The Cubs recently parted ways with Joe Maddon despite his exceptionally high level of success with the team. Meantime, the Angels fired Brad Ausmus after only one season in the dugout. Both of those events have led to widespread speculation that Maddon will be the Angels' next manager.
Speaking of which, multiple sources tell ESPN's Jeff Passan that it's likely to happen:
Brad Ausmus' firing by the Los Angeles Angels, as @Buster_ESPN first reported, clears the way for Joe Maddon to return to the Angels, the team for whom he worked for 30 years. While it's not a fait accompli, a number of sources believe Maddon to the Angels is likely to happen.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 30, 2019
A Maddon-Angels pairing makes sense on a number of levels. First, Maddon is a wildly successful manager, who led the Rays to the pennant and the Cubs to the championship. Across parts of 16 seasons as major-league manager, Maddon has won 1,252 games with a winning percentage of .540 and eight playoff appearances.
There's also the fact that Maddon, 65, has deep Angels roots. He spent more than three decades in the organization, served as Mike Scioscia's bench coach for years, and also had two stints as interim manager in Anaheim. All of that makes Maddon a natural fit with the Halos. Throw in GM Billy Eppler's increasing desperation to build a playoff team around Mike Trout, and a splash hiring of Maddon seems all but inevitable.
