On Tuesday, two months after the start of the 2022 season, the Angels fired coach Joe Maddon. In his third season leading the club with which he won a World Series as a bench coach in 2002, Maddon led the team to an impressive 27–17 start. Two weeks and 12 straight losses later, the 68-year-old has disappeared, the last knee-jerk in a franchise defined by them for most of the past decade.
It is strange to think how different the perspective of the Angels was 14 days ago, and even stranger to think during this time that their high profile and highly accomplished pattern could be shown to the door. CEO Perry Minasian said this during his press conference on Tuesday afternoon, in which he said that a similar result had never been imagined three weeks ago.
“It’s something he thought would never happen three weeks ago,” Minasian said, adding that he called the team’s owner, Arte Moreno, on Tuesday morning to give his recommendation that Maddon be fired. “When I woke up today, I felt this was the right decision.”
Minasian is only in his second year in the organization, but this kind of impulsive decision-making fits in perfectly with the club’s recent past. From 2000 to 2007, the Angels had a manager and a general manager: Mike Scioscia and Bill Stoneman, respectively. In the middle of that stretch, during which the team reached the playoffs four times and won its only World Series title, Moreno bought the franchise from the Walt Disney Company. In the years that followed, what was once a solid base has eroded into a volatile operation marked by dysfunction almost every moment.
Since Stoneman left office after the ’07 season, the Angels have had four general managers, each of whom has had to work under considerable friction with the team’s other influential voices. Moreno told Stoneman’s successor, Tony Reagins, that he had to execute a now infamous change for Vernon Wells in 2011 or else be fired (he resigned at the end of the season). The team’s next general manager, Jerry Dipoto, abruptly resigned mid-season in 2015 amid a long power struggle with Scioscia. Dipoto was also upset by the unfortunate signings of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, who were said to have been led by Moreno.
Each of the first two post-Stoneman GMs had to operate alongside a manager they did not hire. Billy Eppler, however, had the opportunity to choose his own coach after Scioscia retired after the 2018 campaign. He chose to go with Brad Ausmus, who only lasted one season before being fired and replaced by Maddon. in a movement, once again, dictated by Moreno. Eppler was fired as GM shortly after the 2020 season.
The owner of the Angels, Arte Moreno, on the right, has overseen an era marked by instability. Manager Joe Maddon, in the center, is the latest victim, while GM Perry Minasian, on the left, is still working … for now.
Kirby Lee / USA Today Sports
A similar kind of power struggle between the GM manager could have played a role in Maddon’s dismissal. Shortly after the Angels announced the decision, Maddon spoke to Ken Rosenthal of Athletic and said that part of his frustration with the Angels’ work was that he felt that advanced data was required of the coaching staff: “I’m interested. in the analysis, but not to the point where everyone wants to put it in your throat “- and that he expressed his frustrations with Minasian. like this.
“I made it [feel we were on the same page]. No disconnection has ever been mentioned, “Minasian said.” Joe did the lineup, Joe made the pitching decisions. I’m a big believer that it’s the manager’s job, not the reception job. We present information to you. We have a great group, we have a very busy front office … Joe and I had a great relationship. If that was his perspective and he did say it, I didn’t see it, but he never said that to me. “
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Taking control of the organization, Moreno took with him John Carpino, who is now in his thirteenth season as team president, as senior vice president. The couple worked together on Moreno’s billboard company, which was successful enough to allow him to buy the Angels in 2003. Together, the two are the most influential and longest-serving decision makers in the room. Together with Minasian, they decided to throw the wheel once again and send the franchise to a new direction with more than 100 games remaining in what, not too long ago, was a promising season with another impulsive and consistent election.
After a public vocal presence, Moreno has not made many appearances with the media in recent years. Carpino, however, 20 months ago, alluded to a fundamental flaw in the way the Angels did their business, saying, “Something is wrong with our organization.”
“Obviously we’re not doing it the right way,” Carpino told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register in September 2020. “We’re not winning games, so something’s wrong with our organization. We have to look at it, you have to look in the mirror and find out, “Okay, what’s going on here that keeps us from playing this week or until October?”
Apparently, frequent rotation is not among the aspects of the organization that have been identified as a need for change. There are numerous short- and long-term ramifications for the latter move, but among the most pressing is what this means for Shohei Ohtani’s future with the team. The current American League MVP is scheduled to return to free agency after the 2023 season, and with the team in the lurch and without leadership, all amid a seven-year playoff drought, it’s fair to ask. whether Maddon’s expulsion will hurt the odds he chooses. to stay in 16 months.
Minasian said he had no interaction with players or coaches before making his decision, but Ohtani said on Tuesday that he appreciated Maddon’s time with the team.
“Obviously this isn’t Joe’s fault,” Ohtani said of Sam Blum of The Athletic. “The players are to blame, in part, because I had a poor performance. I just want to thank Joe, I appreciate all he has done for me. “
Maybe the Angels will come out of their last state of chaos finally pointing in the right direction. The last time the team had a mid-season managerial change was in 1999, when Terry Collins resigned during the last month of that season. Collins was accidentally replaced by Maddon, who was then the team’s bench coach. A few months later, Scioscia and Stoneman arrived to begin an era of stability that the team had not known since.
At the end of his media availability on Tuesday, Minasian tried to show a tone of optimism, highlighting the talented players in the team’s squad and the fact that there were still 106 games left on the calendar. The Angels are just 1.5 games away from a playoff spot, and a successful season under interim coach Phil Nevin is still a possibility.
“We’re going to get out of this,” Minasian said. “And we’ll win a game.”
The last part of this statement is almost certain: the Angels will win a game again this season (probably). Getting out of this mess, which the team has been doing for the last decade, will need much more than firing a coach.
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