espn article loves stoneman

The main point from this article is that Stoneman (allegedly) won't trade any of our top prospects...

 Angels general manager Bill Stoneman and his Atlanta counterpart, John Schuerholz, can remember the days before cell phones, blogs and agents made the job such a grind, and player-team relations didn't have all the tension of a "Desperate Housewives" photo shoot. But that's not why Stoneman made it a point to seek out Schuerholz for a handshake at the GM's meetings in Palm Springs in November.

Stoneman, who spent 16 years in the Montreal front office, has an appreciation for scouting and player development bordering on reverence. He believes in giving prospects a chance rather than burying them or using them as trade bait, so he took vicarious pleasure in watching Atlanta use 18 rookies on the way to a National League East title last year.

"I congratulated John on setting a really great example for all the rest of us," Stoneman said.

The Angels, by acclamation, have a farm system loaded with position-player talent. It's so deep they warrant their own section in the Baseball America Prospect Handbook. But they also play in a market where a win-now mentality prevails, and the neighboring Dodgers are getting lots of attention by transporting Yawkey Way to Chavez Ravine one player at a time.

So while Stoneman raves about the potential of Casey Kotchman, Howie Kendrick, Kendry Morales and Los Angeles' other top prospects, Angels season-ticket holders keep wondering when he's going to get serious about Manny Ramirez or another big bat to convince opponents to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero.

It might be a long wait. Stoneman held the line against Scott Boras in the Jered Weaver negotiations, and he's going out of his way to downplay Manny speculation.