TEMPE, Ariz. — This is going be a different sort of spring training for Huston Street.
It’s also going to be the same.
Street, owner of 324 career saves but coming off an injury-marred nightmare season, is fighting for the job as the Angels closer, along with Cam Bedrosian and Andrew Bailey. Street said it’s the first time since 2009, when he was with the Colorado Rockies, that he had to compete for a job in the spring.
All of which changes … nothing.
“I’m getting ready for the season, same as I always am,” Street said Wednesday, before the Angels pitchers and catchers held their first formal workout of the spring. “I’m not trying to pitch different to win a job. The last time I was in a competition was 2009, and I said the same thing in camp then that I’m going to say now. I’m going to go and do my best and pull for these guys. These other guys are my teammates. I’m pulling for them to do well and I’m pulling for myself to do well.
“But I want to be the closer, and I hope they choose me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
The competition between Street, Bedrosian and Bailey figures to be one of the more intriguing storylines of the spring. Street has the best track record, which could put the 33-year-old in the pole position to start the race.
His problem is he’s coming off what was basically a lost season.
Street posted a 6.45 ERA in just 22 1/3 innings last season. Although he said he doesn’t want to delve too deeply into what went wrong, he said it started with an oblique injury that altered his mechanics. That led to a knee injury, which finally required surgery.
“In the middle of the mechanics changing was a lot of bad performance,” Street said.
Street said his knee was totally healed by October, so he had a normal offseason. He lost some weight and got himself in better shape to help avoid injuries this year. He didn’t seem concerned that the numbers in 2016 were the result of anything but his health.
“I’m good at baseball, when I’m healthy,” Street said, uttering the early leader for Deadpan Quote of the Spring.
“I know exactly how to play baseball. I was hurt last year. You just show up this year as a brand new year, try to make it like 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. Those were all good years. I just had my first really bad one last year.”
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