Joe Maddon: ‘No Emotion Anymore’ After Angels Firing

Former Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon seems to have come to terms with being axed by the team in June.

Maddon was fired when the Angels had a 27-29 record and were in the midst of a 12-game losing streak. Phil Nevin has since taken over on an interim basis for the remainder of the season.

“It’s like, once that happened, I dissolved my affiliation with them,” Maddon told the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s no emotion anymore. There’s no anything. It’s like to me they don’t even exist, organizationally."

While "organizationally" the Angles may not exist in Maddon's mind, he went on to mention that he stays in touch with some players and staff members.

Maddon was shown the door before getting a chance to unveil his last-ditch effort at righting the ship in Anaheim: a mohawk.

According to the New York Post, Maddon thought his fresh cut would lighten the mood in the Angels clubhouse, but was fired before any of his players got a chance to see — or become inspired by — his mohawk.

The Angels Have A Worse Record Since Firing Maddon

Since changing skippers, the Angels have a 25-41 record. Considerably worse than with Maddon in the dugout, but that hasn't affected how he views the situation.

“It doesn’t make me feel better, it doesn’t make me feel worse,” he said. “Organizationally, I’m kind of numb to the whole thing. Because when you wish them badly, I’m wishing really good friends badly — and I can’t do that.”

Former Angels manager Joe Maddon has come to terms with his firing by doesn't harbor any ill-will toward his old team. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Maddon gave the Tampa Bay Times his insights on what the Angels — who are facing their seventh straight losing season and eighth straight missing the postseason — need to change to become competitive like they should be when their roster includes stars like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

“The infrastructure needs to be improved. There’s a lot of things that need to be improved there,” he said. “These guys can’t do it alone, obviously. It’s the non-sexy stuff that has to get better. It’s not just bright, shiny objects — they have that.

“They need to do the infrastructure better in order to get to where we had been in the past. 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.”

Before arriving in southern California, Maddon managed the Tampa Bay Rays and led the Chicago Cubs to a 2016 World Series title.

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