The Padres have made their bombshell managerial hiring official, announcing on Monday a three-year contract with now-former Athletics skipper Bob Melvin to serve as their new manager. San Diego’s managerial post had been vacant since the firing of previous manager Jayce Tingler just over three weeks ago. Melvin’s option for the 2022 season was exercised by the Athletics back in June, but Oakland reportedly allowed Melvin to interview in San Diego and agreed to let him depart without receiving compensation from the Padres in return.
Melvin’s departure comes as a shocking development. There had been no prior indication that the Padres had their sights set on Melvin or that their pursuit of him had begun — let alone reached the finish line. Rather, the Padres had been tied to Atlanta third base coach Ron Washington, who wouldn’t have been able to interview until after the conclusion of the World Series. Instead, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has already pounced upon his preferred candidate.
“Bob is one of the top managers in the game and brings a tremendous wealth of knowledge and a proven track record to win at the Major League level,” Preller said in a statement within today’s press release. “Throughout the process, Bob showed our group a true love of baseball and a natural presence to lead. It was immediately evident how he’s been able to bring out the best in his players throughout his managerial career. We believe that Bob is the right man to take our talented group and help them deliver a championship to the city of San Diego.”
Coming into 2021, after an extremely active offseason, the expectations were that the club would be in the running for the NL West division crown. Things seemed to be following that plan for a few months, as their winning percentage was just under .600 at the end of June. However, they floundered down the stretch amid reports that Tingler had lost the respect of the players in his clubhouse, and the team eventually finished the season below .500 and well out of playoff contention. After Tingler’s firing, various reports linked the club to managers with more experience in the skipper’s chair. The Padres’ last two two managerial hires, Andy Green and Jayce Tingler, were both first-time managers and both in their late 30s at the time of their hiring.
Melvin, who turned 60 years old last week, certainly fits the “more experienced” description. He has close to 20 years of managing on his resume at this point — his first coming with the Mariners back in 2003. Since then, he has been employed as a bench boss for at least part of every season except for 2010. After two seasons with Seattle, he was with the Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2009, and worked as a scout for the Mets in 2010.
In June of 2011, the Athletics fired manager Bob Geren and replaced him with Melvin. He was initially hired as an interim manager but stuck around for over a decade. In his time with Oakland, the club went 853-764, a winning percentage of .528. They made the playoffs six times out of those 11 seasons, including three division titles, most recently in 2020.
As to why the Athletics would allow such a successful manager to leave, Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggests a financial motive (Twitter links). He reports that Melvin was making “about 4MM a year” and that the club intends to slash payroll for 2022. Melvin’s new contract in San Diego guarantees him a total of $12MM, so he’ll now match or exceed his Oakland salary and do so over a longer term.
MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently looked into the fact that the Athletics have a tremendous arbitration class this winter that will push the organization into uncomfortable financial territory. The fact that the A’s are seemingly willing to let a fruitful decade-long partnership with their manager come to end for a few million in cash savings certainly casts an even darker cloud over that situation.
Melvin and the Padres will now turn their focus to getting that club to live up to their full potential in 2022 and trying to chase down the Dodgers and Giants, while the Athletics will now have to add a managerial search to their to-do list in an offseason that seems to have the potential for lots of turnover.
MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell broke the news that the Padres had agreed to a three-year deal with Melvin (Twitter links). ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported that the A’s had allowed Melvin to interview and accept the Padres’ job despite being under contract for the 2022 season (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
Now that I got that out of my system…okay. Rather have Wash but maybe Melvin is a decent choice. Maybe?
No reason any Padres fan should be complaining about this hire
He has won 3 Manager-of-the-Year awards.
Seems good! But the A’s never make it far in the playoffs. Will never forget that horrible Wild Card game he had against KC Royals in 2015.
It’s not on the manager when the pitcher refuses to ever throw over to keep runners close.
So why say no initially? Playoffs 6 out of 11 times with a small market team with zero super stars. I mean the Padres are a mess right now but when he came to the A’s they arguably weren’t even trying to win very hard.
Really sad that an MLB team can’t afford to keep their manager.
Because I wanted Wash and felt like yelling. I didn’t hurt your ears, did I?
How about you give him a chance to just get them in the playoffs? I mean wouldn’t that be an improvement? Their last two managers didn’t get them very far. If he does and then fails, okay fine, find someone who can, but there are no guarantees Washington would get them farther at this point.
Exactly. This is a great hire by the Padres, and only makes me—a Giants fan—more nervous about the Padres in 2022.
No superstars? They’ve had a ton!
Are you talking to me? I am giving him a chance. I like the hire.
@stevegarvey. Wait for it…
Athletics just announced they have hired Ron Washington to be their next manager, lol!
His Achilles heal is pitcher management. He will try to show faith in his guys and leave them in to long to get burned. That WC game was the perfect example. Left Lester in after 7IP 3ER, then waited to long to bring in the closer Doolittle in a winner take all game. He will leave in a struggling reliever when its just not there night.
@bluefish
Umm …. success to payroll ratio is probably only second to the Rays.
Oakland only pretends to be a small market team (payroll wise). They are in the 4th? Largest market in baseball.
Well small market is not the issue. It’s a low budget bc the owner doesn’t spend. He won’t even spend to keep their successful manager in house.
“Oakland only pretends to be a small market team (payroll wise). They are in the 4th? Largest market in baseball.
@ Dorothy_Mantooth;
I worked for a bit in Oakland.
The market you’re referring to is really The Bay Area. It has 3 sectors – Oakland is the East Bay, SF is the West Bay, and Silicon Valley and it’s offspring are to the south. The money is in the west and south, primarily financial services and technology. Oakland was primarily a working class area doing dirty work such as warehousing. It has improved some of course, but SF and Silicon Valley are world class areas.
When I was there I heard of a study that showed that when the Giants and A’s were both playing on TV the same evening, the Giant’s telecast outdrew the A’s by 8 to 1. The Giants were the first MLB team in the Bay Area, and won over the fans. The A’s have always been a secondary team, even through the glory years with Charlie Finley’s A’s that he disbanded when the owners agreed to arbitration; therefore (in his words) causing him to have to pay his stars the same salary as the Yankees paid theirs, and he simply didn’t have the revenue coming in to do that.
–
The situation is worse than the White Sox-Cubs – north side, south side. It is not at all like Yankees-Mets or Dodgers-Angels where the second team in the market is playing in well-to-do, prosperous areas. The city of Oakland doesn’t have any money, which is why they lost their NFL team (twice), their NBA team (the Warriors used to play across the street from the Oakland Coliseum), and have been dragging their feet about helping the A’s build to state-of-the-art park.
What Samuel said.
you dont get a trophy for success/payroll ratio.
You don’t get a trophy with a low payroll either.
