The San Diego Padres decided to let Bob Melvin go to the San Francisco Giants and take over as the team's manager. In turn, the expectation was all along that the Padres would hire either Ryan Flaherty or Mike Shildt, both of whom have been on the staff in San Diego. Now, the Padres have decided to hire Shildt as the new manager, per Jeff Passan.
The Padres entered the season with high expectations after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2022 postseason before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. But, they finished with an 82-80 record and reports swirled about Melvin and GM AJ Preller not seeing eye-to-eye. The Giants fired Gabe Kapler in a bit of a surprising move, and Bob Melvin was always rumored to be the favorite.
Shildt has prior experience as a manager with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018-2021 and was named the National League Manager of the Year in 2019 after leading them to the NLCS. In the following seasons, Shildt lost in the Wild Card game and was dismissed following the 2021 season.
Padres enter offseason full of questions
The Padres have other questions to answer, including whether or not to re-sign Blake Snell and whether or not they should trade Juan Soto, who has one year remaining on his contract. The bulk of the roster is back for the 2024 season, and expectations will once again be through the roof for this star-studded team.
As always, we can expect Preller to be active on the trade front and free agency process, so there could be some more splashy moves coming to San Diego despite payroll concerns.
Hopefully, hiring Mike Shildt as the team's manager will pay dividends after a disappointing run in 2023 with Melvin.
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