Stoneman Gets New Contract

Angel owner Arte Moreno fulfilled his most significant promise yet Wednesday by giving General Manager Bill Stoneman a four-year contract extension even as the Angels hover around the .500 mark one season after winning the first World Series in franchise history.

Stoneman also accepted a three-year contract to remain with the club as a consultant through the 2010 season if he decides to relinquish his duties as general manager after his new contract expires in 2007.

“He brought a championship to Anaheim after they had waited 42 years, and if he decides after four years that he’d like to step back, we want him here as a consultant, as part of the Angels,” Moreno said. “The way I look at it, for the next seven years, he’s stuck with me.”

Stoneman, 59, said he appreciated Moreno’s confidence in him and would continue to strive to bring a second championship to Anaheim.

The Angels moved a small step in that direction Wednesday with a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of 34,196 at Edison Field. Shawn Wooten hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning to help the Angels overcome a one-run deficit and a shaky ninth-inning by closer Troy Percival.

Brent Mayne and pinch-hitter Jarrod Patterson hit consecutive singles to open the inning. Aaron Guiel, whose two-run homer had powered the Royals to victory over the Angels on Tuesday, followed with a drive to deep right field. But Eric Owens, in the game as a defensive replacement, made the catch with one hand against the wall and threw out Patterson at second base as he attempted to move up on the play.

Percival retired Desi Relaford on a fly ball to end the game, recording his 20th save.

Stoneman, in his fourth year with the Angels, said he relished the idea of spending the rest of his baseball career with the club he helped build into a winner.

“To me, it’s having an opportunity to be part of something big again,” Stoneman said. “Last year, I’ll tell you, was the best year I’ve spent on this Earth. We want to do it again.”

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia hailed Stoneman’s extension as great news.

“Bill’s the architect of this whole situation,” Scioscia said. “He’s done not only a great job of building it but keeping it together. This gives the organization stability to have him here four more years.”

Moreno said he has also told Kevin Uhlich, the Angels’ senior vice president of business operations, that his long-term relationship with the Angels would continue. Uhlich, who began his career with the Angels as a batboy, is in his 28th year with the organization.

While the Angels (45-43) reside 10 1/2 games behind Seattle in the American League West and 6 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card standings, Stoneman said he does not feel an increased sense of urgency to make a trade to help the team.

“I won’t do a trade unless I really feel the trade is going to help us,” he said. “That’s about as clear as I can state it. There’s not much sense in doing a trade just to shuffle bodies around. I don’t find a whole lot of sense in that and I don’t know what it accomplishes. But if there’s something out there that I think helps us, yeah, we’ll take a shot at it.”

Shortly after taking over as owner in May, Moreno vowed to lower beer prices and said he would allow Stoneman to keep his job as long as he wanted. The beer price reduction went into effect immediately, but the deal with Stoneman took longer.

“Right now I’m going through a learning process,” Moreno said, “but I felt it was very important for us to get this screw down and move forward.”