Anaheim Angels Baseball Team

The Anaheim City Council should demand explanations for the vague language that the Angels say permits them to change their name and should consider how much taxpayer money to spend if the city continues to lose in court, Councilman Richard Chavez said Monday. "I hate to start spending all this money if we're not going to win," Chavez said.

The Angels can operate as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, at least for the next two weeks. The city of Anaheim lost its bid Friday for a temporary restraining order that would have immediately blocked the Angels' name change. Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos set a Jan. 21 hearing on the issue and ruled the city would not be irreparably harmed if the team used its new name until then. "We're disappointed, but we're certainly not dismayed or defeated," City Atty. Jack White said.

A thumb injury that will sideline American League most valuable player Vladimir Guerrero for the rest of the Dominican winter league playoffs is not considered serious. The Angel right fielder, hurt on a headfirst slide into second base in a game Dec. 26, was diagnosed with a sprained right thumb and is expected to recover fully by the time spring training begins in February.

A day before a hearing on the team naming issue, the Angels filed court papers Thursday contending that the city belatedly sought to rewrite a stadium lease "to reflect what the city wants the lease to say instead of what the lease actually says." The team, seeking to change the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, also claimed in the filing that owner Arte Moreno "would not have bought the Angels ... had the lease precluded the name change."

The Angels could experience their next victory or defeat in court as soon as Thursday, when the city of Anaheim hopes a judge will grant its request to stop the team from renaming itself the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. City attorneys plan to notify the Angels today that they must defend themselves in Orange County Superior Court, as the city seeks a temporary restraining order that would force the team to remain the Anaheim Angels for now.

When Darin Erstad was first called up to the big leagues in 1996, he played for the California Angels. From 1997 through 2004, Erstad played for the Anaheim Angels. And this spring, barring a trade of the first baseman or a legal ruling against Angel owner Arte Moreno, Erstad will suit up for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Confusing?

It was standing-room only in the lobby of Anaheim City Hall, with civic leaders and baseball executives gathering for a celebratory news conference. The Walt Disney Co. had agreed to buy the Angels, keep them in town for decades and pay for most of an ambitious and costly stadium renovation. And, as city officials happily noted on that sunny afternoon in 1996, their team no longer would be known as the California Angels.

Garret Anderson's contract extension just cost the Angels another million dollars. After the Angels spent $146 million on free agents last winter, they committed another $48 million to the star outfielder last spring. That officially tipped the Angels into the category of big spenders, joining the New York Yankees and World Series champion Boston Red Sox as the only major league teams subject to a luxury tax for the 2004 season.

The city of Anaheim has formally notified the Angels it believes the team has violated its stadium lease by "completely and systematically" removing the city name from use, City Atty. Jack White said Thursday. The City Council next meets Jan. 11 and could authorize a lawsuit against the Angels at that time. "We don't want to litigate," White said. "That's always a last resort."

It's hard to imagine a baseball experience to rival winning a World Series, but shortstop Orlando Cabrera seemed as giddy after signing a four-year, $32-million contract with the Angels on Monday as he was after helping the Boston Red Sox end their 86-year championship drought in October. "I couldn't even sleep [Monday] night," Cabrera said Tuesday by phone from Cartagena, Colombia, where he was born and raised and still lives in the winter.