Torii Hunter's arrival in LA means fewer at-bats for one of his new teammates. Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

This is an awesome time of the year for playing around. Hitters do it with their stances. Pitchers fine-tune their deliveries. And managers do it with just about everybody and everything that they can get their manipulative little fingers on. If there's a big-league manager out there not fiddling around with his lineup card right now ... well, he's just not doing his job.

In St. Louis, manager Tony La Russa -- a man who has fashioned a Hall of Fame career out of doing things his way -- has started this season juggling not three, not four, but five outfielders. Mike Scioscia of the Angels is trying to get four established, All-Star outfielders regular at-bats, though that's much easier to do in the American League, where someone can be relegated to designated hitter duties for a day.

New Dodgers manager Joe Torre has a couple of high-priced veterans that he's trying to mix in with a couple of kids that he needs to see in the outfield. Boston manager Terry Francona is trying to get both rookie Jacoby Ellsbury and superb fielder Coco Crisp their time in an outfield that is already two-thirds full.

It's tricky, putting together a good lineup and trying to keep all those outfielders happy. It's especially complicated this time of the year when the rookies are still extra-raw, aging superstars are still working out that winter soreness and all sorts of other factors come into play.

"It's a challenge," says Atlanta's Bobby Cox, who has been mixing and matching players for going on 27 years as a big-league manager. "The weather this time of the year -- you get rain and snow and more rain, and two of those days were days when [backups] were going to play."

Here's how four of the game's more high-profile teams are coping with crowded outfields:

Angels

When the Angels signed Torii Hunter to a five-year, $90 million free-agent contract last winter, they knew what they were getting into. Gary Matthews Jr. had signed a five-year, $50 million deal just the year before. Vladimir Guerrero was a fixture in right field. Left fielder Garret Anderson is practically Mr. Angel. With Hunter onboard, the Angels suddenly had an expensive, veteran-laden outfield with too many players and not enough positions.

That's normally a much easier problem to deal with in the AL, with the availability of at-bats as a DH. But no self-respecting outfielder really wants to be known as a DH. Guerrero balked at the idea, as did Anderson.

The Angels, though, insisted that all of their outfielders take turns at DH. Given the team's good start, it's been hard to argue with the results.

"Vlad still thinks, and we believe, that he's still a good outfielder. But there's gonna be situations where we give him a day off to rest and get his legs back under him," says the Angels' new general manager, Tony Reagins. "G.A. [Anderson] and Gary Matthews Jr. have been fine with the DH role. But I think they all have pride in their ability to play defense."

As well as the Angels are doing, they are getting next to no production from their DHs. Anderson has spent the most time there (47 plate appearances through Tuesday), with just a .167 average and only one RBI. The most effective DH probably has been Guerrero, who has a homer, three RBIs and five walks in 22 plate appearances. But he's batting only .125 as a DH. As a whole, the DHs for Anaheim have a league-worst .496 OPS.

"It's an adjustment not being on the field every day," says Reagins, "when you've been doing that your whole career."

But as an outfield, the Angels are clicking. When they're not DHing, Hunter and Guerrero are off to solid starts. Overall, the outfield has scored more runs than any team in the league.

A lot of the credit for the Angels' success in dealing with such a crowd has to go to Scioscia. Through Monday, he had managed to spread around the DH duties so that no one has had to do it for more than two games straight. In the process, he has kept his outfielders mostly productive and relatively happy. At least so far.

"I think it stems from the respect that Mike has, as a player having been through it," Reagins says. "Mike is so credible and forthright. All you can do is be honest with these guys. Hopefully, these guys are onboard. We haven't had any uprisings or bickering."

Cardinals

From the man who brought you pitchers hitting eighth, double-switches that make your head throb and more bullpen moves than a world-class matador comes this interesting wrinkle: the outfield quintet. If you wonder what Tony La Russa is doing, stick around for a while. He'll do something different.

In this early part of the season -- and La Russa still has plenty of time to flip things around -- Rick Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-center fielder, is proving to be the steadiest part of the St. Louis outfield. Skip Schumaker and Ryan Ludwick have been sharing time in right field. And Chris Duncan is in left, being spelled at times by zippy rookie Brian Barton. Every one of them has a different niche. Every one has been better than average so far.

As a group, the Cardinals' outfield has been superb. Outside of some freakishly good starting pitching and always-reliable first baseman Albert Pujols, the outfield is the main reason that St. Louis is such an early season success story. The Cardinals' outfield has a .904 OPS through Tuesday's games, second only to the Pirates (.909).

"Everybody's got a reason to say they should be in the starting lineup," La Russa said recently. "When they've gotten a chance, they've all played well."

The biggest surprise probably has been Ludwick, who has four homers and 14 RBIs hitting in the middle of the order. Schumaker, as the team's primary leadoff man, has done well, too, hitting .299 with a .382 on-base percentage. La Russa, with an ever-present eye on pitching matchups, mixes and matches to try to get everybody some playing time, though Barton is firmly last in line for playing time. Somebody has to be.

"You can't play them all," La Russa told reporters. "There's nothing wrong with taking a young player and giving him bits and pieces [of playing time] to where he gets better and better -- not treating him like he's got everything figured in his first month of big-league action."