Joe Maddon is reportedly a leading candidate to take over as the Angels’ next manager, but he’s not the lone possibility to replace Brad Ausmus. General manager Billy Eppler stated Tuesday that the Angels “plan on sitting down with a number of candidates” to discuss the job, per Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times. Maddon’s a highly accomplished manager who earlier spent three decades with the Angels organization in several different roles, which seems to make him a slam-dunk choice for the position. However, it’s worth noting that Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last week that the Angels might be hesitant to meet Maddon’s asking price. Maddon made $6MM this year with the Cubs, who moved on from him after they fell way short of expectations in 2019.
- The Giants, who are seeking a successor to Bruce Bochy, are interested in ex-major league outfielder Raul Ibanez, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports. Ibanez has been working as a special assistant to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman since 2016, giving him familiarity with the Giants’ Farhan Zaidi. Before Zaidi took the reins as San Francisco’s president of baseball ops last offseason, he worked as the Dodgers’ general manager.
- Former big league skipper John Farrell remains interested in a third go-around as a manager, Rosenthal tweets. The 57-year-old last managed in 2017, when he oversaw a Red Sox team that finished 93-69 and earned an AL East title. Farrell managed three division winners and a World Series champion (2013) in Boston over five years, though he also guided two last-place clubs during his uneven reign. Prior to that, he managed the Blue Jays to a 154-170 record from 2011-12. Farrell has served as a scout and a pitching consultant in Cincinnati since 2018, and he interviewed for the Phillies’ and Reds’ managerial openings during the previous two offseasons.
- Fellow ex-Jays manager John Gibbons also could be a possibility for clubs, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays. The 57-year-old wants to manage again or at least serve as a bench coach, according to Feinsand. Gibbons lost his job in Toronto after 2018, ending a two-stint, 11-year run with the franchise. He led the club to a 793-789 record with a pair of playoff berths.
- Astros first base coach Don Kelly is a candidate to draw managerial interest in the coming weeks, Morosi hears. The 39-year-old Kelly, best known for his run as a major league utlityman for the Pirates, Tigers and Marlins from 2007-16, is only in his first season as a coach. He spent the previous two seasons in a pro scouting role with Detroit.
wouldn’t mind seeing john farrell as the Angels manager if things don’t work out with joe maddon
John doesnt know how to manage his club staff. He allows the players to take over. If he learned this lesson then he will succeed
Agreed. I remember all the reports about players pulling some childish unprofessional behavior while he was the Skipper. If Maddon doesn’t work out, Ibanez would be a good choice. Also, I wouldn’t mind Eppler convincing Erstad to leave Nebraska and become the Angels manager.
He should be manager of the Phillies if Kapler is fired.
everyone should apparently
I’ll take almost anyone.
Rather amazing that after the 2nd half collapse and given his likely price tag Joe Maddon is coveted. More name than merit at this point. He’s an unconventional manager that doesn’t fit today’s hires. Specifically, he won’t implement the Front Offices mandates. Clearly Ownership getting involved with Angels.
Yet Maddon is the most accomplished manager available.
One second half collapse– specifically with a team marred by awful free agent signings that allowed them to underachieve– is hardly an indictment on his overall ability. If you think the game has passed him up or he’s overrated, fine, but the front office is as much to blame as Maddon, as Theo hamstrung them and killed any opportunity at roster flexibility with previous signings of Darvish, Chatwood, Morrow, etc that definitely left them short in the talent department.
Exactly, the Cubs sacrificed a decade for their ring. They knew it when they traded Gleyber Torres to rent Champman
Give everyone a break with that already!
With what? The facts
You don’t move back a decade by trading away one player
that trade is already going to come back to bite them and prolly the Quintana trade as well. Also look what Soler did this year with the royals, Crazy that the cubs could of had is bat but traded him for Wade Davis.
That Soler trade didn’t work out for them, I’ll admit it, but they at least tried to have him breakout. He was destined to be their next Junior Lake.
A trade that wins you a world series will never come back to bite you. Get out of here with your foolishness.
More than one second half collapse – two years in a row, in fact the Cubs fell apart down the stretch in 2018 and 2019. Having said that, myaccount, I agree with you that part of the reason for the collapses was the Cubs’ messed up roster, courtesy of Theo Epstein. After last season’s collapse, Theo lamented the “broken offense,” but did nothing to repair it until the July pickup of Castellanos. The pitching signings you mentioned were bad, though if Darvish can (a) stay healthy and (b) pitch like he pitched after the all star break this year, that signing won’t look quite so bad. Even with that, there is roster work to do to reverse the downward spiral of the past couple of years and quite frankly I’m not sure Epstein is the guy to make that happen. The two biggest day to day holes in my view are CF and 2B. Maybe (probably) the managerial candidates would see things differently, but if I was talking to Theo about the managing position, I would want to know what is offseaon plans are for those spots.
