Angels to Hire Expo Exec

The Angels expect to hire long-time Montreal executive Bill Stoneman as their next general manager, sources familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday night.

The club also contacted Atlanta hitting instructor Don Baylor a second time regarding its managerial opening, and team officials are reasonably certain he will listen to them before accepting a similar position with another organization.

Stoneman, 55, is due to meet with Disney officials today in what amounts to his third interview. Though Stoneman has yet to be offered the job, according to a source, a multiyear contract offer is imminent and could be announced as early as Friday.

Club officials hope to have Stoneman in place before Saturday, when the World Series begins in Atlanta. Baseball instructs its teams to refrain from major personnel moves or announcements during the World Series.

The Angels are eager to resume their search for a manager, which would be Stoneman’s first assignment. Former general manager Bill Bavasi, who resigned Oct. 1, contacted Baylor and Phil Garner regarding the manager job in his final days. Garner has since become manager of the Detroit Tigers.

While hiring a manager would appear to be his first priority, Stoneman could be asked to rework much of the front office and scouting and farm systems as well. The Angels finished a disappointing 70-92, last in the American League West, despite a $52-million payroll that included the high-profile, high-dollar signing of slugger Mo Vaughn.

Reached at his home near Montreal, Stoneman would not comment on his recent conversations with the Angels.

But sources said Disney executive Sandy Litvack, who interviewed Stoneman last week in the company’s New York offices, and team President Tony Tavares are most impressed by Stoneman’s ability to keep the Expos supplied with young talent and cash flow despite payrolls and attendance that ranked among the lowest in the major leagues.

Most recently the Expos’ vice president/baseball operations, Stoneman worked primarily as the club’s chief financial officer since 1983, but also spent one season as the team’s general manager. His reputation in Montreal is that of a financial specialist, more accountant than talent evaluator. He handled many of the Expos’ salary arbitration cases.

Thus, a Stoneman hire might oblige the Angels to bring in an assistant general manager from the scouting side of things, or perhaps retain Ken Forsch.

Still, if Stoneman could help field largely competitive teams in Montreal, where crowds of fewer than 10,000 were the norm, Angel executives mused, then imagine what he could do with a sizable budget.

“Stoney’s pretty astute,” said Buck Rodgers, who managed the Expos and the Angels. “His strength is in finance and budgeting, and he will delegate easily. He will listen to other people’s ideas. I think he’s kind of a throwback. He’ll get good people around him.

“The strength of that Montreal organization, especially when it was going well, was that everybody had opinions and they were heard. It was a good thing. We had some knockdown drag-outs, but they benefited the organization.”

In focusing on Stoneman, the Angels rated him ahead of Bob Watson, who as New York Yankee general manager built the foundations for at least two World Series champions. Watson interviewed twice, once with Tavares and once with Litvack, but said Wednesday night that he had not heard from the Angels in more than a week.

Jim Duquette and Omar Minaya, New York Met assistant general managers, and Tim Purpura, assistant general manager for Houston, also were interviewed.

Given the magnitude of the job, however, the search focused on the veterans Stoneman and Watson. Stoneman will be asked to reshape the organization, from the clubhouse up.

The job is available because Bavasi thought parts of the club could be salvaged. Stoneman drifted into the business side of the game despite a playing career that spanned eight seasons, the last in 1974 with the Angels.

A right-hander, he pitched two no-hitters, both for the Expos, for whom he pitched from 1969-73. He spent his first two seasons with the Chicago Cubs. He had a career record of 54-85 with a 4.08 ERA.

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Staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this story.