Buck Showalter and John Farrell join Joe Maddon as candidates for Angels job

Joe Maddon is not the only experienced candidate being considered for the Angels’ managerial opening.

The Angels also have former Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter and World Series champion John Farrell on their list of four candidates, according to people close to the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.

Maddon interviewed in Anaheim on Monday, a meeting that was said to have gone well. Despite the obvious fit of Maddon, who spent the first three decades of his professional career with the Angels, general manager Billy Eppler has been adamant about considering other options to fill the opening caused by the firing of first-year manager Brad Ausmus.

The New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates also are seeking new managers.

Showalter had a 669-684 record as manager of the Orioles from 2010 to 2018. He previously managed the New York Yankees (1992-95), the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2000) and the Texas Rangers (2003-2006). Three of his 20 teams finished in first place in their divisions, including the Yankees in the strike-shortened 1994 season, and five reached the playoffs. The 2014 Orioles were his first squad to advance to a championship series.

Showalter, 63, was fired after the Orioles lost 115 games in 2018.

Farrell, 57, was fired in 2017 after leading the Boston Red Sox to a second consecutive division title. He was manager when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2013.

In a decade-long major league career sidetracked by elbow injuries, Farrell pitched for the Angels from 1993 to 1994. He retired after the 1996 season.

Farrell transitioned into coaching immediately. He spent time at Oklahoma State before leading the Cleveland Indians’ player development division from 2001 to 2006. The Red Sox hired him as a pitching coach ahead of the 2007 season. The Red Sox won the World Series that fall.

Farrell left Boston for his first managerial job, landing in Toronto after the 2010 season. Before the end of his contract with the Blue Jays, who finished in fourth place in his first two seasons, Farrell was wooed back to Massachusetts. He became manager of the Red Sox in 2013, inheriting a 93-loss team from short-timer Bobby Valentine.

The Red Sox won the 2013 World Series, going from worst to first in a year’s time. Farrell’s teams finished in fifth place the two subsequent seasons, then won back-to-back division titles. However, they lost in the division series each year. He was fired two days after the 2017 defeat.

Farrell has spent the two years since his dismissal in two vastly different roles. He scouts minor league pitchers for the Cincinnati Reds and skippers a lobster boat in Massachusetts.

The fourth candidate beyond Maddon, Showalter and Farrell is not known. Eric Chavez, an advisor to Eppler and a candidate for other managerial positions, is not a candidate for the Angels’ opening, the source said. Another veteran former manager in the mold of the other three candidates is Joe Girardi.

Staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.