Ron Washington Is Another Reason Suzuki Should Be Fired

It seems incredible to think about now, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the Los Angeles Angels were playoff contenders. As recently as June of 2025, the Angels were in the conversation for a playoff berth, and one of the biggest reasons was former manager Ron Washington, who had the team hovering around the .500 mark. 

Washington had to step down due to health reasons, but everything that’s happened since has been a disaster. Interim manager Ray Montgomery managed to alienate and tick off at least half the players on the roster, which is why he’s no longer with the organization. 

This is another reason why current manager Kurt Suzuki should be fired. Suzuki showed signs of being a competent manager early on, but it was abundantly clear that he lost the roster starting in June. 

What followed was one of the worst seasons in franchise history, as the Halos hit the 100-loss mark for the first time in their history. The GM who hired him, Perry Minasian, was fired in June, and shortly after that Suzuki’s pitching coach, Mike Maddux, was canned along with two other coaches. 

The point here isn’t the decision that revolved around Washington’s health. He wanted to keep managing, but it was abundantly clear that the stresses of managing and travel had caught up with him, and he’s now an infield coach with the San Francisco Giants. He’s dealing with the travel, but the stress level that comes with that job is much lower, especially since Washington is considered one of the best in the business at that particular gig.

The points is that the roster Washington had isn’t all that much different than what Suzuki started with when he came on board. Washington may look and sound mellow in public, but behind the scenes he wouldn’t allow the kind of sloppy, forgettable play that’s become a trademark of Angels baseball. 

We’re assuming for the moment that the decision not to fire Suzuki is coming from soon-to-be former owner Arte Moreno, who’s still sort of running the show for the moment. 

Moreno probably didn’t want the bad publicity that would have come with a firing on Black Monday after the season ended, and interim GM has suggested that Suzuki should have the job going forward, although Angels fans would institute yet another full-blown revolt if that happened. 

It will be interesting to see how new ownership handles this after the first of the year, as it’s very much outside the lines of typical baseball protocol.