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The Angels, who are on a 12-game losing streak that dropped their record to 27-29, are the second playoff hopeful to fire an experienced manager in the past week; they join the Philadelphia Phillies, who jettisoned Joe Girardi on Friday and proceeded to sweep the Angels at Citizens Bank Park over the weekend.
The final game of that series was particularly devastating for Maddon’s team, which led 5-0 in the fifth inning and 6-2 in the eighth before the Phillies rallied for a walk-off win. The Red Sox then shut them out, 1-0, on Monday.
Less than a month ago, such a move was nearly unthinkable. Maddon and the star-studded Angels were 10 games above .500 and charging toward October. Shohei Ohtani was pitching well and hitting plenty. Mike Trout was healthy. The pitching staff was better. The Angels had committed the most money in franchise history to this roster, and it appeared to be worth it.
But then injuries struck. Steady infielder David Fletcher required hip surgery. Upstart Taylor Ward (hamstring) and former all-star Anthony Rendon (wrist) also hit the injured list.
And Trout, the future Hall of Famer and franchise centerpiece, slid into the longest hitless streak of his career, which ended at 0 for 26 when he singled Monday. Other teams experience injuries, too, but few see things crumble the way the Angels have in the past two weeks. Entering Tuesday’s games, they were 8½ games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West — but still just 1½ out of the AL’s third wild-card spot.
The Angels hired Maddon ahead of the 2020 season amid frustration about their always-talented roster’s inability to make a playoff push. Maddon had proved himself capable of winning in a variety of situations, having led the wily Tampa Bay Rays to an AL pennant in 2008 and the beleaguered Chicago Cubs to their curse-breaking World Series title in 2016.
But his magic didn’t translate in Anaheim, where he finished 152-172 and posted sub-.500 records in both of his full seasons. His teams were undone by a lack of reliable pitching and were frustrated by their lack of competitive late-summer baseball.
Maddon, 68, also faced questions about his hiring decisions. It was Maddon, in conjunction with then-general manager Billy Eppler, who brought pitching coach Mickey Callaway to the Angels after the 2019 season. MLB banned Callaway after it investigated multiple complaints of lewd behavior and sexual harassment and found them to be credible.
Maddon said he was surprised to hear of the accusations against Callaway and called it a “difficult subject to speak about.” Eppler was fired as GM after the 2020 season and is now general manager of the New York Mets.
Maddon’s dismissal is an awkward chapter in the young tenure of General Manager Perry Minasian, whom the Angels hired in November 2020. Minasian is as affable and patient of a GM as you can find — careful, not reactionary. That he decided to fire Maddon now — well before the all-star break and as injuries have undermined a roster that looked competitive when healthy — displays a new kind of urgency around a team that has declared it, but not shown it, over and over in recent years.
Minasian hands the reins to Nevin, who was hired in the offseason after spending 2017 to 2021 as the New York Yankees’ third base coach. Nevin’s name was in the mix for several managerial jobs in recent years, including the Washington Nationals’ opening when Matt Williams was fired after the 2015 season. On an interim basis, he’ll get his first chance with the Angels.
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