Guillen Says a Deal Is Done; Club Stays Mum

Free-agent outfielder Jose Guillen told a wire service Tuesday that he had agreed to a two-year contract with the Angels for about $6 million, though General Manager Bill Stoneman would neither confirm nor deny the report.

“When we have an announcement to make, we’ll make it,” Stoneman said. The Angels could be waiting for Guillen to pass a physical to confirm the deal.

Adam Katz, Guillen’s agent, did not return phone calls.

Guillen told Associated Press he was happy to sign a multiyear contract and join a team one year removed from a World Series title. The New York Mets reportedly had offered the 28-year-old a one-year deal with a club option for a second year.

Guillen, who hit .311 with 31 home runs and 86 runs batted in last season for the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics, is expected to become the Angels’ everyday right fielder, allowing Tim Salmon to move into the designated hitter role.

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Two longtime friends and business associates of owner Arte Moreno have purchased what team spokesman Tim Mead described as “very limited” shares of the Angels. Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed, but Mead said, “suffice it to say, Arte remains the majority owner.”

The minority owners, Bill Levine and Bill Beverage, previously worked with Moreno at Outdoor Systems, a billboard company Moreno sold to Infinity/CBS in 1999. Moreno named Beverage chief financial officer of the Angels in May after purchasing the club for $183.5 million.

“The benefit for [Moreno] is the input from two trusted friends, confidants and business associates,” Mead said. “With both Bills, he has two gentlemen who share the same passion for baseball that he does.”

Mead said the deal was unrelated to Moreno’s proposed funding of a new spring training site for the Angels in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear. According to a report in Tuesday’s Arizona Republic, city officials there have approved a plan in which Moreno would pay $20 million and the city $10 million to build a multipurpose complex.

Under the terms of the plan, which must be approved by Arizona’s Tourism and Sports Authority, Moreno and a business partner would also donate 70 acres of land valued at an estimated $10 million for the project.

The Angels’ lease at Tempe Diablo Stadium runs through 2007, though the team could relocate earlier if it were able to secure another tenant.

“A lot has to happen,” Mead said, “but it’s a possibility that the Angels could be playing [in Goodyear] as early as 2005.”