“What Was Needed at That Juncture Was Support”- Joe Maddon Speaks Out After Being Fired by the Los Angeles Angels in His New Autobiography

In what was one of the worst run of games, the Los Angeles Angels led by Joe Maddon lost 12-straight games, which ultimately led to him losing his job. The period of losses featured notable absentees, such as Anthony Rendon and Taylor Ward. To make things worse, Mike Trout played some of the worst games of his life in that period. He hit .114 and struck out 17 times in those 12 games. 

Shohei Ohtani was not far behind .180, 15 strikeouts. In 10 out of those 12 games, the Angels had the lead 10 times, which they blew away. All of the above made for a compelling case for Joe Maddon to lose his job. 

Angels GM Perry Minasian arrived at Maddon’s front door and rang the bell, he was let in by Maddon who had a good feeling for why he was there. In previous conversations, Minasian had mentioned that they might have to let a few coaches go and Maddon figured that the visit by Minasian was regarding the same matter. However, very quickly he realized that it was in fact his job that was on the line and not the coaches under him.

Joe Maddon tells all in his latest autobiography 

In his autobiography, Maddon revealed his thoughts after being let go by the Angels. He wrote, “I did not overreact at all. I just said, ‘O.K.’ Quite frankly, I was happy he chose me and not the coaches. No one on that staff deserved to be fired.”

Maddon continued, “What was needed at that juncture was support . . . and not another version of the blame game. We all needed support from the bosses. That includes ownership. It would have been very easy for Arte Moreno to get on an airplane, walk through the clubhouse, talk to us, see what was going on, and I believe he would have come to a different conclusion.”

It was later revealed that it was in fact GM Minasian whose idea it was to let go of Maddon and not owner Arte Moreno. However, Moreno had complete trust in his GM’s ability to make tough decisions. 

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