Los Angeles Angels fire Joe Maddon; Phil Nevin named interim manager

Over the past couple of days, while his team navigated through a mystifying losing streak that still has not ceded, Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian began to think a change at manager might be necessary. 

On Tuesday morning, as he drove into Angel Stadium after watching his daughter receive an award for her second-grade class, Minasian became convinced that it was time to let Joe Maddon go. He called Angels owner Arte Moreno, received his blessing, then later drove to Maddon's house to inform him he had been fired.

Thirty months ago, in October 2019, Maddon's return to the organization he came up with was marked with celebration.

Now, on the heels of a 12-game losing streak that tarnished the Angels' remarkable start, it's over in swift, sudden fashion.

"It's tough," Minasian said during a news conference at Angel Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. "Disappointed it's come to this. I really like the man. It's somebody I'm gonna talk to the rest of my life. Just the conversations daily. Who he is, what he's about. You guys were around him -- the energy he brings, how consistent he is on a daily basis. 

It's tough. It's tough. But you gotta be able to take emotion out of things and make decisions. I've taken the emotion out of it and taken a step back. Looking at where I'm at, as tough of a decision as it is, I felt like it was the right thing to do."

Phil Nevin, the longtime corner infielder who joined the Angels' coaching staff this year, will manage the team in the interim and will remain in that role through the end of the season, Minasian said. Mike Gallego will replace Nevin as the team's third-base coach.

The Angels, coming off getting shut out by Michael Wacha and the Boston Red Sox on Monday night, sit 27-29 despite boasting a 27-17 record just two weeks earlier. 

The 12-game losing streak ties the longest for a single season in franchise history and is tied for the second longest since 1900 by a team that was at least 10 games over .500 entering the streak, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. During that 12-game stretch, the Angels had a minus-43 run differential, a .596 OPS and a 6.31 ERA.

"There hasn't been one phase of the game where we've been good," said Minasian, whose team finds itself 1½ games out of a playoff spot despite an expanded field. "We've struggled on the mound, we've struggled at the plate, we've struggled defensively, we've struggled baserunning. The one thing I will say is the effort's been great. I believe in this group. I know we've gone through a tough stretch, but we have 106 games left. And I'm excited about the 106 games."

Maddon, 68, was in his third season with the organization he previously spent four decades with as a player and as a coach, largely in the minor leagues. Maddon was Mike Scioscia's bench coach on the team that won the 2002 World Series, then went on to a highly successful nine-year run with the low-budget Tampa Bay Rays, with whom he won two of this three Manager of the Year Awards. In 2016, he led the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series championship in more than 100 years.