The Angels are giving some thought to Nick Adenhart in their season-opening rotation with John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar out. Adenhart, 21, is a great prospect but hasn’t pitched above Double A. … Derryl Cousins, a big-league umpire since 1979, will work as a crew chief this year for the first time. … Scouts expect Johan Santana to be one of the NL’s best-hitting pitchers this season. Another scout says the Cubs’ Kevin Hart might be a better hitter than Carlos Zambrano. … Denard Span has outplayed Carlos Gomez this spring, but Gomez is expected to open the season as the Twins’ center fielder. He’s a fiend on the bases — and it would be tough to explain Gomez not winning the job after getting him from the Mets in the Santana trade. … Denny Bautista is likely to get the first chance to be Detroit’s setup guy with Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney out. He spends a lot of time with Pedro Martinez in the off-season but hasn’t reminded anyone of his friend during his career, going 4-10 with a 6.93 ERA in 35 big-league outings. … The Braves are beginning to get cautiously optimistic about starter Mike Hampton, who is finishing camp healthy. … Florida’s Opening Day starter will be 33-year-old lefty Mark Hendrickson. Injuries cost Sergio Mitre and Scott Olsen chances at the assignment. … The Cardinals’ odd lineup is likely to include Chris Duncan in the No. 2 spot. Duncan entered the weekend 1-for-26 this spring. Ouch. … Scott Podsednik appears to have won a backup job with the Rockies. … Dodgers manager Joe Torre faces a real dilemma. Both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have played rings around No. 1 left fielder Juan Pierre this spring, but Pierre is signed for four more years at $9 million per, which makes it tough to put him on the bench. Pierre lost his center-field job with the signing of Andruw Jones and really isn’t enough of a hitter to play a corner spot. He will be a defensive liability too.
