Rowland Joins Rebuilding Effort

Donny Rowland was hired as director of scouting and player personnel for the Angels on Monday as the club continued to rebuild its front office.

A national scout and scouting supervisor with the New York Yankees for five years, Rowland replaces Bob Fontaine, who resigned after 13 years with the club. Fontaine subsequently took a scouting position with the Chicago White Sox.

“There were a lot of people in the industry who said, ‘You gotta talk to Donny Rowland,’ ” Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “This is a guy who is extremely well organized with very high energy. And, he is coming from an organization where he was a key element to a very successful scouting department.”

Rowland, 36, has a background in the training and supervision of scouts, a dozen of whom had their contracts go unrenewed by the Angels after the season. He also has experience in Latin America, where the Angels traditionally lag behind most of baseball.

“Latin America is key for us, there isn’t any question,” Stoneman said.

Rowland is expected to report Monday. “There’s no secrets,” he said Monday. “There’s no magic. I’m not a guru. It’s all about a consistent, solid system that is committed to stay the course. The biggest thing I have to do is get to know our people, get to know our system. Then we’ll go from there.”

Though they still have a farm director to hire, the Angels have added a general manager, a field manager and a scouting director in a torrid three weeks.

Any day, the Angels are expected to hire Ron Roenicke as third base coach, as manager Mike Scioscia begins to assemble his field staff.

Roenicke, 43, played eight big-league seasons, primarily as an outfielder. He came up with the Dodgers in 1981 and stayed through most of 1983, a period in which he was Scioscia’s teammate.

He managed the San Francisco Giant triple-A team in Fresno last season.

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Stoneman said Monday that he has had no recent contact with free-agent pitcher Chuck Finley or his agent, Tim Shannon. Finley is vacationing in Hawaii . . . Alan Meersand, the agent for free agent right-hander Steve Trachsel, said he has been contacted by eight organizations. The pitching poor Angels are not among them. Trachsel played at Troy High, Fullerton College and Long Beach State.