Fallen Angels

Albert Chen

June 26, 2006

The Angels can't do much right these days, and demoting their best starter to the minors continued the trend. To make room for ace righthander Bartolo Colon, who came off the DL last week, L.A. sent Jered Weaver (above) to Triple A Salt Lake despite the rookie's 4--0 record and 1.37 ERA. Maybe the Angels are waiting for a panicky contender to trade for righty Jeff Weaver, Jered's more hittable brother. (They already rejected Toronto's offer of outfielder Eric Hinske.) Or maybe the Angels can persuade Tampa Bay to send them outfielder Carl Crawford for righty Ervin Santana. But if L.A. doesn't fix its defense (no team has given up more unearned runs this year), it won't matter who's in the rotation.