Angels’ Arte Moreno selected to commissioner search committee

Angels owner Arte Moreno was selected Thursday as one of seven owners on the search committee charged with finding a replacement for Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

Selig retires in January. St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt, the chairman of the committee, told reporters at the owners’ meetings in New York that the search is wide open and that the committee would report to the executive council -- an inner circle of owners -- rather than to Selig.

Rob Manfred, baseball’s chief operating officer, is believed to be Selig’s choice as successor. Manfred is believed to be acceptable to a majority of clubs.

Still, in advance of this week’s meetings, some owners had said they were unaware of the initial steps taken to find a successor and were unwilling to let Selig hand-pick his replacement.

“A lot of clubs want to see a search,” one owner told The Times, “and they want to see it soon.”

The other owners on the search committee, beyond Moreno and DeWitt: Dick Monfort of the Colorado Rockies, David Montgomery of the Philadelphia Phillies, Bob Nutting of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jim Pohlad of the Minnesota Twins, and Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox.