Joe Maddon’s Firing Deepens Angels’ Era of Instability

Los Angeles’s knee-jerk response to a 12-game losing streak is more of the same impatience exhibited by owner Arte Moreno during his tenure.

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.”

Minasian is only in his second year with the organization, but that type of impulsive decision-making fits right in line with the club’s recent past. From 2000 to ‘07, the Angels had one manager and one general manager: Mike Scioscia and Bill Stoneman, respectively. In the midst of that stretch—during which the team made the playoffs four times and won its only World Series title—Moreno purchased the franchise from the Walt Disney Company. In the years that have followed, what was once a sturdy foundation has eroded into a volatile operation marred by dysfunction at nearly every turn.

Since Stoneman left his position following the ‘07 season, the Angels have had four general managers, each of whom had to work under considerable friction with the team’s other influential voices. Stoneman’s successor, Tony Reagins, was reportedly told by Moreno he had to execute a now-infamous trade for Vernon Wells in 2011 or else be fired (he resigned at the end of the season). The team’s next GM, Jerry Dipoto, abruptly resigned midseason in 2015 amid a lengthy power struggle with Scioscia. Dipoto was also rankled by the ill-fated signings of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, which were said to have been directed by Moreno.

Each of the first two GMs post-Stoneman had to operate alongside a manager they did not hire. Billy Eppler, though, did get a chance to choose his own manager after Scioscia retired following the 2018 campaign. He opted to go with Brad Ausmus, who lasted just one season before being fired and replaced by Maddon in a move, yet again, dictated by Moreno. Eppler was fired as GM shortly thereafter following the 2020 season.

Angels owner Arte Moreno, right, has overseen an era defined by instability. Manager Joe Maddon, center, is the latest victim, while GM Perry Minasian, left, remains employed ... for now :: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

A similar type of GM-manager power struggle could have played a role in Maddon’s dismissal. Shortly after the Angels announced the decision, Maddon spoke with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and said that part of his frustration with the Angels job was he felt advanced data were forced upon the coaching staff—”I’m into analytics, but not to the point where everybody wants to shove it down your throat”—and that he expressed his frustrations with Minasian. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, though, Minasian said he was unaware Maddon felt that way.

“I did [feel we were on the same page]. There was never any disconnect mentioned,” Minasian said. “Joe made the lineup, Joe made the pitching decisions. I’m a big believer that’s the manager’s job, it’s not the front office’s job. We present information. We have a great group, we have a hard-working front office … Joe and I had a great relationship. If that was his perspective and he did say that, I haven’t seen that, but that was never expressed to me.”

Upon taking control of the organization, Moreno brought along with him John Carpino—now in his 13th season as team president—as a senior vice president. The pair worked together at Moreno’s billboard company, which was successful enough to allow him to purchase the Angels in 2003. Together, the two are the longest-tenured, most influential decision-makers in the room. Along with Minasian, they decided to jerk the wheel once more and send the franchise into a new direction with more than 100 games left in what, not too long ago, was a promising season with yet another impulsive, consequential choice.

Once a vocal public presence, Moreno has not made many appearances with the media in recent years. Carpino has, though, and as recently as 20 months ago alluded to a fundamental flaw in the way the Angels conducted their business, saying, “Something is not right in our organization.”

“Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way,” Carpino told the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher in September 2020. “We’re not winning games, so something is not right in our organization. So we have to look at it. You have to look in the mirror and find out, ‘OK, what’s happening here that’s causing us not to be playing this week or deep into October?’”

Apparently, frequent turnover is not among the aspects of the organization that has been identified as needing to be changed. There are numerous short- and long-term ramifications for this latest move, but among the most pressing is what this means for Shohei Ohtani’s future with the team. The reigning American League MVP is set to hit free agency after the 2023 season, and with the team in a tailspin and lacking in leadership—all amidst a seven-year playoff drought—it’s fair to wonder if Maddon’s ousting will hurt the odds he opts to stick around 16 months from now.

Minasian said he had no interactions with players or coaches before making his decision, but Ohtani said Tuesday that he was appreciative of Maddon’s time with the team.

“Obviously, this is not all Joe’s fault,” Ohtani said, per The Athletic’s Sam Blum. “Players are, myself, in part to blame, because I was underperforming. I just want to say thank you to Joe, I appreciate for everything he’s done for me.”

Perhaps the Angels will emerge from their latest state of chaos finally pointed in the right direction. The last time the team had a midseason managerial change was in 1999, when Terry Collins resigned from his position during the final month of that season. Collins was replaced, coincidentally, by Maddon, who was then the team’s bench coach. A few months later, Scioscia and Stoneman arrived to usher in an era of stability the team hasn’t known since.

In wrapping up his media availability Tuesday, Minasian tried to strike a tone of optimism, noting the talented players on the team’s roster and the fact that there were still 106 games left on the schedule. The Angels are just 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, and a successful season under interim manager Phil Nevin is still a possibility.

“We’re gonna get out of this,” Minasian said. “And we’re gonna win a game.”

The latter part of that statement is almost certainly true: The Angels will win a game again this season (probably). Getting out of this mess—the one the team has made for itself for the past decade-plus—will take a lot more than firing a manager.