Brumley anxiously awaits start of Stingers' season

Mike Brumley can't help himself. It's the middle of winter, but every once in awhile, the Salt Lake Stingers manager finds his mind wandering to April's season-opener.

"As soon as the last college football game is played, I really start to think about it," he said. "I catch myself writing lineups down."

That may seem premature, considering that pitchers and catchers — and Brumley — won't report to the parent-club Anaheim Angels' Tempe, Ariz., spring-training facility until Feb. 18. But the reality is Brumley already has a pretty good idea which players will populate the Salt Lake roster this year.

That's because the Angels, under new ownership, had an active offseason, adding Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Guillen to an already solid lineup and Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar to a starting pitching rotation that needed some shoring up.

Now the Angels look like definite contenders, which is great if you're an Angels fan but not too encouraging if you're a Triple-A player aspiring to the big leagues.

Brumley said he's run into a couple Stingers' players over the winter and had to assure them that if they focus on playing well here, they'll eventually get a shot.

"I told them, 'Don't try to control things you can't control.

Just get yourself ready to play and be ready to be called up," Brumley said. "Injuries happen. If these kids are playing at that level, they'll get the call. If a guy's absolutely ready, his time will come."

The same might be said of the 42-year-old Brumley, who, about to embark on his third season as Stingers' manager, says he's in no particular hurry to lead a big-league team. He's enjoyed managing at other levels, and thinks there are a number of baseball jobs he'd still like to try. In the meantime, he'll spend spring training working with the Angels' organization's players while trying to improve his skills as well.

As a former big-leaguer, Brumley said he has a pretty good idea what kind of manager he wants to be. "You're kind of driven by saying, 'I want to be the guy I wish I'd played for,' " he said.

Brumley acknowledges that his offseason was short, starting with a stint working with Angels' youngsters at the fall instructional league in Mesa, Ariz.

"We drafted a bunch of infielders," he said. "I went down there to see if I could mess them up."

But while that kind of duty abbreviated his offseason, Brumley didn't mind.

"It was nice to go out and teach and not have to worry about all the other stuff, not get any calls from players," he said, smiling. "I didn't have to deal with anything. If a problem came up, I referred to somebody else. I get enough of that from April to September."