Former Angels manager Joe Maddon sounds off on Halos’ front office

Former Angels manager Joe Maddon’s life has changed a lot since he relieved by the franchise in June after a 27-29 start to the season. 

Maddon, who previously spent 33 years with the Angels’ organization and served as a bench coach under former manager Mike Scioscia, told the Tampa Bay Times he has no love lost for the franchise but said the break up has severed all previous “affiliation” that he previously had with the Angels.

“It’s like, once that happened, I dissolved my affiliation with them,” Maddon said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s no emotion anymore. There’s no anything. It’s like to me they don’t even exist, organizationally. 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 failed to produce a .500 record as the skipper of the Angels during his first two seasons and the club was mired in a 12-game losing streak when it fired him. 

After helping the Chicago Cubs win the 2016 World Series, the franchise’s first championship in more than a century, Maddon returned to Anaheim with high expectations of helping the Halos at least reach the postseason again. 

Unfortunately for Maddon, that never came to be and based off his comments, the three-time manager of the year felt like he got the shorter end of the stick. 

“They need to do the infrastructure better in order to get to where we had been in the past,” Maddon said to the Tampa Bay Times. “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.”  

Since Maddon’s firing, the Angels have gone 25-38 and are likely headed for an eight straight year of missing the postseason.

Maddon, who’s all-time managerial record is 1382-1216, said he is open to managing again but only in the right situation where he and the potential front office have an equal say in the day-to-day operations.

With a lot of time to himself, Maddon said he mostly spends it playing golf and hanging out with his 90-year-old mother in his native Hazleton, Pa.