Joe Maddon was not going to be unemployed for long if he didn’t want to. The question was where he would go. On Wednesday, the manager signed a three-year deal with the Anaheim Angels.
It is quite a homecoming for Maddon, as he spent most of his career in Anaheim and won the 2002 World Series with the Angels as a bench coach. However, his career with the team started as a player.
From 1975 to 1979, Maddon was a catcher in the Angels organization. His last year, he switched from playing to scouting and started his ascent to the pinnacle of baseball glory with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
Maddon spent the 1980s coaching in the minor leagues to a losing record and finally got to the big league club in 1993.
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Maddon won the World Series, ending the Cubs’ record 108-year national title drought. Nevertheless, some have argued the mastermind was Theo Epstein, the man who also ended the Boston Red Sox’ second-longest drought. However, Maddon’s work in Tampa Bay with the Rays showed his gift for coaching.
The Rays were rebuilding, had a young core and the lowest payroll in pro baseball, not to mention consecutive losing seasons and maybe more to come. But Maddon came and turned them into winners. The Rays clinched their first ever American League Division title, beating the heavyweight Red Sox and Yankees, who boasted much more massive payrolls.
Maddon is thus “going home” in a way. Now, he will handle a new roster that includes one of the best living players in Mike Trout, two-way sensation Shohei Otani (who is scheduled to pitch next year after spending a season only hitting after Tommy John surgery), a blooming Tommy La Stella (whom Maddon coached in Chicago), plus whatever roster moves they make this offseason. The Angels have had four consecutive losing seasons.
Maddon is famous for working with young and developing players. Fans will surely be excited to see what happens during the offseason.
