Hey everyone...

Jose has missed the past eight spring training games due to various
injuries. First, a stiff back sidelined him for a few games. When that
improved, he pulled a hamstring while warming up for a game. Rumor has it
he will be back in the lineup today, but take that with a grain of salt -
they've been saying that for quite a few days now... All the latest news is
below...

Let's just hope Jose gets these injuries out of his system now and can
manage to play in 150+ games this year.

-Mark

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From the LA Times:
March 13

...Jose Canseco, sidelined for three days because of a stiff lower back,
said he expects to play today.

March 14:

...Canseco, sidelined because of a stiff lower back, is expected to return
today....

March 17:

...Tim Salmon (slight abdominal strain) and Jose Canseco (tight right
hamstring) took batting practice Friday and could return by Monday or
Tuesday....

March 18:

...Jose Canseco will DH on Monday against the Brewers. Canseco, who missed
his eighth consecutive game, was scratched from a start Wednesday because
of a hamstring strain....

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From USA TODAY Baseball Weekly:
'Slobbered' Canseco says he's healthy ... really
By Steve DiMeglio

It has been written before, many times in fact. In the past several years,
your ears no doubt have heard a radio sound bite or two on the subject. TV
reports have been numerous as well.

Nevertheless, here it comes again:

Jose Canseco is healthy.

Again.

For now.

Plagued by injuries, Canseco, 36, has played in as many as 113 games just
twice since he played 154 games in 1991. He's been on the disabled list
seven times in six seasons - due in large part to a bad back and pulled
muscles - and all told, he has landed with a thud on the DL 11 times in his
career.

But a lighter Canseco has lost 20 pounds this offseason and is down to a
mere 242 pounds that are spread out in a finally chiseled manner on his
6-foot-4 frame. So in February, the star-crossed Anaheim Angels became the
seventh team to take a chance on Canseco - an incentive-laden gamble that
could pay him as little as $200,000 or as much as $5 million.

It was risk warranted when high-priced slugger Mo Vaughn went down with a
season-ending injury. Just as they did with Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon for
much of the 1999 season and shortstop Gary DiSarcina last year, the Angels
will watch Vaughn take part in nothing more than treatment and rehabilitation.

They're now hoping Canseco doesn't join him in the trainer's room.

"Getting Jose can be big for us if he can maintain his health," Angels
manager Mike Scioscia said. "His stroke is there. Really, it's the same
stroke he's regained the last couple of years that reminds you of when he
was always tearing up the American League years ago.

"The way his body has tapered down is encouraging. He's running better and
he's not carrying as much weight. If he does stay healthy, he'll put up
numbers like he did before."

Finally convinced of something that others have said for years - that he
was too buffed - Canseco changed his offseason habits with a method that
could be the next hottest selling workout video.

He "slobbered" out this winter.

That's Canseco's unique way of saying that he spent hardly any time in the
weight room - he said he laid off the dumbbells entirely - and instead
spent his offseason workouts doing mostly exercises to improve flexibility.
He also concentrated on his nutrition and agility.

"I tried everything else and I had nothing to lose," Canseco said.

Except weight.

"Am I as strong as I was?" Canseco said. "Probably not. Twenty pounds of
solid muscle wasn't easy to lose.

"But I'm looking at it this way: If I don't have the muscle, I can't pull it."

Canseco, 36, is 23rd on baseball's career home run list with 446. In 1,811
major league games over 16 seasons, he's also driven in 1,358 runs, has
collected 1,811 hits and scored 1,140 runs. In 1988, he became the first
player to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a season.

He's also just 18 months removed from wrapping up his 1999 season with the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays after hitting 34 home runs. Last year, he hit 15 for
the Devil Rays and the Yankees.

But the home run is still Canseco's calling card. He'll no longer steal 40
bases, or any number close. But this guy could probably hit a home run
sitting in a wheel chair. His ratio of a home run every 15.2 at bats
exceeds nine of the 16 Hall of Fame players who have hit 500 homers or
more, including Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson. He sees no
reason why that ratio shouldn't continue in Anaheim.

"If I stay healthy, 40 to 50 home runs will be automatic," Canseco said.
"No doubt about it. Injuries have been my demon. I've been battling the
injury monster for a long time. There's no doubt injuries kept me from
hitting 500, 600, even 700 home runs."

Canseco's impact on the Angels will also be measured by his influence on
younger hitters as he passes along his considerable body of knowledge of
American League pitchers. One such slugger who has his ears perked is Troy
Glaus, who led the AL in home runs last year with 47.

"You bet we talk about hitting," Glaus said. "He's still an enormous man.
He hits these balls and they look like they are just going straight up and
they just keep going further and further and further. It's unbelievable. I
don't know how many home runs he's short of 500, but to get the opportunity
to see something like that would be unbelievable."

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From the AP:

...Jose Canseco, expected to return to the Angels lineup after missing four
games with lower back pain, was a last-minute scratch after feeling
tightness in his right hamstring ... " I'm concerned long-term, " Angels'
manager Mike Scioscia said. " I don't think it's anything we haven't talked
about. He hasn't been able to get to where he needs to be. We've just got
to get over the hump. Hopefully, it's just a little bump in the road."

