Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews, Jr. declared himself fit and expressed a desire to regain lost playing time Sunday after playing three innings in his Cactus League debut.
The 34-year-old told the Orange County Register afterward that he actually wanted to get more work in during his first appearance.
“I wanted to work (manager Mike Scioscia) for another inning and one more at-bat,” Matthews said. “But it didn’t work out. I could have gone nine (innings) today if they wanted me to.”
However, Matthews has a couple of problems in his quest to get back into the outfield mix in Anaheim. First off is the logjam of proven outfielders that the Angels plan to put out there every day.
Newcomer Bobby Abreu will see the majority of time in left field and may even take a few turns in right should Scioscia decide to rest Vladimir Guerrero on occasion.
Meanwhile, Torii Hunter is a Gold Glove center fielder that is a lock at that spot and Guerrero is the healthiest he has been in two years after undergoing offseason knee surgery.
Finally, Juan Rivera was favored by Scioscia over Matthews down the stretch and responded with a .253-9-34 second half despite a horrendous on-base percentage of .276 in his 185 plate appearances.
That leaves Matthews, who still has three years and $36 million left on a 5-year, $50 million contract, as an expensive fifth outfielder who will be difficult to trade unless the team offers to eat a sizeable portion of the deal.
The second problem is that at his age, the fact that he’s coming off knee surgery, and with only one remotely solid season in his career (not coincidentally in a walk year), even if Matthews is put on the block there is no guarantee that anyone would be willing to take him on.
Mathews made it clear that he has no desire to sit on the bench for the majority of the season.
“I sacrificed by changing positions, not making a stink about it and playing when I was hurt, with a pretty significant injury,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I did what I was supposed to do and kept my mouth shut.
“Now that I’m healthy, I want to go back to playing every day. I don’t think anybody would fault me for that.”
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