Orange County Register

ANAHEIM

Last week, outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. said he did not expect to be back with the Angels in 2010 and had asked to be traded or released. Matthews indicated he had come to an “understanding” with Angels GM Tony Reagins regarding his desire to be dealt somewhere he would have a chance to play every day.

The comments set the hearts of Angels’ fans to fluttering with trade scenarios as delusional as Matthews’ own evaluation of his worth to other teams.

Well …. not so fast.

Reagins’ view of that “understanding” appears to be quite different than Matthews’ interpretation.

“I’m not actively looking to move him,” Reagins said  Thursday. “But like with any player, if a deal makes sense we’ll look at it.”

If the Angels aren’t “actively looking to move” Matthews, what is the likelihood that another team would come knocking on their door looking to take Matthews and his contract off the Angels’ hands?

Not likely — though Reagins did say “you’d be surprised” what can happen even with contracts or players that look like they cannot be moved.

Reagins said his reaction to Matthews’ comments last week was that the situation was largely “unchanged” from this spring when Matthews also expressed his desire to go elsewhere if the Angels did not have an everyday role for him.

If you remember, Matthews left training camp for a day after a closed-door meeting with Reagins and Angels manager Mike Scioscia during which he was told he would remain with the team in a reserve role.

“My reaction (to Matthews’ comments last week) is he’s under contract for 2010 and 2011. That’s the fact,” Reagins said. “What I think is positive is that the lines of communication with the player are open.”

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.