This is one of the worst puff pieces I've ever seen. Steve Bisheff of the Orange County Register makes Eric Owens sound like someone valuable:

Eric Owens was playing Mike Scioscia's style of baseball before Scioscia's defending world champions were. He was running and bunting and skidding all over the outfield grass to make catches. He would hit ground balls to the right side to move runners over from second and do almost anything humanly possible to get a teammate home from third.

Maybe that's why he was the most popular player in San Diego when he was with the Padres from 1999-2000.

Unfortunately, playing a style of baseball is all Eric can do. He doesn't get on base. He doesn't hit for power (carreer .320 OBA, .352 slugging). As for being the most popular player on the Padres? I remember a guy named Gwynn who was still around then.

Owens can play all three outfield positions and even three of the four infield positions if needed. What that means is that Tim Salmon, seemingly more fragile now at age 34, probably will see more at-bats as a DH this season.

"Eric will not only fill a role for us, he will help our energy level," Scioscia said. "He competes. He does whatever it takes to help his team win."

This is no coincidence, by the way. This is a guy General Manager Bill Stoneman studied carefully before signing to a free-agent contract.

"We had Owens on a list of players we'd be interested in, and when he became available, we went after him," Stoneman said. "Sometimes, the player and his agent aren't always as interested as you are in them. Happily, this time they felt the same way."

Stoneman tries not to smile when describing Owens.

"He's an (Darin) Erstad, (David) Eckstein kind of player. He's perfect for our ballclub."

I guess we don't have to worry about the Angels repeating if this is what the manager and GM thinks pass as a good ballplayer. I'd rather have Salmon playing hurt.