He did trade Fregosi for Nolan Ryan... but i still gotta go with Sotneman.

of being in the steroid era and the divisions  were expanded and we have the wild card and and and......

 I think his hires in the front office along with players he acquired through Free Agency and trades should be factored in when one tries to judge how well he did as the GM.
 The big league staff was, and still is considered one of the best in baseball. That was his call. Not to mention 2 coaches have gone on to become managers at the big league level. New Scouting Director and staff changes in the scouting department.
 No matter what when he arrived the California Angels/Anaheim Angels had never won a WS. Nobody can take that away. He also leaves his GM post with the organization in much better shape then it was when he arrived.
 Sure he had bad deals, but so does ever GM the whole ideas is you make fewer bad ones, and enough good ones.
 The inability to make trades to push the Angels over the hump might have hurt, and word on the street is other GM's found it hard to deal/trade with Stoneman. In my opinion that is what has made him the former GM.
 He gets my vote as the best GM the Angels have had. After all he never said anything like Buzzie Bavasi said when Bavasi was quoted as saying he could get 2 pitchers that could go 8-7 for a lot cheaper then the 1 million it would take to keep Nolan Ryan's 16-14.
 In this game one is judged on wins and losses . HE WON!!

Between Stoneman and Haney.

Remember, the '62 Angels -- second year of existence -- gave the YankMe's a run for their money.

Haney was the guy who put that team together, from literally nothing.

The person who signed Kelly Gruber comes in a close second.