@Samuel, I have lived in the Bay Area for over 30 years and am a Giants’ fan. However, in very broad brushstrokes, I don’t totally disagree about your “3 sectors” of the Bay, there is a 4th: North Bay (where I presently live). I have found, having lived in Berkeley and North Oakland, as well as SF over the years, is there A’s fans are spread around everywhere, just like Giants’ fans. The A’s are in a large baseball market, albeit a competitive one (with the Giants). The A’s could easily raise more revenue if they marketed better, and Fisher actually cared about his baseball product and put some $ into it. They are a perennial contender and scrape by with cheap moves, low revenues and a small budget. Now they’re cutting a super solid if not great manager in Bob Melvin to save what might net 2-3MM next year??? What?? It is sad for the A’s players, fans and a continued bad look for a very wealthy owner who doesn’t care about winning, (just his pocketbook)!!!
Shared with the SF Giants, who hog all the Corporate sponsors snd TV Cable deals.
Even if you generously give the Athletics 40% of the Bay Area market, what’s 40% of a large market worth compared to 100% of a small market?
The only teams that share a market that may potentially have a smaller fan base than the A’s are the Nationals and Orioles, and even there it’s questionable as to just how much their markets overlap.
@ganggreen23, NBC Sports Bay Area (NBC’s Regional Sports Network) is the cable network that covers both the Giants and the A’s. The Network has two channels, one for the Giants and one for the A’s. Now, maybe the Giants have a more marketable team that attracts more sponsors, but, they have the exact same tv contract. It’s one and the same.
I lived in SF and Marin for many, many years, and I think it’s disingenuous to say it’s “all the owner’s fault.” Fact is the ballpark sucks in Oakland and has for a long time. The City Fathers have pushed the owner into a situation from which I’m not sure they can regroup. Time to let the A’s build a new stadium or watch them go to Las Vegas.
“Hog”?
Can’t afford, or simply don’t want to pay?
It’s not impossible the A’s didn’t want to continue to pay for one of the best managers in the game. However, is it possible they felt it was the right time to move on? They only extended Melvin through ’22 and there weren’t many reports of the team trying to extend him long-term. It’s also possible Melvin was looking for a different challenge. Oakland is clearly a lather, rinse, repeat job with how they run that ship — maybe Melvin grew tired of not having enough talent or watching it leave town every few years.
Ding ding ding yoooooooouuuuuuuuu win!!! I was wondering how long until I came across the obligatory he’s horrible with the pitching staff comment. Get outta here with that, every manager in the history of the sport has struggled with the pitching staff as far as fans are concerned. The GM fields the team and the manager works with what he’s given. If a pitcher doesn’t perform it’s on him. Last time I checked many of these guys are getting paid quite well to do a job so let’s not blame the manager for something they can’t control.
you dont get a trophy for success/payroll ratio.
===========================================
True, but also meaningless. You can’t control how much money is available for payroll, but you can increase your success/payroll ration.
And all things being equal, a higher success/payroll is always better than a lower one.
Late to the party but the A’s certainly could perform better than they do. There is definitely a market for them.
Back in the late 1980s they were drawing over 2 million fans (I think they hit 3 million a couple of times). Back in the 1970s, they outdrew the Giants by a large margin.
The reason they are in this predicament is:
1. Davis destroyed that great stadium with Mt. Davis and they really need a new place to play.
2. Their owner is the ultimate cheapskate.
3. They allowed the Giants to become the team of the Bay Area. The Giants got new ownership in 1993 and they started to really invest in the team and marketing. They won the fans over, especially when they moved to Pac Bell Park. The A’s stood pat and did this dance where they would get a good team and then ditch their best players. Hard to keep fans when they keep watching their guys leave for greener pastures.
I think that this was a good move by the Padres.
But I still think the odds of the A’s winning their division in 2022 is just as high as the odds of the Padres winning their division in 2022, more than five percent and less than ten percent.
I’m an Angels fan and that fact has driven me deep into therapy.
@pete, your point is very well taken. However, that is a looooong conversation when it comes to the ballpark. I have many friends wh are A’s fans who like the scene, inexpensive Tix, etc. at that park. I really hope they can build the new park on the waterfront by Jack London Square. IMO it would be a really good thing for the team. Fisher seems like he’s got one foot out the door though…
The NL West just got tougher
Great article I read years ago that there is no such thing as a small market just small thinking. You look at some of the cities like Miami who carry a foot, basketball and major college teams. So obviously the fans and people are there. Nothing small about Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Those teams have generations of fans.
That was in 2014 so you already forgot it.
Actually they are in a small market. The A’s get overshadowed by The Giants and with SanFrancisco and San Jose take up the large media market leaving Oakland in the dust. Think about it, it Oakland was a big media market don’t u think they’d build a better stadium for themselves which is why they’ll be playing in Vegas in 1-2 years
You ever been to Oakland? Not exactly a garden spot. A lot of crime and poorly run. They have to move. I don’t think it’s sustainable to stay in Oakland. I think it is highly probably they move to Vegas for 2023. I’m not sure even a new stadium solves their problems. They still won’t have the TV revenue that the Giants, Dodgers and Angels enjoy. That would change with a move to Vegas.
Especially the area around the stadium. It’s a cesspool.
Stymedone –
Only if he’ll do the job for $500k
The Giants are in the 4th largest market.
Philly is the 4th largest TV market. Dallas-Ft. Worth 5th. San Francisco/Oakland 6th.
Do any of you actually know the various and sundry ways they rank and classify “market size?” Hint: in pro sports, it has less to do with the population of the MSA than you think.
Right. It has to do with eyeballs, which is NOT just about population.
It has to do with ad revenue generated by media – TV, Radio, and print – in a given market. For example, an average local commercial spot may actually sell for twice as much in a smaller city (MSA), but it’s actually a “larger” media market. It’s common, but that’s only one of many ways to “measure” a market.
But the revenue is the lowest in the game by any measure
Yes, it is. But there are also a lot of reasons that can contribute to low revenue.
You should be overjoyed by this hire.
It is a good choice. I was simply rooting for Washington.
Now let’s see Wash in Art Howe’s role — take my $20 for Moneyball 2.
I think it’s a great hire for the Friars and a horrible choice and look for Oakland. Oakland is soooo cheap!!!
Jeff K., we both like Washington.
@giantsphan12
The A’s have no fans, no stadium, and no money. Melvin did a great job working with what he was given. I think he just got tired of it.
They’re about to go back into another rebuild apparently. He gets to stay in CALIFORNIA and play for a team with a budget– hard to say no. Certainly can’t blame him. I’m and Angels fan– he’s a great manager. Low key, but in control.
Ron Washington is going back to Oakland to manage the A’s. That’s the big story here. He’s worked there before. They love him so much they gave him the best line in “Moneyball.”
Billy Beane to Scott Hatterberg and Ron Washington: “You don’t know how to play first base. Scott… It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash.”
Ron Washington: “It’s incredibly hard.”
This is surprising because Bob Melvin is the longest tenured manager with one team in MLB. He has managed the A’s for over a decade straight. Billy Beane loves him some Ron Washington though. The comments they make, the reference’s to Wash in the book and Ron Washington’s extremely notable presence in both the book and the movie says it all. You don’t give a guy the absolute best line in the best selling book AND the blockbuster movie if you don’t want him back.
