Stoneman Won’t Part With Prospects

The Angels sat quietly as the trade deadline passed Thursday, but General Manager Bill Stoneman said the team “probably” would be active in free agency this winter.

Stoneman acknowledged that one of his objectives in trade talks was to acquire a right fielder for the next several years. Under Stoneman, the Angels have emphasized a foundation of starting pitching, with his largest free-agent contract awarded to Aaron Sele.

So the Angels could consider a tempting mix of potential free agents, including Montreal right fielder Vladimir Guerrero and pitchers Bartolo Colon (Chicago), Kevin Millwood (Philadelphia) and Sidney Ponson (San Francisco).

They also could reopen trade talks this winter for Kansas City outfielder Carlos Beltran, who is their top choice, or Pittsburgh outfielder Brian Giles. And there are several wild cards at shortstop, including free agents in Miguel Tejada of Oakland and Kazuo Matsui of Japan’s Seibu Lions and longshot trade targets in Alex Rodriguez and Southland native Nomar Garciaparra.

Stoneman completed a modest trade Tuesday, a five-reliever swap that included three minor leaguers, with Scott Schoeneweis sent to the White Sox and Gary Glover to the Angels. He said another trade died Wednesday, one that would have been limited to major leaguers.

But the Angels never came close to any other deal, mostly because of Stoneman’s refusal to trade key major leaguers or top prospects. The Angels rebuffed all offers for four prospects -- catcher Jeff Mathis, third baseman Dallas McPherson, pitcher Ervin Santana and first baseman Casey Kotchman -- and no players at the upper levels of the farm system generated interest.

Although Kotchman is at Class A and the other three reached double-A this month, the Angels think all four have a chance to arrive in Anaheim by the end of next season. Had he been willing to trade one of those four, Stoneman said, he “absolutely” could have had his right fielder.

With Wednesday’s release of 35-year-old pitcher Kevin Appier, outfielder Tim Salmon becomes the oldest player, at 34. The Angels have one other everyday player older than 30 -- outfielder Garret Anderson (31) -- and four pitchers over 30 in Sele, Troy Percival and Ben Weber (all 33) and Brendan Donnelly (32).

“The core of this team is still young,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

Salmon said owner Arte Moreno’s approval to release Appier -- and pay $15.67 million to do so -- was “not that much of a shocker.”

Said Salmon: “He’s giving Stoneman and his guys the freedom to what they need to do. That says a lot. Everyone wants to see a big trade or free agent. Sometimes that kind of move says just as much about giving them that freedom.”

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Appier, who flew to his Kansas home Thursday, clears waivers Monday and could sign with any of five teams that so far have expressed interest, including the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals.... Triple-A right-hander Chris Bootcheck, who impressed the Angels in spring training, is a candidate to make a spot start in a doubleheader next week in Cleveland. In his last four starts at Salt Lake, Bootcheck is 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA.