Angels fire Joe Maddon as manager amid 12-game losing streak
from Adam Stites, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
The Los Angeles Angels fired Joe Maddon on Tuesday amid the team’s worst losing streak in over three decades. The team announced Phil Nevin will take over as the interim manager.
Maddon, 68, became the Angels’ manager in October 2019, but the team disappointed with back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the AL West in his first two years. The 2022 season got off to a strong start with Los Angeles jumping out to a 27-17, but since then, the Angels have lost 12 straight to tumble below .500.
The losing streak is the second worst in franchise history. The only worse stretch for the Angels was when the team lost its last 12 games of the 1988 season and its first game of 1989.
Three-time AL MVP Mike Trout is batting .114 during the losing streak with 17 strikeouts and three walks. Reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani has fared on slightly better with a .180 batting average, seven walks and 15 strikeouts.
“We’ve lost a lot of tough ones and it really makes no sense,” Maddon said after the 11th straight loss, via MLB.com. “We got the right guys out there and the right time. And again, we gave it up late. We have to get that fixed. I loved the fight, but we have to finish these games off, and that’s a big part of the situation we’re in right now.”
Maddon previously managed the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs, reaching the World Series with both franchises and winning it with the Cubs in 2016.
Nevin, 51, played 12 seasons in MLB before announcing his retirement in 2007. After stints as a third-base coach with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees, the Angels hired him for the same role in November 2021.