“What about the fans”. Ron: “Yeah maybe one of them can play first”
And what he did for Siemen. Siemen soaked up whatever Wash. told him and became a very solid fielder which he was FAR from beforehand
@No big deal/Buzz Saw:
I agree with you both whole hearted. I don’t know how Wash will do in the future as a manager. He has always been a VERY prominent name associated with the success of the teams he’s worked for as a coach. I never ever hear of him coaching anywhere that doesn’t consider him one of the best coaches they’ve ever seen. He resonates with his players more than anyone I know coaching today. I know some fans don’t like decisions he made in the World Series. I’m sure he has learned from that experience. Jesus… He managed a team like the TEXAS RANGERS to back to back World Series. He can’t be bad.
That movie sucked. Not 1 mention of Hudson, Mulder, or Zito.
Buzz Saw: not even close to being true. SE6MIE6N did not “improve” until Matt Olson showed up at 1B and Matt Chapman at 3B. That was AFTER Washington was already gone. Go look at the data.
@Steven St. Croix: I wouldn’t say the movie sucked but you are definitely right about them ignoring how important the big 3 was to that team. They did mention Hudson though. He started the game that was their 20th win in a row. They even had a lookalike actor play Tim Hudson in the movie.
Same with the book. Michael Lewis completely covered up the fact that SABRmetrics is STILL unable to properly and accurately quantify defense and pitching. “Moneyball” was written for one reason: to make the statisticians feel like they know more about baseball than people who’ve spent their lives in the industry*, and give them some faux credibility because they can do “advanced math.”
*In the book, Lewis actually quotes Bill James as saying as much.
Looks like Ozzie Guillen must be headed to Oakland now!
Melvin is a great choice. This guy has won Manager of the year and has led the A’s to winning seasons with little to jobs support because they’re a low budget team. So yes, I think he’ll shine even more in San Diego.
What will all the Bluenotes do now Melvin is employed?
I guess they’ll back him up
I understand this reference.
“If you don’t know that by now . . . “
If you don’t know it by now…you will never ever ever know it. Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Are you a music lover hiding behind a baseball fan?
I am a lover all music made between the years 1950-2000 when music just died a slow death. I love Paul McCartney, Paul Anka, Paul Simon, Paul Young, and a lot of other musicians not named Paul.
I admit, you got a set of Pauls on you
Teddy Pendergrass is about to go solo.
But can he play Second Base?
I think we should ask him if he can stay on (and) pitch.
Can he go solo? I don’t know, can he duet?
Melvin does eat blubber, according to the Zodiac killer.
“It’s incredibly hard”
Did he turn down the Mets job too???????
And you should too if they offer it to you 😉
I’m shocked. I thought Mike Shildt was going to get the job, but I never imagined that Bob Melvin was going to be next Padres manager. Finally, Preller did something right hiring Melvin, he is an excellent manager.
Same, I thought it’d be Shildt
Didn’t Shildt say he was old school and not into the newer analytics? I think that may have turned the Padres off on him.
Ok John poe
Melvin is an excellent manager– exactly what you want and need. And he comes from an organization where he won consistently with very little resources. What’s not to like about this hire?
Welp
Well that came out of left field. Nice to see a Manager with experience come to the Padres. Obviously, he doesn’t mind Niebla as the pitching coach.
Nice
Fake news I can’t imagine the Padres making good staff decisions
Wait— whaaa?????
Another A’s 5-6 year rebuild/compete cycle is complete. They’re starting another one, meaning a teardown is about to happen. Melvin apparently didn’t want to stay through that.
Huh???? The A’s almost never do full tear downs under Billy Beane. Please find me these 5-6 year windows of them being bad? They’ve won as much as anyone the last decade. Awful take.
@ rols1026;
Are you serious?
Every time a good percentage of the young players Beane and Co. acquired and developed are about to hit FA status and can demand large salaries, the A’s start trading them off for prospects for a few years and work on developing the youngsters they get back.
Do you really think the A’s bring in enough revenue to play the current veteran players on their roster competitive salaries that they can get as FA’s?
You can’t really have been following the A’s for the last 20 years.
As records:
2010 82-82
2011 74-88
2012 94-68
2013 96-66
2014 88-74
2015 68-84
2016 69-93
2017 75-87
2018 97-65
2019 97-65
2020
2021 86-76
Maybe not 5-6 year cycles, but they haven’t been consistently good the last decade
The argument against you is that they dont have 5-6 year stretches of losing, not all that nonsense you just popped off about. Coming from an A’s fan, you sound like an angry A’s fan. Weve had 1 strecth of 3 straight losing seasons in the last 12 years alone.
This issue now—and has been for years—is that Oakland Coliseum was destroyed by Al Davis . . .and has gone down from there. If the Oakland City Fathers and their municipal brethren don’t get their act together, they’re gonna loss the A’s. This team needs to generate more income. The Oakland Coliseum makes that impossible. (PS-I’m not from the Bay Area anymore, nor was I ever an A’s fan, but this BS fro Oakland is idiotic.)
You apparently didn’t read his comment properly, nowhere does he say they are bad for 5-6 years.
They’ve been consistently better than average
The A’s have not gone into full rebuilds at all this century. Everytime they trade off a bunch of big names from there rosters, they always get major league ready pieces to supplant what they just traded away. They havent had a 5 or 6 year strecth of losing as long as I’ve lived, which would be atleast 24 years. And I know they didnt have stretches like that 10 or 20 years prior. So, yeah.
They get SOME ML ready players, and most of those guys are pretty much prospects.
How do you think they acquired the core players o their current team. They pretty much came in a 2-3 year span.
Re-read Samuel’s comment – he said 5-6 year rebuild/compete cycles, not that they have 5-6 straight losing seasons. Looking at the records kellin posted, Samuel is spot on – they have 2-3 bad seasons followed by 2-3 good seasons and then the cycle starts anew.
@ C-Daddy;
MLBTR is full of posters that quote statistics not knowing the variables that went into creating them,.
As you know, the issue here is not the W-L record, its’ who was on the roster and what were their years of service and salary. That would take time to look up.
@C-daddy, I think rebuild still implies for most teams that they’re actively selling off veterans. That 2014-15 offseason didn’t really feature much of that. They traded Samarzija in the 2014 deadline race, and they had traded Donaldson before 2014.
2015-17 was really more just them making some bad bets for once. The big ones being that they sold low on Donaldson and bought high on Billy Butler. Hahn and Graveman were both supposed to be young anchors of that rotation and ended up not being able to stay in the rotation and/or healthy.
That has been the A’s way since the beginning of the Moneyball era. The A’s have made the playoffs 11 times since 2000 or 50% of the time. Not bad for a team that has to contend with the fact that “there are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then, there’s 50 feet of crap. And then there’s us”
The window wasnt even fully open yet on this window if they werent so ****ing cheap….
