Keeping Angels patched up

A little over a month ago, the Angels had three-quarters of their infield, two-fifths of their starting rotation and one of their top relievers on the disabled list at the same time.

They weren’t so much a baseball team as a MASH unit. And the annual payroll for the walking wounded in the trainer’s room was nearly $23 million, more than the Florida Marlins were spending on all the players in their dugout.

Yet trainer Rick Smith said he never considered this to be an unusually hectic spring.

“All the years are different. And in all of them, in some respect, we’re busy,” said Smith, one of three Angels trainers. “We’re always busy. That’s the nature of the beast these days.”

For the time being, however, the beast appears to have been tamed. With Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar having come off the disabled list in the last week, the Angels are the healthiest they’ve been since early April. And with pitchers Kelvim Escobar and Chris Bootcheck having begun rehabilitation assignments in Tempe, Ariz., on Thursday, there’s a chance the team could be at full strength for the first time this season before the All-Star break.

Yet neither Smith, head trainer Ned Bergert nor assistant Adam Nevala are politicking to get credit for that. Just like none of them want the blame when a player comes back too early.

“Every player that’s on a major league club wants to be out there every day,” said Bergert, who expends as much energy holding players back as he does pushing them forward. “That’s part of our job, to make rational decisions, make intelligent decisions. We look at what’s going to be in the best interest of the player and the club.

“If it needs an extra day or two, we’re going to take that extra day or two on the front side as opposed to the back side.”

It doesn’t always work out that way, though, which is why the Angels took some heat for looking as if they rushed Howie Kendrick and Figgins back before their hamstring strains had healed. Kendrick’s minor league rehab assignment was extended by nearly a month and Figgins was forced back on the disabled list.

Looks, however, can be deceiving.

“Hamstrings,” Bergert said, “are one of the hardest things to rehab in sports.”

Manager Mike Scioscia certainly isn’t fixing blame.

“I don’t see it as a mistake,” he said of Figgins, who missed 15 days, came back to play one game, then went back on the DL for another 2 1/2 weeks. “Hindsight, yeah, he irritated a little different part of the hamstring than what was the original injury. We’re still comfortable with . . . how the decision was made.”

And those decisions, the trainers said, are made jointly by the medical and baseball people.

“I don’t think we feel that kind of pressure because we do what’s best for the athlete,” Smith said. “Our mind-set is that we need to put the athlete out there as close to 100% as he can be. You’re not helping the team if you put a player out there that’s not ready. It’s counterproductive.”

But getting injured players back in the lineup doesn’t necessarily get them out of the training room. Not completely anyway.

“It’s a continuum,” said Bergert, 53, who has been with the Angels’ organization since 1975. “Howie, Figgy, everybody’s on a maintenance program and we’re all monitoring that, keeping track. Nobody’s going to play [at] 100%.”

That means there’s always work.

“But that’s good. It keeps us busy and keeps us out of trouble,” said Smith, 54, who has worked three All-Star games in his 30 years as a big league trainer. “It’s good for job security.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com