Angels Hire Joe Maddon to Manage, and Heal, a Reeling Club

Even with the majors’ best player — center fielder Mike Trout, who could win his third American League Most Valuable Player Award next month — the Angels have staggered through four consecutive losing seasons. This year (72-90) was their worst since 1999, when Maddon took over as manager in September after Terry Collins resigned.

Maddon played for the Angels in the minors, then managed and coached in their farm system before spending 12 years on the major league coaching staff. He was the bench coach in 2002, when the Angels won their only World Series, and was hired by the Rays as manager four years later.

The Angels’ championship season lifted fan interest in Anaheim to a new level, and it has stayed remarkably steady. The Angels drew fewer than two million fans in 1996 and 1997, but topped three million in 2003 and have continued to do so every year since.

Yet the Angels have reached the playoffs only once in the last decade, in 2014, when they had the best record in the majors (98-64) but were swept by Kansas City in a division series. That remains the only playoff experience for Trout, who is 28 and signed through 2030.

Unfortunately for the Angels, the one thing Trout can’t do is pitch. With the two-way star Shohei Ohtani limited to just hitting this season after having Tommy John surgery, the Angels’ rotation had a 5.64 earned run average, ranking 29th in the majors, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies’. Their free-agent additions — Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill — flopped, and the staff was so unstable that nobody reached even 20 starts.

General Manager Billy Eppler is signed through 2020, and Maddon, with his new three-year contract, will have ample job security. With a thin farm system beyond outfielder Jo Adell, Eppler could be aggressive on a free-agent pitching market that will include Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels, Dallas Keuchel, Jake Odorizzi, Zack Wheeler and Stephen Strasburg, if he opts out of his contract with the Washington Nationals.

The Angels need one of those pitchers, and probably more, to compete in a division with the powerhouse Houston Astros. They need Maddon to help with a more nuanced task: brighten the outlook and heal the wounds of a fractured and reeling organization.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/sports/baseball/joe-maddon-angels.html?emc=rss&partner=rss