Cabrera concedes he was expendable
ANGELS REPORT
Before his first game against the team that traded him, shortstop says the Angels are so deep they probably won't miss him. He admits disappointment but maintains he's fortunate to be with White Sox.
TUCSON -- Orlando Cabrera got off the plane from his honeymoon in Turks and Caicos, turned on his cellphone and picked up a message.
Tony Reagins, the Angels' new general manager, called to say he had just traded Cabrera to the Chicago White Sox. Cabrera won a Gold Glove at shortstop last year, and he hit .301, scored 101 runs and drove in 86.
And yet the Angels, a team that bills itself as a perennial contender, traded him for pitcher Jon Garland. On Tuesday, before he faced his old teammates for the first time, Cabrera said the Angels were so strong they probably would not miss him.
"If they're going to miss me, they're probably going to miss me in the clubhouse," said Cabrera, a bilingual prankster and best friend of Vladimir Guerrero. "On the field, there's so much talent."
Cabrera, 33, said disappointment was "too strong a word" to describe his reaction to the trade. He said he was surprised at the timing but also said he expected the Angels might have traded him during this season, the final one under his four-year, $32-million contract.
"You're getting to the end of your contract, and you always become expendable," he said. "At the end of the day, this is a business. Teams are trying to save money. They have a lot of talent at that position. I don't think it was a bad move."
The Angels are auditioning youngsters Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis at shortstop, with top prospect Brandon Wood lined up behind them.
"Aybar, I think, is an unbelievable talent," Cabrera said. "He can hit for average. He can cover a lot of ground.
"Izturis can do an unbelievable job. That's his natural position. Brandon Wood is coming up. You can move [Chone] Figgins to shortstop. There's so much talent, I don't think they'll miss anybody."
Cabrera said he had hoped to sign an extension with the Angels, to play four or five more years and end his career in Anaheim. But if the Angels had to trade him, he said he was happy he ended up with the White Sox.
"Fortunately, it was to a team that has a lot of tradition," he said. "It's a great city. It's a team that, every year, wants to compete. It's a team that, every year, wants to be a contender."
And it is a team that dresses in basic black.
"I always said, if you look good in red, you can look good in any other color," Cabrera said with a grin.
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
