Weaver Almost Ready to Go

BOSTON —  Former Long Beach State ace Jered Weaver, the Angels’ first-round pick from 2004, passed his physical, signed his $4-million contract and reported to Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday, vowing not to let an acrimonious negotiation with the Angels and his yearlong holdout affect his mind-set.

“I’m going to try to put the business side of it behind me,” Weaver said on a conference call Saturday. “I didn’t plan on it taking this long, but the rest gave my arm a chance to recuperate, I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning and working out with personal trainers, and throwing in the bullpen. It shouldn’t take long to get ready.”

Weaver, who went 15-1 with a 1.62 earned-run average, 213 strikeouts and 21 walks in 144 innings last season and won the Golden Spikes Award as college’s best player, agreed to terms with the Angels about an hour before Monday’s 9 p.m. deadline to do so or re-enter Tuesday’s draft.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander, a former Simi Valley High star and the brother of Dodger pitcher Jeff Weaver, called his decision to accept the Angels’ offer -- which was less than half of the $10 million Weaver originally sought after being the 12th overall pick in last June’s draft -- “family-based.”

“As it came to the final day, I realized it was important to play at home,” Weaver said. “Knowing I’m going to be an Angel made my parents and family very happy. In talking to Jeff about the whole situation, economics were not an issue.”

But if economics weren’t an issue, why did it take Weaver a full year to sign? That’s a thornier issue.

Weaver said negotiations “took four or five months” to even start, and eight months “to get going,” the latter a reference to the Angels’ late-February, take-it-or-leave-it offers of a five-year, $5.25-million deal or a $4-million minor league deal. Weaver, at the time, was looking for $8 million.

“That [Angel] offer was not anywhere near what we decided on, and then they pulled it off the table, which I didn’t understand,” Weaver said. “If they wanted me to get out there by spring training, they didn’t take the steps to get it done.”

But the Angels held their ground, Weaver capitulated, and now the pitcher is off to Rancho Cucamonga to work with Angel roving pitching instructor Mike Butcher and build up his stamina in anticipation of his first start, the beginning of what many believe will be a fairly quick ascent to the big leagues.

“It’s been a long year, and I’ve missed baseball,” Weaver said. “I’m happy to be an Angel.”

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After reviewing videotape of struggling reliever Brendan Donnelly Saturday morning, Manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Bud Black agreed on a diagnosis: The right-hander, who gave up five earned runs and four hits, including two home runs, in 2 1/3 innings of three appearances last week, was overthrowing.

“He’s worrying about velocity more than command and location,” Scioscia said. “He’s a competitor, and sometimes he tries to throw the ball through a brick wall instead of letting his deception miss bats.”

Donnelly, who gave up one earned run in 16 1/3 innings of his previous 15 appearances before this rough patch, agreed. He was having success throwing his fastball in the 89-mph range; why try to push it to 93 mph?

“You try to do more, it turns into less,” Donnelly said. “I was dialed in for a while and felt so good I tried to do more. I’m capable of throwing harder, but not with the same command.”