October 16, 2007

Angels' new GM is no stranger

FRONT OFFICE: Tony Reagins, an Indio native, has been with the team since 1992.

By MATT HURST
The Press-Enterprise

ANAHEIM - Throughout Tuesday's news conference, Angels executives kept referring to an easy transition. While, ultimately, that may be true, it clearly was not as easy for Bill Stoneman to step aside as general manager and hand the position to Tony Reagins.

Several times during his nearly 15-minute address, Stoneman fought back tears, a distinctly different look at the usually stoic figure who had held the GM position longer than any of his predecessors. Reasoning that at 63 he no longer had the vigor to keep up with the "24 hour a day, seven days a week" job, Stoneman decided to take the consultant job owner Arte Moreno described as a "direct adviser to me."

"I really took an honest look at it and had to realize that I really don't have the same energy that I brought into the job," Stoneman said, his voice cracking. "So it was really time, to my way of thinking, and really for the betterment of the Angels to step aside and let somebody who is a lot more energetic and yet who knew the Angels as well as I to come in and take over and provide what hopefully is going to be a seamless transition."

So the decision was made to hand over the position to Reagins, 40, a change Manager Mike Scioscia called "a great match."

"This is a task I do not take lightly," said Reagins, who grew up in Indio. "This is an extreme responsibility here, and I'm ready for the challenge."

There was little other shifting in the organization as a result of Reagins' move. Assistant GM Ken Forsch and special assistant to the GM Gary Sutherland will remain in their roles, while Abe Flores, who had been manager of baseball operations, moves into Reagins' former spot.

Stoneman called Reagins, who had been the club's director of player development the past six years, "one of the brightest, most energetic and dedicated guys I've known. He really gets it when it comes to baseball."

Which is saying a lot about the strides Reagins has made since joining the Angels as an intern in 1992. With no baseball-playing experience outside of American Legion ball, Reagins instead "was a pretty good football player" at Indio High, from which he graduated in 1985.

Reagins was a running back "who set a lot of rushing records his senior year," said former Indio athletic director Paul Thompson, who also coached Reagins as a small forward on the basketball team.

Thompson noted Reagins' "quiet, businessman mentality" even at Indio High, where he was inducted into the Rajah Hall of Fame several years ago.

"He was a better football player than a basketball player but a real sharp kid," Thompson said. "He always got good grades."

Those grades led to a degree in business administration at College of the Desert and then a degree in marketing from Cal State Fullerton in 1991.

A year later, he began work with the Angels as an intern and worked his way through the organization, landing as the team's manager of baseball operations in 1998. Four years later, he was promoted to director of player development before becoming the 10th GM in team history Tuesday.

He also becomes the fourth minority general manager in the majors, joining the White Sox's Kenny Williams, the Mets' Omar Minaya and the Marlins' Michael Hill.

"I'm proud of my heritage, I'm proud of where I came from, and hopefully I can do as good of a job as some of the general managers that are in this game," Reagins said. "If I had to speak to kids, I would say to dream high. Dream high and set high goals. And when you get kicked down, get back up."

While his relative baseball inexperience may make the choice of Reagins seem curious for a team that consistently has one of baseball's highest payrolls and equally high expectations, the Angels view the move as textbook.

"I believe it's very important for us to continue to build from within," Moreno said. "Obviously it makes for an easy transition. ... I talked about this a little over four years ago when I bought the team was that I felt stability was really important to this organization, and that's one of the reasons why we felt that this was an important decision."

The choice was made easier on the team since it came from in-house, from someone who understood the Angels' thinking and business approach and who learned from Stoneman.

"Tony has a lot of similarities to Bill as far as his sense of duty and his diligence," Scioscia said. "He's not afraid to go out there and take chances, and he's a terrific evaluator. He's going to be great at this position."

And since Reagins isn't stepping into a new organization, a place where he would need to learn everything, his first mission will be the same one that dogged Stoneman over the past few seasons -- get a middle-of-the-order hitter.

"I think that's the No. 1 priority we're going to look to address, is getting deeper in the batter's box," Scioscia said. "Right now if you're going to try to get something done for next year, you're going to have to go outside our organization to see any dramatic improvement in that."

While Stoneman failed over the years to either sign or trade for an impact hitter, Reagins could immediately win over fans by making a deal. However, since Stoneman is remaining with the team, and the rest of the front-office advisers are sticking around, it's not as if the Angels organization is suddenly going to do things differently.

Oftentimes when the team is mulling over potential deals, Moreno, the front office, Scioscia and coaches will offer feedback to one another -- a "horizontal organization," as Moreno put it -- instead of one person making all the decisions.

"I don't see it as being any different," said pitching coach Mike Butcher, who first met Reagins in 1991 and served as the organization's roving pitching instructor under Reagins from 2001 to 2005. "I see it as being as seamless as they do. The guy taking over knows exactly what we have in the minor leagues and what we have in the major leagues. He's been involved in our meetings, and he knows what our challenges are and what our needs are. He's going to do a great job."