MLB News: Former Angels Manager Joe Maddon Absolutely Torches LA's Front Office
In this story:
Just over 31.4 miles south of Dodger Stadium lies a franchise that has two of the best players in baseball, nothing to show for it, and one scorned manager who was unceremoniously fired less than 60 games into the season. Joe Maddon was the skipper that was supposed to right the ship, but in the midst of a historic 14-game losing streak spanning from mid-May to early June, the Angels cut the 2016 World Series winning manager loose.
Maddon, who famously donned mohawk his players never got to see to try to "awaken his team", did not mince words when discussing his current relationship with the Orange County Angels (quotes via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).
“It’s like, once that happened, I dissolved my affiliation with them. There’s no emotion anymore. There’s no anything. It’s like to me they don’t even exist, organizationally."
The manager did however note that he's kept in touch with some of the players and staff.
“I still text with a lot of the players, I text with a lot of the staff. One of them called me (Friday). So we’re staying in touch.”
Maddon also specified that he doesn't "wish them badly", and stated that he's simply "numb" to the whole thing. He then chided the front office for their focus on stars, not process.
“The infrastructure needs to be improved. There’s a lot of things that need to be improved there.These guys can’t do it alone, obviously. It’s the non-sexy stuff that has to get better. It’s not just bright, shiny objects — they have that. They need to do the infrastructure better in order to get to where we had been in the past. That was my goal, to get the Angels back to where we had been in the past. That was it. Nothing but pure intentions. I was an Angel. They had every ounce of me. And now that’s done.”
Those quotes can only help but make Dodgers fans smile. LA's true baseball team not only has stars, but it has a front office who knows how to work with the manager, not against him, and, something the Angels haven't had for years, starting pitching.
The former Angels manager is open to managing again in the MLB, but it needs to be a club he "really feeling good about it".
The Angels definitely aren't on the list.
