On Tuesday, two months to the day after the 2022 season began, the Angels fired manager Joe Maddon. In his third season managing the club he won a World Series with as a bench coach in ’02, Maddon guided the team to an impressive 27–17 start. Two weeks and 12 consecutive losses later, the 68-year-old is gone, the latest knee-jerk move from a franchise defined by them for the better part of the past decade.
It’s strange to think about how different the Angels’ outlook was 14 days ago, and even stranger to think during that time that their high-profile and highly accomplished skipper could be shown the door. General manager Perry Minasian said as much during his press conference Tuesday afternoon, in which he said he never envisioned such an outcome three weeks ago.
“It’s something I thought would never happen three weeks ago,” Minasian said, adding that he called team owner Arte Moreno Tuesday morning to give his recommendation that Maddon be fired. “Waking up today, I felt like this was the right decision.”
