The Los Angeles Angels are wasting the primes of Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. They tried to turn things around in a season that is becoming more and more like a lost one when they handed manager Joe Maddon his walking papers last June, but that hardly made any positive impact on the Halos' trajectory. Maddon recently gave his insight on what's holding the Angels back from becoming a success despite the presence of Trout, arguably the best player of his generation, and Ohtani.

Via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times:

“The infrastructure needs to be improved. There’s a lot of things that need to be improved there,” Maddon 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.

Joe Maddon was hired by the Angels to be their manager in 2020, signing him to a three-year deal that he obviously was not able to finish.

The Angels haven't been back to the playoffs since they got swept by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series in 2014. In 329 games managed for the Halos, Joe Maddon went 157-172.

Joe Maddon, a three-time Manager of the Year winner, managed the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs before returning to the Angels. (He served different coaching roles with the Angels during his first tenure with the team.)

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When the Angeles fired Maddon, the team had a 27-29 record. Not much has changed since for the Angels who are now 52-68 — 24.5 games out of the top spot in the American League West division. Phil Nevin, who currently acts as interim manager of the Angels, is going to need something close to a miracle in order to get the team to the 2022 MLB postseason, with Los Angeles 12.5 games behind for a wild-card ticket in the AL.