Reagins gets the job, Scioscia gets the power

Another fancy news conference, another name change.

Introducing the Mike Scioscia Angels of Anaheim.

It’s his team now, from the kids who fold the towels to the ones who throw the fastballs, from the big-armed prospect in Salt Lake City to the puffy-eyed vet in the corner locker.

In hanging out a new shingle for their general manager Tuesday, the Angels were actually reinforcing the cornerstone that is their manager.

Bill Stoneman tearfully steps aside, Tony Reagins heartily takes over, but make no mistake.

Mike Scioscia is now in charge.

By hiring Reagins, a rookie who ran the minor league system, owner Arte Moreno is ensuring that the loudest voice in the room will belong to Scioscia.

By hiring Reagins, a former publicity intern who never even played high school baseball, Moreno is ensuring that the final opinion of the night will belong to Scioscia.

With a wink and nudge, Moreno smartly paved the way for his most important baseball decisions to be made by his best baseball guy without costing him one of baseball’s best managers.

Scioscia’s vision. Our luck.

“Yes,” said Moreno bluntly when asked if the Reagins’ hiring meant Scioscia would play a larger role in personnel decisions. “This will give Mike more responsibility to make sure we give him what he needs.”

Reagins will be the name on the bank account, but Scioscia will be in charge of the money. Reagins will make sure everything is running smoothly, but Scioscia will set the course.

With the firing of Walt Jocketty throwing the St. Louis Cardinals’ Tony La Russa into uncertainty, no other manager in baseball has as much power as Scioscia, who has earned it by helping turn an ordinary franchise into an annual power.

Insiders say Reagins is too strong-willed to become a puppet. But they also say he is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know.

“I’ve talked to [Scioscia] a lot since I’ve been here,” said Reagins, who has spent 16 years in the Angels’ organization. “That’s not going to change.”

What Angels fans hope will change is the scene at the end of this season, one unfamiliar to those who have closely followed Scioscia’s eight-year managerial career.

Never have folks seen Scioscia so frustrated with his roster. Never has he seemed so determined to add the power hitter that has eluded them in recent trading deadlines.

He only briefly mentioned it, but he constantly showed it, in sighs and head shakes and slumped shoulders.

He clearly wants this team to make the moves to put it back in serious World Series contention while Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero can still play, and he wants to make them now.

Now he has his chance.

“To say I’m going to have a larger role, I don’t know if I could have a larger role other than moving into the general manager’s seat,” protested Scioscia via conference call.

Indeed, the Angels listened to him before. But Stoneman was the voice, Stoneman was ultimately accountable, and sometimes the frustrating patience of the organization belonged to him.

When making personnel decisions, here’s guessing Scioscia will be as delightfully aggressive as his baserunners. And here’s hoping Moreno will continue to let him fly.

Insiders say that although Scioscia loves the idea of Alex Rodriguez, he agrees with Moreno that the cost may damage their ability to reshape other holes in the lineup.

The Angels will certainly meet with Rodriguez if he becomes a free agent, but the top of the Angels’ wish list features two other stars.

They covet Johan Santana, the Minnesota Twins pitcher in the final year of a contract, and Miguel Tejada, the unhappy Baltimore Orioles infielder who would finally agree to play third base. Both make sense, because Santana will make their rotation the best in baseball, and Tejada, who is close with Guerrero and should play hard here, will give them that one bat they lack.

Both men will require the dreaded trading of prospects. Having failed to advance to the World Series in their three previous playoff appearances, the Angels finally seem willing to make those trades.

It would remiss, of course, to write about the shift in Angels front-office power without acknowledging the class and integrity of the man who held it for the last eight years.

Through Stoneman’s surprising tears Tuesday -- the first emotion showed in his entire tenure here -- he admitted he is stepping aside because he no longer had the energy for the job. When is the last time any sports official has had the courage to publicly admit that, then turn down a contract to prove it?

Stoneman also wept when thanking various members of the organization, with his biggest tears saved while thanking those regular folks who have followed the Angels so devotedly.

When is the last time any sports official cried for the fans?

For all his annual failures to make a big move, Stoneman was smart enough to keep a team intact long enough to win a World Series, and savvy enough to rebuild that team into an annual contender.

He leaves behind a legacy of graceful organizational leadership. That banner now bears the name Tony Reagins, and is draped across the shoulders of Mike Scioscia.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.