New park probable new TV deal in 2 years so what do they do they spike the value attendance and watchability of the team.
I wouldn’t mind those guys but I’d give Washington a shot!
No team in baseball has had a more consistent year to year payroll than the As. Consistently in the bottom 5 in MLB past 25 years. Nothing cyclical about it.
This sucks pretty much all around for the Bay Area. A’s fans have to be pissed but Giants fans now have to face the Padres with a manager who actually knows WTF he is doing. Only thing worse would have been if Boche had taken the job
Good points all around.
Was Melvin a FA to be or did OAK have to trade him to SD?
Maybe, dunno, read the post? Maybe?
That info wasn’t in the original post when the question was posted.
Don’t be a smart alek
Does this mean Shildt goes to the Mets or the A’s?
A’s prolly
Think Schildt sits this year out.
Doubt he wants to preside over a teardown. A’s will be trading anyone of value for the next 2 years, and it won’t be guaranteed that everyone they get back will be major league ready.
I disagree. There are few vacancies, I think he might take the first manager gig that is offered. That includes A’s and Mets. I do not think the A’s vacancy is a bad one, you take whatever pieces you have and do the best you can. Just the pay will be less and you will be helping to form some younger players so they have a chance on a couple years. Unlike the Mets which are basically (1) the best player in the game, but who is mostly injured, e.g. deGrom, (2) the test of the team that is slightly below average, and (3) a dumpster fire that pretends to be the front office.
A’s why would the Mets make a smart manager choice
Tatar’s
Why would the Mets make a smart choice?
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
They could get lucky.
Not one with no hands.
Might wind up as every team’s second choice
This is complete conjecture on my part, but I wonder if Shildt was fired because he didn’t embrace the use of analytics. Mozeliak said there were philosophical differences. If that’s the case, I seriously doubt Beane would be interested in Shildt.
The A’s let Melvin walk because his salary was too high ($4-$5M). Shildt is most likely going to be too expensive for the A’s owner. I’d say it’s Mets or bust for Shildt.
Ron Washington is so eager to get another shot at managing that he might be willing to take the low-ball salary Oakland is looking to pay their next manager. If not, Oakland will most likely go with a rookie manager so they can pay him rookie wages.
Shildt don’t got those jimmy legs.
psssh. I wanted Ozzie.
With Ozzie as manager it’s fun having the closed caption on your television, no one knows what he’s actually saying
Why would anyone want him? Ozzie has diarrhea of the mouth and nobody can understand WTF he’s trying to say.
WTF? I guess that signals a complete overhaul in Oakland and BoMel didn’t want to stick around for it. Or he wasn’t up for an eventual move to Vegas and the even a worse mausoleum at the Colesium.
Signed, unhappy A’s fan
Can’t blame Melvin for wanting to go to a team that’s willing and able to spend money.
Wtf why would Oakland allow that?
I’m sure Oakland was given every opportunity to match the Padres offer. No reason to hold Melvin back at this point.
But Melvin was under his As contract thru 2022.
I don’t see why the As would allow this other than have his replacement lined up ready to go. Must have been looking to go in a different direction.
As an Angels fan, I can only look at this as good news.
A’s allowed Melvin to have the conversation and move. They didn’t have to, but they did.
Are you kidding? Do you know many pennies they’re gonna save?
LFG Oakland!!!!
Excellent hire. Could be the best manager in the game, combining in-game skills, great player management, and obviously well versed in analytics.
Meanwhile, the Mets can’t even get a call-back for a job interview. Really, I don’t like picking on the Mets, but there is a clear problem.
The A’s have done this before and not asked for compensation when allowing a manager to go (Art Howe to Mets). I won’t know about how I fell about this (A’s fan) until I know who the A’s hire to replace Melvin.
The A’s are similar to the Rays. They have a system. They will pick a manager who fits that system. Joe Maddon leaves? In comes Cash. Whomever the A’s pick will be good.
but maddon is not good in halo uniform!
Joe Maddon is not good at all. The fact that the media has brainwashed people into thinking he’s some great manager is comical. He was fortunate to be the Rays manager at the time when advanced metrics was new, so he looked like a genius back in 2007. But every in-game decision he has ever made on a big stage has been a huge blunder. The Cubs won despite of him, not because of him.
Kotsay or ryan Christensen probably melvins cheap manager replacement
Good callback, forgot about them not getting any compensation for Howe in 2004 or whenever that was
I’m guessing it’ll be a new manager. Since they’re looking to pay much for a manager.
Mark Kotsay seems to be a good fit. Currently a coach on staff and seems to be a true “A’s” man.
They have to hire an “A’s” man or else this will look even worse.
I think Washington would be a perfect fit have Kotsay under him for bit!!
I’m curious what the compensation will be for the A’s?
Also- it will be nice for him to go to work for owners that spend money and a stadium that doesn’t have sewage backups in the dugouts.
No compensation.
The A’s don’t own the stadium. It’s not their responsibility for upkeep. Further, when visiting teams flush towels down the toilet you are going to get plumbing problems – I don’t care where you are.
You have evidence that visiting teams flushed towels down the toilets?
I doubt it.
the A’s are such a mystery
Not really.
They’ve been tearing it down, rebuilding, and then competing in 5-7 year cycles for decades.
I posted a week ago here that they were about to have a fire sale, and if the Astros lost some players after the season it would open things up for the Angels and Mariners to compete in the AL West……and I like what then new Angels GM is doing.
everything about the organization though. Are they even going to be in Oakland 5 years from now?
Breaking: Bob Melvin has rescinded his candidacy for the Mets’ POBO position
Crushing for the As.
Damn was hoping the Mets would hire him.
Me thinks the Padres owner is slowly moving AJ from being a dictatorial POBO to being a fancy farm director.
Next I’m looking for someone to be brought in there that will monitor trades and FA signings.
Current Padres owner was 2nd banana to last years.
AJ’s wings are being clipped. The leash is growing shorter.
I figured the owners couldn’t keep throwing money around on a team that finished over .500 once in 8 years……and that was in a COVID-shortened season.
Ron Fowler was the owner running things when Preller was hired. Peter Seidler was a co-owner. Seidler is the grandson of former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley and nephew of former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley. Like the current Dodger owners and Cohen with the Mets, he made his money running Investment Firms.
“On November 18, 2020, Major League Baseball approved the transfer of the role of chairman from Fowler to Seidler, who purchased part of Fowler’s stake in the team to become the largest stakeholder.”
In short – an O’Malley descendant is now running the Padres. He understands how MLB franchises are run, and he understands finance.
AJ Preller’s wings are being clipped. He can fall in line or go work somewhere else. With the hiring of Melvin, Tatris and Machado are about to be put in the same position. Expect some solid veteran leaders to be brought in to play this off-season – maybe not stars, but solid players that will be role models and impose discipline on an out of control team.
Congrats to the Padres and their fans.
