about it. When I get to my hotel room and write until 5 in the morning, it doesn't allow me to dwell on that night's game.

''That's one reason I bought a guitar, to get myself into a consistent mindset.''

Spiezio is as mild-mannered as they come, so don't be fooled by his music. He says the term for his music these days is ''Nu metal,'' which is heavy metal tuned down a notch.

''Our older stuff did sound like Black Sabbath and Alice in Chains,'' Spiezio said.

Sandfrog usually plays in Spiezio's hometown of Morris, Ill. where some of his bandmates still live. During the baseball season the band waits for Spiezio to come up with the new material and they get to work during the offseason. Mostly, the band's more-experienced musicians ''tweak'' Spiezio's material to clean it up.

This isn't your typical wannabe heavy-metal band. In fact, one of the band's members developed its website, Sandfrog.com, complete with videos of the band's recent gigs.

It's doubtful, though, that Spiezio's father, Ed, pushed him into music. Ed Spiezio played third base and the outfield from 1964-72 with the Cardinals, Padres and White Sox.

He didn't get to play much with the Cardinals, who had Ken Boyer at third and Lou Brock and Curt Flood in the outfield. But he was taken by the Padres in the 1969 expansion draft and became their starting third baseman.

Preston Gomez, now a special assistant to Angels' general manager Bill Stoneman, was the Padres' manager at the time.

''He hit the first home run in Padres history,'' Gomez recalled. ''He had some power, but his son has more power. He's really a nice guy, a very high-class man. Just like his son.''

Ed Spiezio played his final major league game Sept. 20, 1972, one day before Scott was born. Ed still had some baseball left in him, but figured he needed be home for his family. And besides, he could make more money running the family's furniture store in Morris than he could playing baseball. Ed still runs the same furniture store.

Meanwhile, Scott turned out to be just like dad, more or less. The younger Spiezio is versatile, able to play first, third and the outfield. He played a full season with the A's at second base.

But it was his versatility that contributed to the utility-player tag he's tried to shed. When the Angels traded Vaughn to the Mets during the offseason, Spiezio had his chance. And in 2002, he would make the most of it.

BREAKING CAMP

Even though the Angels had considerable confidence in themselves, they weren't given much of a chance outside of their own clubhouse. Just about any publication had them finishing behind the Mariners and A's in the A.L. West, and many had them finishing behind the Texas Rangers, even though it was the Rangers who had finished in last place in 2001.

It wasn't a position unfamiliar to the Angels. They were used to be overlooked, and their history of failures had as much to do with it as anything. But it was a position that helped the Angels grab onto an approach of ''Us against the world.'' Starting in spring training, they seemed able to block out any and all distractions.

''Being an underdog is nice,'' Salmon said. ''But I'd be willing to bet you teams in our division don't think of us as an afterthought.''

No matter what other teams thought of the Angels as a successful and relatively quiet spring training came to an end, the Angels left Arizona confident, healthy and ready to begin the 2002 season.

This page was last updated on July 20, 2003

Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Joe Haakenson