"Don't You Ever Fucking Call Down To The Dugout Again" - Joe Maddon To The Angels General Manager And Now We Have A Peek Into Why Maddon Was Fired
Ohhh boy do I love a good deep dive into a toxic firing and disagreement in the clubhouse. We got a good one here with a really good Sports Illustrated article about what went wrong with Joe Maddon and the Angels relationship, especially the one with GM Perry Minasian. Maddon has a book coming out so the fun is just starting. It seems like these guys just didn't like each other, were butting heads, and the GM wanted to have full total control of everything. That isn't what a GM does. A GM puts the team together, the manager runs the club. Pretty simple if you ask me, but some of the things outlined in this book and article are fascinating, these guys really butted heads.
There were a few big takeaways from the article but one of them was that Minasian wanted the Angels to do things like the Braves do. Not a bad franchise to try and emulate if you ask me. They wanted the Angels to model themselves after some other teams as well, sure it may work for them but who knows if it would have worked in LA. Seems like Maddon wasn't a fan of that.
This seems like your classic case of GM wanting to be too hands on. I believe this is why you hire a manger, this is why you let them pick lineups and schedule meetings, not a GM telling the hitters to have meetings everyday. That won't fly with managers, especially guys like Maddon.
This is the one that sticks out to me. During a blowout Minasian CALLED THE DUGOUT to tell Maddon to get Mike Trout out of the game because he had complained about a sore groin earlier. A GM calling the dugout during a game is insane. I'm surprised Maddon didn't call time and take the elevator up to the suite and punch Minasian right in his face. You just don't do that. I get it's Mike Trout, but you don't call the dugout to tell the manager how to manage. That is a shocking move by Minasian if you ask me. The next day Maddon went into his GM's office and literally said "Don't you ever fucking call down to the dugout again". The BALLS to march into your manager's office and scream that to him. Less than a month later he was fired.
Props to Minasian for at least showing up to Maddon's house to fire him. It's obvious these guys didn't get along, my guess is Maddon knew he was done for, this wasn't a surprise. What I am surprised about is that he didn't power bomb Minasian into his table, he seems to really have gotten under his skin with all the micromanaging from the suite. No one likes a backseat driver. What a clusterfuck they had going on there in Los Angeles, Maddon is probably thanking his lucky stars he doesn't have to deal with this guy anymore.