ANGELS NOT AFTER TRADE FOR PIAZZA : ANGELS 4, OAKLAND 3.Byline: Joe Haakenson San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. Tribune Speculation that the Angels were among the teams interested in catcher Mike Piazza Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player who currently plays for the Oakland Athletics. He began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres surprised club president Tony Tavares as much as anybody. Before the Angels and Oakland A's played Tuesday night at Edison Field - a game won by the Angels 4-3 in 10 innings before 17,275 - Tavares said that the Angels and Marlins have had no discussions about a trade for Piazza. It just wouldn't make sense for the Angels, Tavares said. ``God only knows how much money he wants,'' Tavares said. ``He rejected (approximately) $15 million a year. How much is enough?'' The Angels' payroll this season is $38.7 million, with the highest salaries going to Chuck Finley ``You pay him $15 million or more than $15 million, a team sits here concerned about how much money they're making and it can destroy the salary structure pretty rapidly,'' Tavares said. ``And there's a huge risk. If the guy breaks down, you've got $15 million sitting on the bench.'' If the Angels ``rented'' Piazza for the rest of the season by giving up a package of prospects, they'd be responsible for about $6 million - or a prorated portion of Piazza's 1998 salary of $8 million. But Tavares said the club is not interested in giving up the future and then losing Piazza to free agency and the end of the year, either. ``If we wanted to rent a player, who would we give up?'' Tavares said. ``(Troy) Glaus? (Todd) Greene? Darin (Erstad)? Are we going to do that? No.'' And besides, would Piazza have been able to make the play Angels catcher Phil Nevin John Voigt tried to bunt Henderson to second, but Nevin fired a strike to shortstop Gary DiSarcina Angels starter Chuck Finley's outing was by far his best since returning from a bruised elbow. In his previous two starts since getting hit by a line drive on the elbow May 2, Finley was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA. But against the A's Finley appeared to be his old self, giving up one run and four hits while striking out eight and walking two in eight-plus innings. He started the ninth inning leading 3-0, but was removed after Jason Giambi's leadoff double. Not only did Giambi score, but two more A's also scored in the inning against Angels closer Troy Percival Troy Eugene Percival (born August 9, 1969 in Fontana, California) is a Major League Baseball reliever on the St. Louis Cardinals. Percival came out of retirement on June 8, 2007 when he signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals[1]. , tying the game at 3. |
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