ANGELS REPORT : Candidates Chambliss, Macha Available to Talk

Officials for the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics said Tuesday that Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi will have access to potential managerial candidates Chris Chambliss and Ken Macha, though both are involved in playoff races.

Bavasi has not yet requested permission from the Atlanta Braves to discuss the probable opening on his bench with highly regarded coach Don Baylor, an official said.

Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said he had not spoken with Bavasi since July 31, the night trade talks involving Chuck Finley broke down, but that he will grant permission for Chambliss to interview with the Angels again. Chambliss was a candidate when Terry Collins was hired.

Athletics’ General Manager Billy Beane said Macha will be free to interview as well. The A’s play a three-game series in Anaheim beginning Sept. 28, and it is possible Bavasi will discuss Macha’s qualifications with Beane and Manager Art Howe at that time.

“I absolutely love Kenny,” Beane said, “but I would do nothing to impede that.”

Privately, Angel officials wondered if Tuesday’s appointment of Dean Taylor as Milwaukee general manager might lead Baylor to take the Brewer managerial position. Taylor was General Manager John Schuerholz’s assistant in Atlanta.

Former Brewer manager Phil Garner was contacted over the weekend by Bavasi regarding the Angel job. Reached at his home near Houston on Tuesday, Garner said he was not at liberty to discuss his conversation with Bavasi.

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The search for a manager could put Joe Maddon in an awkward spot, but the charismatic interim manager continues to perform his duties unfazed.

The Angels have won 12 of 19 games under Maddon. In a rather grim environment, Maddon has been unfailingly upbeat. By many accounts, however, the team will have to play him into serious consideration for the full-time job.

“I haven’t reached them,” he said. “I’ve only done this for two weeks. This baseball thing, it’s a lot of months. Two weeks is not an indication of anything.”

Maddon agreed that it will be critical to hire a manager early enough in the off-season to aid in what is expected to be a fairly substantial restructuring.

“I think you definitely want to have your manager’s input in regard to changes,” he said. “Not that he’d be the last vote, but he’d be one of them. I’d think you’d like to have that in place before you accumulate more talent.”

When it is done, and whether the job is his or not, Maddon said, he wants to remain with the organization he joined nearly two decades ago.

“I just depends,” he said. “I’m not looking to go anywhere else. I’m an Angel. Always have been, always want to be. I’ll have to see how it all works out and what offer is made.”

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Devil Ray General Manager Chuck LaMar said he contacted the American League office regarding the dispute between his pitcher, Wilson Alvarez, and Monday night’s plate umpire, John Shulock. LaMar was told that the league plans to acquire game tape and news accounts of the flare-up, in which Shulock accused Alvarez of intentionally hitting him in the facemask with a fastball. The Devil Rays fear Alvarez might not be fairly treated in future encounters with Shulock, particularly given Shulock’s strong postgame comments. “I hope somebody smokes a line drive off his head,” Shulock said. “I’ll be the first to laugh.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ JARROD WASHBURN (2-4, 6.00) vs. DEVIL RAYS’ DAN WHEELER (0-2, 5.49)

Edison Field, 7:30

* TV--Fox Sports West.

* Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Wheeler, a rookie, struck out 12 Oakland Athletics in six innings two starts ago. In his last start, at Texas, he gave up one run in five innings. The left-handed Washburn has not given up a run in the first or second inning in any of his seven starts.