Angels oust Ausmus after one year as manager

1:56 PM ET

The Los Angeles Angels have fired Brad Ausmus as manager after just one year with the team.

His status had been under review by the team’s leadership in recent days, at the end of a disappointing season on the field and a tragic one off it, with the midseason death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

“[Ausmus] navigated this franchise through one of its most difficult seasons with class and professionalism,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler said in a statement. “This was an incredibly difficult decision but after significant consideration, we’ve decided it is necessary to go in another direction.”

The Angels finished 72-90, 35 games behind the American League West champion Houston Astros, and failed to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

The team canceled a previously scheduled news conference with Eppler and Ausmus on Monday. Eppler will be available Tuesday instead.

With Ausmus’ dismissal, there will be immediate speculation that his replacement will be Joe Maddon, who parted ways with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Before his first big league managerial job with the Tampa Bay Rays, Maddon worked for years in the Angels organization, and sources told ESPN’s Buster Olney that owner Arte Moreno has high regard for Maddon.

Ausmus was hired as the franchise’s first new manager in nearly two decades with Mike Scioscia’s departure after the 2018 season. Scioscia managed 19 major league seasons, wound up with 1,650 career victories and led the wild-card Angels to a World Series title in 2002.