This was Preller,s hire
@ Brewer88;
L O L
Jayce Tingler and Larry Rothschild (who I had been writing here for 2-3 years was messing up young Yankees starting pitchers) were Preller hires.
Do you really think that established, professional, industry-respected people working in quality organizations – Ruben Niebla and Bob Melvin – would leave solid jobs with quality organizations to take orders from AJ Preller? Seriously?
Preller does not make hires like this. Rest assured that the hand of the new Chairman – Peter Seidler – was in this (with a lot of back channel negotiations going on), and that those 2 gentlemen were assured that they would be given the authority to go about doing their jobs as a part of an organization.
I should have picked it up when Seidler made a comment a month or so ago that he had confidence in AL Preller to led the team to success. There’s an old saying in professional sports – “The Dreaded Vote Of Confidence”. It was a nice businesslike way of giving Preller an ultimatum of staying in his lane or his time was limited.
Check out how the O’Malley’s ran the Dodgers. You’ll get a feel for what’s now the MO of the Padres. Last year Seidler gave Preller enough rope to hang himself with his hiring’s of Tingler and Rothschild. You need a lesson in how business organizations work.
Who knows, maybe Preller will leave in a huff and take the Mets job.
Lol, nah it was a GM hire
@Samuel
You sound so confident in your nonsense, yet you just like to make up stories that you think sound good. Yet, you are wrong most of the time.
Seidler said this is AJs team 100%, and these were all AJs hires. But don’t worry, you can backtrack later when this “Hand of Seidler” never appears…
@ damascusj;
If you’ll check my record you’ll see that I’m right most of the time.
When you said you the earth was flat I checked and you were indeed correct
@Samuel
Incorrect, but I am convinced you just like hearing yourself talk
What’s Seidler supposed to say? THINK! Of course he’s going to endorse his GM publicly. Which is Someghing Preller never did with his managers, by the way.
@Samuel –
“…I’m right most of the time.” That is because you seem to think that by typing a bunch of words then you are “right”. But if you use the word “right” like the rest do, then you have out & away the worst batting average on the board.
Remember your 2000 word dissertation back in April on why the Orioles were going to be better than the Yanks?
Because I sure do. Biggest whiff I have seen on the board & it’s not close at all.
Nah. You *think* you are right, Sam.
However, all the rest of us *know* you are wrong. Was not sure how to break that bit of news to you, so I went with a straightforward approach.
HmMmmMm I could see some problems in a descendant of the dodgers owner being chairman of a rival
Thank you. Now if Seidler would just fire Preller.
A’s allowed Melvin to have the conversation and move. They didn’t have to, but they did.
You say that not knowing anything that’s going on with the padres
Seidler has (very recently) stated that he has 100% confidence in AJ and he will have 100% control over the team.
But I’m curious to know where you heard these takes of yours or do you just blow it out of your ass
The dreaded public “Vote of Confidence”.
Nonsense. In case you didn’t notice Preller showed he’s still making the calls by bringing in Niebla last week, that was 100% his guy, and a GM on a short leash doesn’t do such a thing with a manager vacancy.
True. In all sports if a Coach/Manager or GM/other Executive gets the public vote of confidence they are usually fired in short order.
It is literally the sports version of the “Kiss of Death”
This is a good hire. Was he fired by Oakland?
Nope. They exercised their club option for 2022 last June.
Imagine this means he forfeits what the A’s would have paid him for 2022. But Padres probably paying him more than that.
Didn’t see that coming! Good hire.
the mets should take notes
Respect on Oaklands side for letting him listen to offers. A little upset they get no comp. I wonder if it’s one of those “give me a $1 and we’re good” kinda transaction
Oakland definitely tearing down. Or maybe they want to piss off the fanbase before dipping for Vegas
Maybe Ryan Christenson or dark horse Mark Kotsay as replacements
So were they just punking us with that ozzie guillén interview
As I said earlier, have to interview diversity so you don’t look the schmuck when hiring the white guy.
Pretty shocked. Even if I don’t hate it.
Good for the Padres. A’s likely promote Ryan Chrristenson or Mark Kotsay
On his 60th birthday no less! Truly a shocking development
Shildt must have not impressed much. Melvin is one of the best managers in the sport, tho. Great hire. I would’ve chase some compensation if I were the A’s. The Mariners got Randy Winn for Lou Pinella back in the day! Or John Farrell for Mike Aviles.
Dunno if Melvin’s the “best” manager around, but he’s in the discussion. He’ll add some sanity to a clubhouse that looked a little weird at times last year. Good move obviously.
Absolutely GREAT move for the Padres.
I doubt it’s a great move for him. But we’ll see.
Great Hire by the Padres!
Experienced Winner!
The lack of playoff success does concern me tho.
The lack of playoff success from Melvin is more on the front office than him. When the A’s get a good core in place, they refuse to add the few players in the offseason who can get them over the top. It’s always the “let’s wait and see” approach. In fact they tend to subtract more than they add in the offseason due to payroll concerns.
With that said, if Oakland is having a good season, they will make deadline deals for quality players (Jon Lester, Marte, etc..) but they never do quite enough because the cheap owner won’t commit to a full year of payroll in the $100M plus territory. The remaining holes in the roster tend to be exposed in the playoffs and that’s generally what has happened with Melvin in his playoff runs with Oakland. SD is willing to spend/acquire talent during any time of the year, so Melvin is going to feel like a little kid in the candy store working for the Padres / Preller. The NL West just got even better with the addition of Melvin to the Padres…well done!
Cheap owner?
And you write posts on here about the business side of MLB?
With the stipulation that I am probably the least qualified person in the world to judge how good a manager is or isn’t (but I at least have the self-awareness to admit that), postseason success is one of if not the most important barometer for me. During the regular season, there are good teams and there are bad teams. The good teams will beat the bad teams like 90% of the time and there’s only so much the manager can do about that. But then come playoff time, it’s only the good teams remaining. So I feel like the manager has a lot more of an effect on those games.
Self awareness lol silly Ryan
Where is the laugh button
@Padres2019ha If you got a problem you know where the mute button is (although it actually wouldn’t surprise me if you don’t know that).
PS: Have the Padres traded for JT Realmuto and Noah Syndergaard and then “just extended” them yet? :^)
@Padres2019ha Are you going to address your “Trade for Realmuto and Syndergaard and extend” prediction or nah?
B.S. I refuse to believe. Coming from a hige A’s fan, this is hard news. Hopefully we have a good replacement in tow. Didn’t see this coming at all, he’s been a rock as our manager from day one.
I like the hire as a fan. Not a Dodger fan.
Great hire
Sets up perfect for firing Preller after 2022 and replacing him with Billy Beane.
Billy Beane is not leaving Oakland until they get a stadium deal in place (hopefully out of town). Once that is in place, the value of the A’s franchise will skyrocket and he can sell his ownership shares for at least 10X of what any team will offer him to run their organization. If he didn’t have an ownership stake in Oakland, he would have departed years ago.
Please let this be true!
If Melvin can fix Snell’s screwed up head, the Padres have a better shot. The GM needs a couple mid to low level starters via trade or FA.