Unconventional? He’s the leader of the pack in analytics. Literally what all managers are now. He’s one of the best all time. The cubs failure isn’t Maddon lol he a baseball genius and top 10 manager of the last 25-30 years
What a laugh. He continually wears out his bull pen no matter how good they are supposed to be. When he managed the Rays they were loaded. Sabremetrics chases away more fans than anything else (look at attendance figures) and many of us believe the Cubs won in spite of Maddon, not because of him.
Agreed
Maybe front offices should hire a manager to you know manage and but out and not attempt to manage from the front office? Hhhmmm
Thank you! If some of these front office guys want to manage the team, then go down in the dugout and manage the team; and when it gets ugly, man up and accept the blame. Otherwise butt out and let the manager do his job the way he sees fit.
Then make the Manager the GM and President also and have him over see the 25–30 analytic people each team has now on a daily basis
2nd half collapse….actually more of a last 2 weeks of September collapse….was largely due to injuries to many key superstar players.
And that’s not to even mention the absolutely awful bullpen Theo provides Maddon with all year. Despite all this, Cubs were poised to get in to the playoffs, almost until the very end. The injuries unfortunately were the kick in the head.
Bull pen ERA for Cubs in 2nd half was 2nd lowest in baseball.
it’s over your head, epp!
Cubs fans in So Cal buying Maddon jerseys and hitting Anaheim for a game or two will net Arte at least $6 million come on dude.
Do you know how much $6 million is?
Who on earth buys managers jerseys?
Guys who live in their mother’s basement?
$6 million? i’m pretty sure most of the Hollywood guys are Dodgers fans…..
I like Farrell or Showalter for the Phillies. Frankly, wouldn’t mind BOTH if Farrell agreed to be pitching guru .
Phillies aren’t making a move
The Phillies have to make a move or they will lose their fan base. The fans will not come out to games, if they remain status quo!
First Philly fans will never stop attending sports events, Second other than Maddon there isn’t a coach I’d take over Kapler. Plus
wow, that might be the worst take on the matter of anyone ive heard yet.
You’re telling me you wouldn’t take Buck Showalter over Gabe Kapler? For real?!
Yes, Buck Showalter has 1 playoff series win in 20 years and has only made the postseason 5 times and 1 of those was a 1 and done wild card game. He’s a .500 manager with little to no success
Maddon is a Carney in disguise. His success lies within his front office personnel. He is a nice guy, but his success relies o. Those above him to get or draft the pieces to make him look good.
I agree.
He was that guy for mike sciosia for a decade. He’s analytical knowledge is so far beyond most peoples understanding, He’s the Davey Johnson of this generation
LOL.
You realize he had so little with the Rays and took them to a World Series lol like the complete opposite is true. He is the scapegoat for horrible front office decisions in Chicago and now the cubs will spend decade as a 3 place team in their division with aging players on massive deals and no farm.
That’s such a garbage narrative. He didn’t have “so little” with the Rays. He had some excellent players. Evan Longoria was a superstar from the second he took the field. Carl Crawford was a stud (funny enough, 2008 was one of his worst years with the Rays). Carlos Pena raked. Young BJ Upton was an excellent player. And their rotation had a bunch of solid pieces, led by James Shields in his prime – yes, he used to be really good. He had significantly more than people want to give that team credit for.
Pena and Upton were below average at best. Bartlet, iwakamura, Pena, Gabe gross and a Cliff Floyd as his dh wifb a whopping 12 hrs. Not to mention Navarro catching. Then his starters were Sonnastine, Jackson, Garza, Shields and Kazmiir lol all with Era’s 3.5 of higher 3 of them 4 or higher Closers were Percival who was horrible that year almost a 5 era and Dan Wheeler with a 4 plus era. Yeah he was loaded with talent
Oh, so you have no idea what you’re talking about. Now I understand where you’re coming from.
“Below average” Upton and Pena put up 4.8 and 3.8 fWAR; that’s T-26th and T-50th in all of baseball, respectively. Add that to Longoria, and you have 3 top 50 players in all of baseball, 2 in the top 26.
