On Tuesday, in the midst of a franchise single-season record 12-game losing streak, the Angels announced the surprising decision to fire manager Joe Maddon. Phil Nevin will take over as interim manager.
Maddon, 68, was in his third season with the club after being hired in October 2019. The Angels jumped out to a strong 27–17 start to the year, but have since lost 12 straight games, tying the single-season franchise mark set in 1988.
The Angels began a seven-game homestand on Monday with a 1–0 loss to the Red Sox. Maddon ends his Angels tenure with a 130–148 record.
Following his firing, Maddon spoke to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and said while he was surprised by the move, he found it to be “liberating” and discussed how the front office’s advocacy for analytics created some difficulties in doing his job.
“It’s been kind of difficult overall. I’m into analytics, but not to the point where everybody wants to shove it down your throat,” Maddon said. “Real baseball people have felt somewhat impacted by all of this. You’re unable to just go to the ballpark and have some fun and play baseball. It’s too much controlled by front offices these days.
“I actually talked to (Angels general manager) Perry (Minasian) about this. This isn’t anything new. I told him that. I said you just try to reduce the information you’re giving, try to be aware of who’s giving the information and really be aware of when it’s time to stay out of the away.”
Nevin becomes the franchise’s third different manager in four seasons. Before that stretch of volatility, Mike Scioscia held the position for 19 years from 2000 to ’18. The last time the Angels had a midseason managerial change was in 1999, when Terry Collins resigned with only 29 games left in the season. He was actually replaced by Maddon, who was then the team’s bench coach. Scioscia was hired during the offseason, and retained Maddon on his staff.
Maddon’s first two full-time manager stints were renowned successes. He transformed the Tampa Bay Rays from perennial basement-dwellers to contenders, culminating his tenure with an American League pennant in 2008. He was hired by the Cubs in 2015 and guided the team to its first World Series title in 108 years in 2016, along with three other playoff appearances.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
