General Manager Bill Bavasi noticed that as early as 1992, when Edmonds was playing at double-A Midland, Texas. The team's farm director at the time, Bavasi evaluated Edmonds for a few days and concluded, "His body language will drive you nuts."
Bavasi tried a little experiment, watching Edmonds only during the action. Between pitches he looked away. He was so impressed with the outfielder that he instructed scouts not to look at Edmonds between pitches.
Edmonds progressed rapidly through the Angel farm system, reached the big leagues in 1993 and had a breakthrough season in 1995, hitting .290 with 33 homers and 107 RBIs, scoring a franchise-record 120 runs, and making the All-Star team.
Injuries limited Edmonds to 114 games in 1996 but he hit .304 with 27 homers and 66 RBIs. And he played through pain often in 1997, hitting .291 with 26 homers and 80 RBIs and winning his first Gold Glove award.
But with a fiery new manager in Collins, an ultra-intense coach in Bowa and a team that puts a heavy emphasis on machismo and grit, Edmonds' body language did not seem to translate well at times in 1997.
Edmonds sensed it last September, and one day in Texas he broached the subject with Bowa.
"He said, 'I understand you don't like the way I play,' " Bowa said. "I said, 'I love the way you play. It's the way you approach the game that I don't like.' Sometimes he has the tendency to let his instincts and natural ability take over."
Edmonds sat out the first two weeks of August because of a strained lower back and played the last six weeks on knees so sore that both required surgery last October.
Unlike some in the Angel clubhouse, who refuse to acknowledge injuries, Edmonds has always been candid with reporters when he wasn't feeling well. That, too, seemed to rub some the wrong way.
"No one's saying he has to hit 50 home runs, but give the opposition the look that you're going to play every day--then the guy in front of him [in the lineup] will see better pitches, and it changes the way other teams approach us," Bowa said.
"He has to understand it's impossible to be 100% all the time. You should be banged up in August. You should have scabs and bone bruises and be in pain. If you don't, you're not busting it. . . . If we expect to win our division and Jim plays only 90 games, we're in trouble."
Edmonds says he "understands where [Bowa] is coming from," and whatever differences the two might have had have been ironed out.
