BAVASI’S DEFINING MOVES

1. Signing young players to long-term contracts. The Angels saved about $10 million this season alone on the contracts of Garret Anderson, Gary DiSarcina, Jim Edmonds, Darin Erstad, Troy Percival and Tim Salmon. The deals provide security for the players, allow fans to follow the development of a core group and eliminate the possibility of salary arbitration, so players need not hear the Angels point out their weaknesses and the Angels need not risk a budget-busting loss in an arbitration hearing.

2. Persuading Disney to invest in international scouting. The Angels drafted 45 of the players who appeared in the major leagues last season, more than any other club. Without international investment, however, they lacked any surplus for trades or any sizable margin of error in player development. Neither the Dodgers nor the Angels have drafted much quality starting pitching recently, but the Dodgers covered their mistakes with Fernando Valenzuela and Ismael Valdes from Mexico, Ramon Martinez and Pedro Astacio from the Dominican Republic, Hideo Nomo from Japan and Chan Ho Park from South Korea.

3. Persuading Mo Vaughn to come to Anaheim, and persuading Disney to spend $80 million to get him. In one move, Bavasi improved the Angels’ image, lineup and community involvement and provided Disney a national platform to declare its commitment to winning.

4. Trading for Tony Phillips. Bavasi did it twice, each time at minimal cost, adding a fiery leader and the leadoff hitter the Angels had otherwise lacked. The first trade was a grand slam: picking up an offensive sparkplug, trading away Chad Curtis to clear center field for future Gold Glover Edmonds, and dumping the $3.9 million remaining on Curtis’ contract onto the Detroit Tigers.

5. Hiring Terry Collins as manager. Bavasi gets bonus points for standing firm against some Disney types wanting to generate publicity by hiring Sparky Anderson, a fine manager but not a long-term solution in Anaheim. Collins would do well to rehire Dave Parker, the coach whose all-star credentials and jovial manner worked nicely as an antidote to the intense Collins in 1997.

WORST FIVE

1. Hiring Marcel Lachemann as manager. Managers generally do not make a difference in the standings, but the Angels lost by one game in 1995 as Lachemann admitted he made fundamental strategic mistakes, acknowledged he could not motivate his players and apologized for kicking helmets onto the field in his lone display of frustration. No one worked harder than Lachemann, but this thoroughly decent man was thoroughly miscast as a manager.

2. Trading Damion Easley to the Tigers for Greg Gohr. At least Delino DeShields played for the Dodgers. Gohr won one game for the Angels, then retired. Easley, oft-injured and unproductive in Anaheim, blossomed into an all-star second baseman last year and signed a four-year, $26.3-million contract extension with Detroit.

3. Trading McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, Bill Simas and John Snyder to the White Sox for Jim Abbott. Sure, the Angels could have gotten more for their money than the two victories Abbott gave them for his subsequent $7.8-million contract. But, with Snyder cracking the Chicago rotation while the Angels scrape for starters, the question is, how did they miss his potential?

4. Not trading for Mark McGwire. The Angels defend their decision not to trade Edmonds and pitcher Jarrod Washburn to Oakland for McGwire, saying the A’s wouldn’t throw in Scott Brosius and wouldn’t let the Angels negotiate with McGwire before the deal, leaving the chance he would leave as a free agent. Sometimes you have to take a bold chance, especially when McGwire so badly wanted to play in Anaheim. And the Angels would have gotten value in trading one of their four outfielders instead of hoping--for four years running--they could trade one for a No. 1 pitcher.

5. Trading Brian Anderson to the Indians for Jason Grimsley and Pep Harris. Bavasi considers this trade a good one and believes Harris could become a better pitcher than Anderson. Maybe so, but Anderson would be starting today in Anaheim. The Angels made this trade only after making an inadvertent error in Anderson’s contract, at the risk of losing him to free agency.