Anderson Has Center Stage

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s ... Darin Erstad or Jim Edmonds diving for another ball in center field. Manning the position in Anaheim for most of the last nine years, Erstad and Edmonds filled highlight reels with spectacular catches while soaring into gaps or crashing into walls.

But just because Garret Anderson may not need an air bag to play the position this season in a reconfigured outfield that will include Vladimir Guerrero in right and Jose Guillen in left, by no means will the Angels be any weaker in center.

“I don’t have any problem with him playing center field because he gets as good a jump as anyone in baseball,” third base coach Ron Roenicke said of Anderson, a prolific run producer who has averaged 30 home runs and 120 runs batted in over the last four seasons.

“Some guys, you don’t want on the ground too much, and Garret is one of them. He’s too big of a man [6 feet 3 and 230 pounds] to be down there all the time....Erstad dives probably more than anyone. But there’s always a concern. How safe are those dives? We have a great team now. We can’t afford to have the injuries we had last year.”

Anderson, who has spent most of his nine years as an Angel in left field, played 116 games in center in 1999 and 137 games in center in 2000, and though he wasn’t a Gold Glove award winner, he was better than adequate.

He made virtually all the plays he should have and rarely hurt the team defensively. He committed three errors in each of those seasons, posting a .991 fielding percentage in 1999 and a .992 fielding percentage in 2000.

So it was with no trepidation that Manager Mike Scioscia, after Monday’s signing of Guerrero to a five-year, $70-million contract, named Anderson his center fielder, replacing Erstad, who will move to first base.

“I’ve played center field for almost two full years [in the major leagues], and I played there most of my life, so it’s not a transition at all,” said Anderson, who attended Monday’s introductory news conference for Guerrero. “It’s just another position to play, and one I prefer to play.”

Guerrero, who has excellent range and a superb arm, is considered one of baseball’s best right fielders. Guillen is a natural right fielder who has played only 38 of 692 big league games in left, and he made four errors in 32 games in left for Cincinnati and Oakland in 2003. But like Guerrero, he has an excellent arm. Anderson’s arm is solid.

“We should be able to control the running game, as far as guys going first to third,” Scioscia said.

The pitchers should get plenty of run support too. Scioscia said Guerrero would bat third and Anderson cleanup. He’s leaning toward David Eckstein and Erstad in the first two spots and will use Troy Glaus, Tim Salmon and Guillen in the five-six-seven spots, depending on matchups, who’s hot and who’s not. Bengie Molina and Adam Kennedy probably will hit eighth and ninth.