For Time Being, Maddon Is Top Man for Angels : Baseball: Team will look at several options before deciding who gets permanent job.

As the Angels staggered to the finish line of the 1996 season, in last place in a lost summer, one of the coaches pulled a reporter aside. The coach pointed to Joe Maddon, the young, energetic bench coach who had served as an interim manager that summer.

“He will be the manager after the next manager,� the coach said.

The next manager, Terry Collins, resigned Friday. The Angels indeed named Maddon as his replacement, although only pending a national search after the season.

Maddon is popular in the clubhouse and is expected to receive consideration for the permanent job. Before the Angels hire a manager, however, they must decide who will do the hiring.

Club President Tony Tavares did not waver Friday from his oft-stated plan to evaluate the organization after the season. Tavares must first decide whether to retain embattled General Manager Bill Bavasi, whose talents in player development and budget management may not outweigh his having spent a franchise-record $60 million to assemble a last-place team with toxic chemistry.

“We all wish we had the benefit of hindsight,� Tavares said. “At the time he was making the decisions, he obviously thought they were the right ones.�

Bavasi said he would not quit--�I’ve got a job to do, and laying down now is not part of that,�--but absolved Collins of responsibility for the poisonous makeup of the team.

“I’ve put a club together that had every reason to respond well and didn’t,� Bavasi said. “I don’t think that’s a reflection on him. I think that’s a reflection on me.�

If the Angels replace Bavasi with Dave Stewart, Toronto’s assistant general manager, the next manager could well be San Diego coach and former Dodger Davey Lopes. If the Angels replace Bavasi with Oakland General Manager Billy Beane, the next manager could be Oakland bench coach and former Angel coach Ken Macha.

Houston coach Mike Cubbage, a finalist when the Angels hired Collins, could figure in the search. So could former Boston and Texas manager Kevin Kennedy, whom Mo Vaughn likes, and former Milwaukee manager Phil Garner.

With Commissioner Bud Selig exhorting teams to consider minority candidates, the Angels also could talk to Yankee coaches Chris Chambliss and Willie Randolph, Cincinnati coach Ken Griffey Sr. and former Colorado manager Don Baylor, the only league MVP in Angel history.

Neither of the Angels’ top two minor league managers, Carney Lansford at triple-A Edmonton and Garry Templeton at double-A Erie, has managed more than two seasons in the minors.

As for Maddon, well, no one expected Larry Parrish to be anything more than an interim manager when Detroit asked him to replace Buddy Bell last Sept. 1. But the Tigers played well in September, and Parrish got the permanent job six weeks later.

Maddon, 45, offers an intriguing and happy medium between the intensity of Collins and the steely determination of his predecessor, Marcel Lachemann. Maddon, a former minor league manager of the year, leaves no detail untouched in preparing for a game, yet finds time for daily communication with individual players.

In 1996, during Maddon’s first stint as interim manager, Tim Salmon spoke highly of him. “He’s done a fine job,� Salmon said then. “You know he’s in control, but he doesn’t carry that above you.

“Should he be a managerial candidate? I don’t know if I’m in a position to say that about anybody, but I will say he’s got some very good coaching tools.�

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Possible Angel Managers

* JOE MADDON: Interim manager, popular with players, has a chance to keep job if Angels play well in September.

* DON BAYLOR: The Colorado mess obviously wasn’t all his fault; Angels might have to move fast if they want to get him before Milwaukee can.

* KEN MACHA: Bench coach in Oakland, former Angel coach under Buck Rodgers, could follow Oakland GM Billy Beane here.

* DAVEY LOPES: Intense like Terry Collins, but with All-Star credentials; could be man if Dave Stewart replaces Bill Bavasi as GM.

* PHIL GARNER: Also intense like Terry Collins, also with All-Star credentials; leading candidate for possible openings in Detroit and Baltimore.

* KEVIN KENNEDY: Mo Vaughn likes him, a huge plus; did Kevin Malone really want to hire him instead of Davey Johnson as Dodger manager?

* MIKE CUBBAGE: Houston coach and successful minor league manager; finished behind Collins and Sparky Anderson for Angel job in 1996.

* CHRIS CHAMBLISS and WILLIE RANDOLPH: Yankee coaches, both won World Series rings as players and coaches in New York.