Iwamura, Bartlett, Gross, Hinske were all league average-to-slightly above average players with fWAR’s from 1.9-3.0. Not to mention a young Ben Zobrist and Willy Aybar. And Cliff Floyd’s “whopping 12 HR’s” came in only 80 games. He had an OPS+ of 114. The only bad player you mentioned was Navarro.
Shields, Sonnanstine, Garza, and Kazmir were all good starters.
They also had this young kid come up at the end of the year and provide an instant spark. I forget his name. Oh yah, I think it was David Price.
But yah, no talent at all.
seen anyone who wins the big thing with nothing?
Absolutely awful assessment. Theo gave Maddon a terrible bullpen, and he was saddled with many injuries all year.
Despite all this, he STILL was in the playoff hunt for 98% of the year….almost until the end.
Injuries to key superstars were the straw that broke the camel’s back. You must not watch a lot of Cubs games.
Does it really matter who manages the Angels?
troll!
The problem with the Angels is not managerial… It’s ownership and Artie is garbage.
Money should not be an issue for the Angels. They’ve had no problem throwing cash around.
The Angels haven’t really spent a lot
Pujols, Wilson, Upton, Hamilton, Cahill, Harvey would all disagree. I’m sure there’s more.
Trout…
I’m still scratching my head over cubs fans vilifying Joe Maddon. And in such short time after the most successful run in club history. Kind of telling, isn’t it?
Same with Yankees fans vilifying Girardi after he took them all the to the ALCS in 2017.
Yankee fans for the most part wanted Girardi to stay?
Those same characters have been griping about Boone.
Yankee fan here and haven’t heard a word about either, both are loved my Yankee fans
Those are the fans that don’t really pay attention, and have zero critical thinking skills.
It’s also puzzling how Theo Epstein largely gets a free pass when you look at his signings of Jason Heyward, Edwin Jackson, and the massive overpay on Yu Darvish.
Edwin Jackson is irrelevant; he was signed to eat innings and be a placeholder during a rebuild. Heyward, Morrow, Chattwood, gimpy Yarvish, and other minor pieces were signed to a contending cubs team. The cubs essentially ran out of steam due to these mediocre signings, thus closing their window much sooner than anticipated. It’s mind boggling to think what a more creative/bold GM could have done to that roster with all the money spent since 2015.
It should be noted that Joe Maddon has managed the Angels in the past.
Yes for 22 games in 96 and 29 in 99
Wonder what Maddon has up his sleeve to work around the Angels resident albatross A/K/A Albert Pujols
its called the bench. working around expensive players is the GM’s job.
It’s not going to be hard to work around Pujols. The 30 million could be better spent. He’ll DH some, he’ll play first base some, and now every team has an extra man.
The big problem is pitching and health. .
Pujols had close to 200 RBIs over the last 2 seasons. While he struggles elsewhere as he ages, you can’t discount the value in that many RBIs.
Joe Maddon is a perfect fit for either the angels or phillies. Both need a change. If Maddon goes to the angels that could help them pick up Cole for the rotation. I think Kapler gets a pass with all the injuries, If someone gets fired it should be Klentak and bring in Dave Dombrowski.
The last time the Angels had two starters make 25 starts and had an ERA+ of 105 or better was 2011.
That has to be taken care of or it doesn’t matter who you hire. Every year I think that problem is resolved, and every year I’m wrong.
I’d like to know the last team that hasn’t had two starters make 25 starts and have an ERA+ of 105+. It might be the Angels. My guess is t doesn’t happen often.
I believe those two were Haren & Weaver or Weaver & Santana
You are correct, they had three. Haren, Weaver and Santana
I meant make the playoffs without two solid starters. Not simply the team.
If they could somehow bring in Cole and maybe Odorizzi or Wheeler , and another bat, they could with Ohtani coming back to the rotation.
i’m not sure we need another bat unless that is a better catcher’s.
Rendon at third unless they go with fletcher
Honestly, the padres should go grab madden at any cost. He has experience putting a rebuilding team on the map… he’s a great coach, which is important at this stage in their rebuild. Strictly my opinion
Agreed – I think Maddon is better with a generally younger team as opposed to a veteran team, so I am also of the opinion that he would be better in San Diego than with the Angels.
Please No Maddon in SF. We dont need bullpen dancers, onesies, and a fluke WS.
NO MADDEN IN SF !!
He’s an overrated clown, let him join the circus in LA…………..
“We” won three fluke World Series. You would turn down another?
And what real San Franciscan would ever say “Frisco?”
lmao. The bullpen dancers was cringeworthy.
Donnie Kelly Baby! DK All Day!