TEMPE, Ariz. — Carlos Estévez went into the winter with a very specific plan for improving on what went wrong last season.
Although Estévez made the All-Star team and finished with 31 saves in his first season as the Angels closer, the taste that was left in his mouth was the rough finish.
Estévez had a 1.88 ERA and he had converted all 23 of his save opportunities through July, but he blew four save chances and had an 8.38 ERA over the final two months. He said last September that he thought he was fatigued because the physical demands of pitching the ninth proved to be more than he was accustomed to in pitching earlier in the game.
So this winter, Estévez changed his workout routine.
“I started a little bit earlier and I started doing more interval exercises, explosive with less rest, just to get used to the intensity of the ninth inning,” he said. “At the beginning, I was beat up. But I got used to it and I feel really good about it. Hopefully it’s going to pay off. It will pay off. That’s the way I see it.”
Estévez, 31, didn’t expect that he’d need to do anything differently after pitching six seasons in the majors. In fact, he’d figured it might be easier getting out of the high altitude of Colorado, where he’d been for his entire career up until last year.
“People think that once you’re a big leaguer, you’ve got everything figured out, but you’ve still got to make adjustments,” Estévez said. “That’s why you’re in the big leagues, because you can make adjustments the fastest. That’s what I believe.”
Estévez said now that his “arm feels in better shape” than it normally would at this time of year. He cautioned, however, that the results may not show up in Arizona.
“I’m a really bad starter in spring training,” said Estévez, who gave up nine runs and issued 10 walks in 7-2/3 innings last spring.
Angels manager Ron Washington said they currently have Estévez penciled in as their closer. This…
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