==========
From the LA Times:
They Hope They're Not Stiffed by Canseco
By MIKE DIGIOVANNA

TEMPE, Ariz.--Jose Canseco was pacing the Tempe Diablo Stadium
clubhouse before Wednesday's Cactus League game against Colorado, looking a
little antsy. The designated hitter, sidelined for four days because of
stiffness in his lower back, was in the lineup and couldn't wait for the
game to begin.

"Too much down time," he said.

Funny, the Angels are starting to think the same thing about Canseco.

Somewhere between lunch and the 1 p.m. game--apparently running
pregame wind sprints--Canseco's right hamstring tightened up, and he asked
out of the lineup, extending his absence to five days and straining the
patience of Manager Mike Scioscia.

"Sore hamstrings and stiff backs are not out of the ordinary for
spring training--the deeper issue is the overall health of Jose, and we're
not getting a read on that," Scioscia said after a 6-5 exhibition victory
over the Rockies. "Jose is a big part of the puzzle. We need to see where
he fits in."

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Canseco lost 20 pounds over the winter and
did not lift a weight, concentrating on stretching and agility exercises in
hopes of avoiding the back and leg injuries that sent him to the disabled
list seven times in the last six years.

Though Canseco has downplayed his ailments, saying they are nothing
more than the usual spring training soreness, he has done little to dispel
his reputation as an injury-prone slugger.

He has played in only six exhibition games, with three hits and six
strikeouts in 16 at-bats. The Angels are counting on Canseco, who has 446
career home runs, to be their starting DH, but they're beginning to wonder
if they can rely on him.

"You're always looking at different scenarios, you always want to be
prepared," Scioscia said. "If Jose's body won't let him do it, we'll have
to go to Plan B."

That would probably be either Scott Spiezio or a combination of
players such as Spiezio, Orlando Palmeiro and possibly Kimera Bartee or
Larry Barnes, depending on how Barnes and Spiezio finish in the battle for
the first-base job with Wally Joyner.

But none of those four can match the power potential of Canseco,
whose incentive-laced contract includes a $200,000 base salary and the
chance to make an additional $4.95 million if he makes 600 plate appearances.

"There's still time to get him enough at-bats to get ready for the
season," Scioscia said. "I'm not concerned in the short term, but in the
long term, I'm concerned. If he's healthy, he'll produce, but he hasn't
been able to get out there enough this spring to see where he is."

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From the Orange county Register:
Scioscia wonders if Canseco can go distance
Manager is concerned because the outfielder is battling nagging injuries again.
March 15, 2001
By CHERYL ROSENBERG

TEMPE, Ariz. - Jose Canseco said before Wednesday's Angels game he was not
worried about the lower-back stiffness that kept him out of the past four
games.

The Angels might view it differently, especially after Canseco was a
last-minute scratch. He was set to DH in the Angels' 6-5 victory over the
Rockies at Tempe Diablo Stadium, but felt tightness in his right hamstring
during warmups.

"I don't think I'm concerned short-term,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia
said. "Long-term, I'm concerned. This is what we talked about with Jose.''

Scioscia was referring to Canseco's history of injuries. Canseco is
productive when he's healthy, but has been on the disabled list seven times
in the past six seasons. Canseco changed his workout regimen this
offseason, dropped 20 pounds, and didn't lift weights. He said he entered
this camp in the best shape he has been in in years.

That has not translated to the field. The Angels have not had much of a
chance to evaluate Canseco. He has played in six of their 14 games and has
three hits in 16 at-bats (.187) and no home runs.

"Sore hamstrings and stiff backs aren't out of the ordinary,'' Scioscia
said. "But the deeper issue is his overall health. He hasn't been healthy
this spring. Hopefully, it won't be longer than a couple of days.''

The Angels will consider their options at DH should Canseco not be healthy
enough to play. The job would probably be handled as it was last season,
with various players filling in.

Canseco does not have a guaranteed contract. He signed a minor league deal
for the major league minimum $200,000, with a possibility to earn almost $5
million in incentives based on plate appearances.

"We can't rush him,'' Scioscia said. "If you're not looking in other areas,
things can take you by surprise. If his body won't let him do it, we'll
have to go to plan B.''

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From the LA Times:
Canseco says injuries are minor

Jose Canseco insisted that the stiff lower back and tight hamstring that
have sidelined him for six days are minor injuries, and that the Angels
should not be concerned.

"If this was the regular season, I could play with these injuries," said
Canseco, who has been on the disabled list seven times in the last six
years. "The injuries I worry about are the ones that require surgery, the
ones you can't play with."

Canseco, who did not travel to Tucson, said he understands why Scioscia is
growing concerned about the designated hitter's setbacks.

"He's frustrated because he has a player with talent who can't help the
team right now," Canseco said. "As long as I can play the last 10 days (of
spring training) and get three or four at-bats a game, I'll be fine."

Canseco, a 36-year-old with 446 home runs, has lost the equivalent of about
three seasons because of injuries in 15 years. He has not lost his sense of
humor, though.

When asked Thursday how he was feeling, Canseco said, "I'll be ready - in
about three years."