The last thing the Padres need is more starters, they just need the ones the crew they have compiled to be healthy.
Otherwise, AJ got duped on all of those trades.
Other than Musgrove, all the other starters on the Pads (Darvish, Paddack, Snell ) have complicated health issues heading into 2022. Weathers needs time in minors. T-John’s Morejon and Clevenger might not help the team until August. Gore can’t be counted on. To avert disaster they probably should add another 3rd or 4th tier guy as insurance.
Brewer88: I think Gore will be a solid starter by mid-season 2023. I think Melvin was an “A-“ hire, but I still give the Padres only a 8-10 percent chance of winning their division next year.
Hope Gore eventually gets there!
@wildboyz …
All teams have injuries. Most go out and fill the holes. Preller did nothing. Yes, we need starters, and starting depth.
The A’s will not make substantial changes until the see the light at the end of the tunnel with that new stadium excuse whether staying put in Oakland or relocating to Vegas. Melvin was probably told this, and with not clear path ahead – no job security either – then BoMel started weighting his options signing a three year deal with the Padres. He will work will I’m San Diego…
lets see if he can win a playoff series of more than 3 games with SD.
Melvin with a 3-fold increase in payroll might do better in playoffs
the A’s had plenty of talent in the latter years of Melvin’s tenure.
Let’s see how he does with even more
and maybe he does, i just say that i haven’t seen enough to assume it will happen.
Ok
Lol
where’s the lie? he didnt win in the postseason with OAK, plain anf simple.
He did beat the Cubs in 2007 playoffs.
Watch how fast Olson gets traded to the Pads.
Wow the Padres didn’t screw it up! Love the signing. He has done great things with the A’s
Padres dealt with their manager void.. cards fired a winning manager and replaced with another…. Mets cant even get anyone to interview lol
Alderson will interview Schildt, and no words need to be spoken. He’ll just slide a blank contract and a pen to him. Just fill it out and sign, Mike.
Wow Padres have a good manager now
Billy Beane’s so distraught he’s moving to Queens
Whattttttt
A’s selling?
Finally a decent manager with experience.
Amazing hire!
Bob Nightengale makes up things and tweets them, its pathetic how yall keep taking the bait.
This is your best comment ever
Just when you thought the A’s couldn’t shock you anymore by being cheap, they pull this bs.
They’re gonna be really good
Garbage manager for a garbage team. That franchise is a mess.
Thanks for the A+ analysis.
Ok “yams” the guy named after an orange potato
Wow. Didn’t see this coming.
Wonder if Mark Kotsay replaces Melvin in Oakland
It is a good bet that Melvin was told recently that the core of the A’s will be on trading block this winter (Olson, Chapman, Manaea, Bassitt) and he decided it was time to bounce rather than manage through a full rebuild.
A’s are some cheap clowns. If I was the city of Oakland I wouldn’t give a new stadium either.
They honestly should’ve AT LEAST tried to keep the Raiders instead….. (brand, image, legacy, history) but nope…. *probably* another team heading to Vegas/Portland/Whatever.
Padres already winning the off-season, even before the off-season
Good hire.
WOW!!! What a shocking development! I thought I read the title of this article incorrectly at first. I’m guessing that San Diego is paying Melvin top dollar to make this jump ($6M+ per season) and he’s definitely worthy of such an investment. Well done, AJ Preller!
You know things are bad when a team allows a successful, signed manager to leave without compensation just for the sake of saving money. The Oakland A’s owner is an embarrassment to Major League Baseball. I don’t know how Billy Beane continues to put up with this. My only guess is that since Billy has an ownership stake in this team, he is sticking around until the stadium issue (or relocation) is finally approved and then he is going to flex his muscle and get the other minority shareholders to force John Fisher to sell the team. They let Bob Melvin go to save what, $2.5M at the end of the day? Even a rookie manager is going demand at least $1.5M in salary. This also tells me that there is going to be a massive fire sale in Oakland this offseason. Wealthier teams are foaming at the mouth to get some of the arbitration-eligible pitchers from Oakland this winter, not to mention Olson, Chapman, etc. Oakland has just surpassed Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Miami and Tampa in my mind as the cheapest and most embarrassing team in all of MLB. Oakland is a BIG market team (4th largest market I believe) yet they let their stadium crumble into such disrepair that they can’t draw fans. Who wants to go to that dump to watch a game? Fisher is so lucky he has Billy Beane to keep retooling this team with young, talented players. If he wasn’t there, this would be a perennial, 100 loss team as they jettison all of their good players once they start costing more than $5M per year. Now it has trickled down to the manager as well. Get this stadium deal locked up and then force this guy to sell. He has ruined an iconic franchise; it’s really sad to see.
Agreed. Fisher should sale the A’s to say the likes of Joe Lacob. and Peter Guber (Warriors owners). Laoob himself as stated before that if the Athletics want to sell then he (Lacob) would like to listen…
@ julyn82001;
If Joe Lacob. and Peter Guber bought the A’s they’d do what they did with the Warriors……move them.
@ Dorothy_Mantooth;
I think you’re so far off base, you’re behind the RF fence.
The A’s let Melvin know that a teardown was coming, and gave him the opportunity to take the Padres job. I’m sure the Padres and A’s owners were back channeling this – it’s how these things work.
The A’s owner is not “cheap” – he exercised Melvin’s option. It was a professional courtesy to Melvin – as well as a thank you / reward for the years he’d worked for them – to let him out of the contract and go to a potential contender instead of watching the A’s be dismantled. A classy move on the A’s part.
The points you bring up are petty.
No way the A’s are paying Melvin for 2022
professional courtesy would have been to let him walk anf left the door open to him coming back. just letting him go for nothing while under contract is shameful. i mean, get SOMETHING for goodness sake.
Son……
The A’s showed some class.
What, you expected them to get Tatis with the Padres paying 3/4’s of his salary?
Bob Melvin worked for that organization for 11 years. Some of the teams he had were in a rebuild phase. During that time he stuck with them when I’m sure he had offers to go elsewhere when his contract expired (I knew an ex MLB manager – he was constantly getting back channel offers to go to other teams when his contact expired).
He was loyal to the A’s, and they were loyal to him.
They were going to cheapen this by insisting on a player that within a year or two would be off the team?
While I get your point, and is probably preluding another roster shake up, you really can’t say John Fisher isnt a cheap owner and take yourself seriously at the same time. The simple fact that we are about to go into another shake up is because he is too cheap to pay his players at even market value, let alone what they’d get in arbitration. That, coupled with always needing to recoup the loss with other players via trade, is why all of our best players get traded before free agency, or during there most expensive arb years. An actual baseball loving owner who loves the A’s AND be willing to spend on the team would go a long way towards retaining star players. You are not the only person with knowledge about the A’s, don’t act like it just because you claim to have “known an ex-MLB manager”.
Facts can be petty at times. The owner is clearly tearing down this team again and that is nothing short of shameful for a once great franchise. If he truly can’t afford to field a competitive team, he needs to sell the club immediately.
