Joe Maddon Reflects on End of Cubs' Tenure: 'They Wanted to Change Everything'

For the first time since 2014, Joe Maddon is headed to Spring Training as the manager of a team not named the Chicago Cubs. But that didn't stop the now-Los Angeles Angels skipper from reflecting on the end of his tenure in Chicago. 

"Philosophically, Theo needed to do what he needed to do separately," Maddon told ESPN's Alden Gonzalez. "At some point, I began to interfere with his train of thought a little bit. And it's not that I'm hardheaded. I'm inclusive. But when I started there—'15, '16, '17— it was pretty much my methods. And then all of a sudden, after '18 going into '19, they wanted to change everything."

Maddon also said the front office wanted "to control more of what was occurring in just about everything," and that he realized he didn't want to return to Chicago while 2019 was still ongoing, no matter how the Cubs would end the season. 

Maddon made the playoffs from 2015-18, winning the World Series in only his second season in the Windy City.

He left the Cubs in late September after they missed the playoffs for the first time in his five-year tenure.

Just over two weeks after leaving Chicago, the Angels hired Maddon as their next manager. 

Prior to this season, Maddon spent the next 31 years working at almost every level of the Angels organization as a player, coach and manager. He previously served as a big-league assistant coach under five managers, and he had two stints as the Angels' interim manager.