LOS ANGELES — The New York Mets are next on the Angels’ schedule. The Dodgers follow.
The Angels did not put Phil Nevin in a good position to succeed, at least not immediately. But they had lost 12 consecutive games, and they believed a season hung in the balance.
Do something? They did Tuesday. If the Mets and Dodgers thump the Angels, you might wonder why they did.
Joe Maddon is out. Nevin is in. The clubhouse can exhale.
Give Angels general manager Perry Minasian credit. He did not scapegoat a hitting coach or a pitching coach. He got the approval of Angels owner Arte Moreno to fire the manager Moreno himself hired. He did not wait for a more forgiving portion of the schedule.
This day was coming, at some point, and everyone knew it from the time Minasian did not even discuss a new contract for Maddon, who was in the third year of a deal that guaranteed him three years. Over the winter, Minasian replaced some of Maddon’s hand-picked coaches.
In a win-now organization, the pressure now falls solely upon Minasian. Moreno has blessed him with autonomy he did not provide to all of his general managers.
Jerry Dipoto never got to hire his own manager. Billy Eppler had to wait for Mike Scioscia’s contract to run out before he could hire one. Minasian now gets to hire his own guy.
That is how a modern major league organization should work. For the Angels, better late than never. For Minasian, a first-time general manager working with a first-time major league manager, the results are on him, in an organization that is not long on patience.
The Angels were 27-17 two weeks ago, with visions of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the playoffs dancing in the heads of their fans. They are 27-29 today, still only 1 1/2 games out of a postseason spot.
They are also just a half-game ahead of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are not supposed to be contenders.
During the 12-game losing streak, Trout batted .114 with a WAR of -0.3. Trout, Ohtani, Brandon Marsh and Andrew Velazquez all batted below .200. Anthony Rendon, Taylor Ward and David Fletcher all are on the injured list.
There are no prominent pitchers on the injured list. The Angels’ earned-run average over those 12 games: 6.40, worst in the American League. Minasian’s impressive and expensive back end of a bullpen — Raisel Iglesias, Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera — imploded. It did not help when Maddon did not use Iglesias for eight days, then summoned him on the ninth day, when he gave up a game-tying grand slam to Bryce Harper.
Maddon is 69. He was not going to be the long-term solution.
Now we find out whether Minasian is and whether Nevin or bench coach Ray Montgomery might be. The firing of Maddon can be justified, and yet the Angels appear to be slipping back into the dysfunction that predated the 2002 World Series championship that is so prominent in the Angels’ 2022 marketing.
The architects of that championship: Scioscia as manager, Bill Stoneman as general manager.
Since Stoneman retired from his position, the Angels have had four general managers in 15 years.
Since Scioscia retired from his position, the Angels have had three managers in five years.
The last Angels manager to last three full seasons, aside from Scioscia: Gene Mauch. That was 35 years ago.
Ohtani joined the Angels in 2018. Nevin is his fourth manager in five seasons, and Nevin is not guaranteed 2023.
That is the final season Ohtani is under the Angels’ control. If he heads into free agency with his Angels tenure defined by five managers and zero postseason appearances, well, it’s been fun while it lasted.