The ballpark sucks!
I think it is just plain wrong to call Tampa Bay one of the most embarrassing teams in baseball. They were in the World Series last year and had the best al record in this year’s regular season. Despite having moderate revenue and a moderate fan base they compete against better finances teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays. Embarrassing, Rockies, Pirates, Mets, Angels, Orioles. Rays are cheap but impressive. A’s are just a notch behind Rays. The reality is that San Francisco and Sillicon Valley are a more affluent fan base than Oakland even if you count Berkeley which splits for both teams. Move the A’s to Sacramento.
Why do you think the Rays only have a “moderate” fan base? They don’t even have many fair weather fans. Think about it.
I’m guessing Melvin wanted out in Oakland. He probably wasn’t thrilled with another roster shuffle. Maybe Beane and Fost realized he needed a change in scenery. This elevates Houston in 2022.
Can’t blame Melvin if he’d rather live in San Diego than in Las Vegas.
Congrats Padres, now get to work!
Wow the A’s really blew it
Not really. As a sign of courtesy and respect they let him talk to another team and he choose the new challenge. He’s already been in Oakland for 11 years and since it took so long for the A’s to pick up his option for next season they may have already been preparing for him to move on, if not in ’22 but the following season.
I am interested to see who replaces him. I would have to believe Mark Kotsay to be the front runner out of the internal choices but Marcus Jensen and Ryan Christensen have interviewed for Manager jobs with other teams should also be considered. AAA Manger Fran Riordan could also be an option. I would think if there are outside options considered Mike Shildt probably won’t be one of them.
I feel its a mixture of both. A courtesy to Melvin for all he’s done for the A’s, and John Fisher being cheap by continuing to show his unwillingness to shell out the money necessary to keep impact through there most expensive arbitration years and beyond.
A’s
Cheap
Sadly
They always have some nice pieces but just a few extra pieces away but the owner is cheap and doesn’t budge at all. They could’ve gone to a World Series at some point in past 20 years.
HA HA HA Athletics are ridiculously cheap. Owned by
BILLIONAIRES too!
SF built their own stadia,
A’s should too.
dont worry, the A’s win 90 games sometimes. that’s fine because they are cheap apparently. Connie Mack is rolling in his grave.
@ DarkSide830;
L O L
Do you know anything about Connie Mack? He had no money other then his baseball team. He constantly sold off star players because he couldn’t afford to pay them.
Well that’s a relief…. Stay retired Bruce.
Man, the Coliseum is going to be a sadder place than usual next year. And they’ll still probably win 90 games or so.
Not a bad deal. He’s experienced and at this point, a really great manager. But Lou prunella really would be the best fit. You need someone with some fire and Melvin isn’t exactly that. But the dude can manage a team well. Good luck with the large egos though ♂️
Wow. Not sure what happened with the auto correct lol. You get the point.
Botanist?
This is a replay of Bochy to the Giants for free from the cost-cutting Padres.
If so, success is assured and it’s going to be harder to get into the owners’ suite.
MLB needs to step in and do something with the A’s and Rays. This is not fair to their fanbases.
I’d rather see a payroll ceiling in MLB than a higher floor.
I dont disagree that they’re embarrassingly cheap but they win plenty of games. Maybe the financial flexibility allows them to quickly pivot instead of languish with a bunch of dead contracts once it’s time to rebuild. Maybe the 5 year suck during a rebuild many teams go through would be shorter if they weren’t paying dead contracts to start the rebuild. I’d say the dumping of arb eligible players is not the same, but they both do fine with that. Once someone hit arb2 or arb3 tons of trade value is wiped out. Not a fan of the practice but it makes sense why they do it if they’re not wanting to spend any money and still be competitive
What an embarrassing franchise
How many titles has your franchise won? Yankees don’t count.
The embarrassing As have more WS titles than the Giants or Dodgers
Really weird. Now, if Preller could just leave him be.
Bochey to A’s?
An unexpected great hire! Will have the respect of all the players. His A’s teams seemed to always play sound fundamental ball and do the little things Green abd Tingler could not incorporate
Yea except never win a playoff series
I wonder how it went down – did Melvin tell Beane he wanted the job, or did Preller reach out and if he did, how did he know the A’s would let him go? I know there are backchannels in MLB but this interests me.
Yeah it’s funny cause there wasn’t a single article here regarding this matchup but they throw out 10 stories a day about the Mets interest in this guy and the Pads interest in that guy but most of it is just crap made up by dumb nyc writers
I would give the Padres Dave Roberts “For Free”.
Roberts did what any cybermetrician would do with the most injuried inflated payroll in MLB. Tingler would later offer his commiseration.
Surprising pick and a good one.Preller must have been told by ownership.
Maybe also credit him (and the owners, if they were involved) for listening to his fanbase which wanted experience (preferably Bruce but Bob fits the bill)
PLEASE get decent writers!
Horrible job!
Have you considered paying for this content from which you demand perfection?
Many people are paying now, since they have a paid subscription. You’d think that would inspire better quality, raise the bar even with the free content, so as to attract more subscribers.
If you dont like them, there are many different baseball news websites you can go to, instead of taking up commenting space complaining about the writing.
Hilarious to accuse a person of taking up space here in the comments, considering what appears here daily. And this whole attitude of “if you don’t like it here you can leave” is such a lazy take. There is no harm in asking for quality and it shouldn’t threaten anyone to offer critique. I guess it scuffed up your delicate sensibilities, though.
Personally I see absolutely nothing wrong with the whole “if you don’t like it you can leave”. This is a free country, or used to be anyway, so yea, if you don’t like it…..gtfoh (can’t have the accent I want on that last part).
Free isn’t free if people have to leave for freedom.
But what is free if you can’t speak your mind? Not forcing anyone to leave.
the word freedom gets overused, stretched to the point of being blinding. Look, clearly folks are quite free to express even du#m*ar+se comments here, just read
Seriously man? How old are you? Still live in your moms basement I presume. Go to the f’ing desert and then talk to me about using the word freedom.
did I somehow insult you? I actually agreed with your comment, read again
My apologies. I misread your post. The older one gets, the brain cells diminish…
No worries bro
You let your manager go because you can’t afford $4MM. Unbelievable.
Oh, we can afford. John Fisher just doesnt want to pay it.
Hope it works out for you guys. The Friars have been trying like hell to turn that org around over the last 7 years
Man, what a cheap organization. Feel bad for As fans.
I think Bob is a great choice for the Padres!
Finally the Padres made a good move. Hopefully Melvin finds success in SD!
Bochy to Oakland. Oh, that’s right, he’s retired and people never come out of retirement.
Great hire but I do think the Pads need to cut some salary and “retool” the team. First order of business should be to try and dump Machado’s deal and/or Hosmer.
