"Erick Aybar has already forgotten last summer. "Last year is over," he said as he sat in front of his locker at the Angels' spring training complex. "This is a new year." And, Aybar and the Angels hope, a better one. First, a review of what Aybar had to endure in 2010: • Injuries to his left groin and left knee, the latter requiring off-season surgery to repair. A career-high 21 errors at shortstop. Only one other player in the American League made more. A .253 batting average — well below his .312 average in 2009 and 21 points below his career mark — and a career-high 81 strikeouts. "I had a bad year," Aybar said in Spanish. But it was also a season of transition for the 27-year-old who, for the first time in his big league career, was playing without Chone Figgins beside him on the infield and without close friend and confidant Vladimir Guerrero dressing next to him in the clubhouse. "Any time the dynamics of a clubhouse change, especially when guys are close, it can have an effect," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "Vladdy definitely was a support netting for Erick in a lot of ways. In a lot of ways Erick supported Vladdy. They were close." The Angels may have added to that discomfort by moving Aybar, an aggressive free swinger, to the leadoff spot. Though Aybar drew a career-high 35 walks, his on-base percentage of .336 as a leadoff hitter was better than only one AL player with at least 300 plate appearances." Read more: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0308-angels-erick-aybar-20110308,0,2707661.story
