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Angels Keep Carew, Add Bowa, Parker to Coaching Lineup

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Rod Carew will return as the Angels’ batting instructor next season and former all-stars Larry Bowa (third base coach) and Dave Parker (first base coach) have been added to new Manager Terry Collins’ staff, the team announced Wednesday.

Collins also decided to retain bench coach Joe Maddon, who will begin his fourth season on the major league staff and 16th with the organization, Joe Coleman, who will move from pitching coach to bullpen coach, and Mick Billmeyer, the team’s bullpen coordinator.

Marcel Lachemann, who resigned as Angel manager last Aug. 6, was hired as the team’s pitching coach Nov. 5, a position he held from 1984-92.

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“I wanted to hire coaches who could make an impact and I wanted to bring some different personalities into the mix,” said Collins, who interviewed between 15-20 candidates for the positions. “The bottom line is to improve the team and I think we have the people to do that.”

Bowa, 50, was the San Diego Padres’ manager in 1987 and ’88 and the Philadelphia Phillies third-base coach from 1989-96. A five-time all-star shortstop during a 16-year career with the Phillies, Cubs and Mets, Bowa also managed the Las Vegas Stars to the Pacific Coast League title in 1986.

“He has a tremendous rapport with the players,” Collins said of Bowa, who interviewed for managerial positions at Boston and Philadelphia in October. “He was such an intense player and you have to be aggressive to coach third. He gets players’ attention when he walks onto the field and perhaps if I’m not around--during games, I mean--we’ll have someone to take over.”

Parker, 45, has no coaching experience, but he was a six-time all-star outfielder who played 19 major league seasons--with the Pirates, Reds, A’s, Brewers, Angels and Blue Jays--and reached the World Series three times.

When Parker first came to Anaheim, near the end of his playing career in 1991, the Angels sent outfielder Dante Bichette to Milwaukee, one of the worst trades in team history. But he will return on a wave of confidence, not controversy.

“He brings tremendous credibility to the staff,” Collins said. “He knows how to win, what it takes to win. He brings the presence and knowledge of what it takes to be successful.”

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Carew, 51, will return for his sixth season with the Angels after turning down an offer to work for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Maddon, 42, spent three weeks last summer as the Angels’ interim manager. Coleman, 49, moved from the scouting department to the coaching staff last August.

General Manager Bill Bavasi said third base coach Eddie Rodriguez, first base coach Bill Lachemann and bullpen coach Mike Couchee--all of whom served in those capacities for the final two months of the 1996 season--will be reassigned within the organization.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Angels Spring Schedule

Here’s the Angels spring training schedule for 1997. The Angels will return to Anaheim Stadium to play the Dodgers March 29-30.

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DATE OPPONENT LOCATION Feb. 28 Oakland Tempe March 1 S.F. Scottsdale March 2 Chicago Tempe March 3 Milw. Tempe March 4 San Diego Peoria March 5 Oakland Tempe March 6 S.F. Scottsdale March 7 San Diego Tempe March 8 Seattle Tempe March 9 Milw. Chandler March 10 S.F. Tempe March 11 Chicago (ss) Mesa Oakland (ss) Phoenix March 12 Seattle Peoria March 13 San Diego Peoria March 14 Seattle Tempe March 15 Colorado Tucson March 16 Oakland Phoenix March 17 Chicago Tempe March 18 Oakland Phoenix March 20 Milw. Tempe March 21 Colorado Tucson March 22 Colorado Tempe March 23 San Diego Tempe March 24 Chicago Mesa March 25 S.F. Tempe March 26 Seattle Peoria March 28 at Dodgers March 29 Dodgers Anaheim March 30 Dodgers Anaheim

*--*

(ss): Split squad

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