I think Machado’s agent might have something to say about his client’s deal being “dumped”. I’m not in San Diego and don’t follow things maybe as close as you, but what’s the beef with Manny? Do you feel the deal is too many years? He’s a finalist for Gold Glove, and exceeded 5 on WAR, seems like a positive influence in clubhouse from what I read.
He just has one of the larger contracts on the team and I think the Padres would benefit by moving some larger contracts to retool the team as I mentioned. Maybe they trade Machado for some prospects and use the money on the market to revamp their bullpen and/or maybe bring in a guy like Marcus Semien who would be cheaper yet provide similar production. I’m not saying Manny isn’t a good player but sometimes teams do trade players to remove their salary and allocate the salary to other needs.
Ok. I can see that down the road but maybe not this next year when (in their minds) they’re committed to ‘win now’, but I wonder what sort of trade clause he has written into his contract.
No one is taking Machado’s contract and giving you prospects of any note.
@stretch123 If another team wanted to pay Manny all that money they would have done it when he was a FA they wouldn’t give up prospects to do it now. He wasn’t some kind of unproven guy when the Padres signed him. I’m sorry but he just wasn’t.
@Brewer88 He does have a NTC but my guess is he approves a trade if it is to a likely contender.
Trade Machado another brilliant Padre fan
What does his agent care if his contract gets dumped? He only signed because of the $ and he gets paid regardless.
The real issue with trying to dump Myers, Machado or especially Hosmer is that absolutely no one is taking their contracts.
What did the last 8 Padres managers all have in common? They all were rookie managers. Melvin will be the first Padre manager since 1990 with major-league managing experience. Great hire.
Great hire by padres! If Oakland is tearing down, why would anyone
take over a now very good club! They will be a pretender next year.
This is a great hire but good gosh are things ugly (or will be) in Oakland. I bet they tear it to the ground and run with a 50 mil payroll.
@ bearded. They’re payroll has been very consistent over past 20 years, wavering between $60-75 mil, what makes you think that now they go lower?
because I think they are gearing for a moving sale – they have one of the worst farms and are probably going to get ugly and start from scratch with the new ballpark
I would think then that they’d let Marte go then
the A’s parked their team in the NL west and when they came back it was on cinderblocks
That’s a good move for the Padres and Melvin, not so much for the As.
Hello Darragh,
Can you fix the sentence between the word “last” & “managerial hires”, you put “two” twice. Please & thank you.
“The Padres’ last ‘two two’ managerial hires, Andy Green and Jayce Tingler, were both first-time managers and both in their late 30s at the time of their hiring”.
Nice move for the Padres.
Carlos Mendoza, Yankees bench coach to the A’s
Rojas’s brother couldn’t swing the deal for him; Preller isn’t that stupid.
Back to single A Rojas and congrats to Padres fans you got a manager who knows and not one who is related and knows somebody!
Oakland will miss Melvin without a doubt. I’m just happy for San Diego’s fans. Also, Bob is getting 12mm over three years which is an excellent deal he was not going to get from a greedy A’s owner (omen!?) Fisher. Just a sad joke.
I honestly think this wasn’t due to payroll! I believe it was because the last month they collapsed!!
Solid managerial hire for sure. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the types of players where leadership matters. Nobody is changing Manny’s style….
Machado gets a bad rap based on zero actual evidence of any poor behavior with Pads. He’s been tremendous, ask every player on that team.
Why trash people needlessly?
It’s a baseball tradition. For decades, Latino players in baseball have been characterized as moody, selfish and unmotivated. It’s sad that kind of stuff is still going on.
Buck Showalter loves Machado. In response to Machado’s misunderstood Johnny Hustle comment, there’s a YouTube video of Buck talking about Manny’s virtues as a leader, teammate and hard worker. Yet fans stick to those cruel stereotypes they were raised on. It’s been that way forever. Roberto Clemente was a moody player who got by one natural talent. Pete Rose was Charley Hustle. And now these same kinds of people want to drag Tatis down as some kind of bad guy who doesn’t play the game the right way. It’s embarrassing.
A lot of people said the same things about Bryce Harper.
Tremendous they haven’t been over .500 aside from Mickey Mouse season
I agree it was an asterisk season. But until 2020 Pads didn’t have the roster talent to break 500, to put that on Manny is laughable
Machado never won postseason series in Baltimore fans could care less about him there
Until 2020? You forgot the first couple months of 2019?
Had 2020 gone on for another 15-20 games, the Pads would have been out of it. Their complete incompetence in managing a pitching staff was obvious by mid-August.
Chemo, If you follow the Padres at all, you would know that Manny has been a good leader ever since he got here. I don’t know how he was on his previous teams but I know he has been a leader for the padres.
“A good leader” wtf does that mean
as a player it means setting an example of practicing hard, playing hard, giving a damn about the team, and mentoring young players. Your negative opinions aside, the fact is he’s done all that and more.
Ya, what Brewer said.
A good leader? Yup. He was the only guy on the team who called out Tatis for being selfish and pouting. That’s what a veteran leader does. Especially to a rookie/young player.
Yea in front row of everyone Machado is a clown
Naw man, Machado said what he said because the cameras were there and he knew it. That’s why he said what he said in ENGLISH instead of their native Spanish.
Guy’s a complete tool.
Apparently you are ignorant of the fact Machado was born and raised in Florida?
Me and Bobby go way back. Happy for him but hope the Las Vegas A’s can get someone good to replace him
Mlb managers have a shelf life of 4-5 years, if they aren’t winning, they’re done for.
Considering the As small.payrools in the last decade, theyve done well, but never advanced far into the playoffs. This year, remove the As winning streak and it’s a .500 team. Time for a change on Melvin. Not a bad thing here. Good manager going elsewhere.
Oakland is not a good place, city and people have self-destructed over the years. Team is very good at what they do. But I wouldn’t go to a game there. It’s time for city officials to put their money where they need it. With SF city imploding the market could grow.
“Melvin was making ‘about 4MM a year’ and that the club intends to slash payroll for 2022.”
Wow! How cheap can you be!?
“the club” being the Athletics
My guess is that Melvin’s agent contacted the A’s for permission to look elsewhere and then told the Padres his boy was available. If that didn’t happen, it would have been tampering or just a plain waste of time. Billy Beane has San Diego ties, so there’s a very slight chance of a direct conversation, but unlikely.
No doubt that Ron Washington would have gotten interviewed if the Braves didn’t get to the post season and/or Melvin didn’t make himself available.
If Preller can only get out of the micromanaging chair and draft/acquire talent while moving dead weight…
Webster’s dictionary definition of mass confusion is Father’s Day in Oakland
This is a huge win for the Padres. Melvin took a ragtag bunch in Oakland and made them playoff contenders every year. In SD, he has more talent and more resources than ever before, plus his own ability and experience. This will make the NL West even more competitive. Great move by Preller.
Washington may end up going to Oakland if not they will find a nobody.
Now that they have a real manager and a good roster one has to wonder how they will screw it up yet again….
Preller will find a way. And a scapegoat.
BTW, our roster has some holes in it, and no depth at all. Especially starting pitching.