The Padres are “on the verge” of adding Matt Williams as their new third base coach, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Britt Ghiroli and Dennis Lin of The Athletic report that Williams is indeed set to join the staff (Twitter link), adding that the Friars are also set to name assistant East Carolina University coach David Macias their new first base coach. The Padres are also hiring former Mariners bench coach Jared Sandberg as their new Triple-A skipper, per Ghiroli and Lin.
Williams, 56, managed the Nationals from 2014-15 and was even named National League Manager of the Year in 2014. He’s quite familiar with incoming Padres skipper Bob Melvin, having served as Melvin’s third base coach in Oakland from 2018-19. Williams also spent five years on the D-backs’ Major League staff, from 2010-13 and again in 2016, where he served as both third base coach and first base coach. He’s spent the past two seasons in South Korea, managing the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization. Lin reported earlier this week that the Padres had spoken to Williams about joining the team as Melvin’s new third base coach.
Of course, Williams is also known for an excellent playing career that spanned 17 Major League seasons. A five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove third baseman, four-time Silver Slugger and 2001 World Series champion with the D-backs, Williams blasted 378 home runs while batting .268/.317/.489 in 7595 plate appearances from 1987-2003. He took home MVP votes on four occasions, finishing second place in 1994, third place in 1999 and sixth place in both 1990 and 1993.
Although the 35-year-old Macias is joining the Padres’ staff from the college ranks, he’s no stranger to working with Major League clubs. The former Vanderbilt player was a 19th-round pick of the Cubs back in 2008 and played four minor league seasons with them. He spent 2016-17 working with the Mariners, first as their international player programs coordinator and staff systems coordinator, then stepping up as the manager of Seattle’s Class-A affiliate in Clinton.
Macias departed the Mariners organization to work with the coaching staff at his alma mater, Vanderbilt, and had only just joined the ECU coaching staff this past summer. He worked specifically with catchers and outfielders at ECU, though it’s not clear whether he’ll do the same with the Padres.
The Padres have not yet formally announced their 2022 staff, though Lin tweets that they plan to do so next week.
Matt Williams ran a Nationals team that won 96 games. Then he won Manager of the year. Less than a year later he couldn’t get another job as a manager and hasn’t been able to since. Unusual career path to say the least.
Didn’t he make what many consider to be a huge blunder in the playoffs? Didn’t use his best reliever or something.
@Cosmo2 Also pulled his starter who was cruising and then the reliever allowed the Giants to tie the game, whi h they would later win.
I mean guys like Dave Roberts have made an abundance of blunders in the postseason yet are still around.
Was the Harper/Papelbon fight under Williams watch? Something like he knew about the fight but still let Papelbon go back out there the next inning? That must’ve been the final straw.
That Matt Williams Nationals situation is actually somewhat similar to what the Padres had happen with Tingler in that he made the playoffs in year 1 and then completely disappointed in year 2 when they were WS hopefuls leading to his firing.
If nothing else he has experience in going through a similar situation, but I mean he’s the 3rd base coach so it’s really not a big deal.
It seems like Williams didn’t last that long though. He was manager of the year after 2014 then was let go in 2015. It’s not like he fouled it up for multiple years. Letting him go was probably a good idea but still. You would think 96 wins and a manager of the year award would buy a guy more than 1 more season on the hot seat. Girardi was at least signed by another team and still managing after his Marlins manager of the year. I figure a lot of managers are allowed at least one bad season. Not Williams. Voted best manager in baseball and all it took was one bad year for no one to ever give him a chance again. He might be garbage. I’m just pointing out how uncommon it is. I would have figured at least one team would have given him another shot less than a year removed from 96 wins and a MOY.
Matt Williams Baseballs version of Urban Meyer. Thinks everyone is beneath him. He was a complete JERK when he coached on the D-Backs. A true A hole on and off the field.
Really? Didn’t know. I love hearing all this stuff about MLB beneath the surface. I love it for all sports really. Do you remember when LeBron’s teammate hooked up with his mom and then LeBron sucked in the playoffs and left Cleveland? You can’t make stuff like that up.
Williams should add an interesting dynamic to the Padres. I was always a fan, but the ‘roid thing was disheartening.
@yep it is
Lol really???? I didn’t get that from him when I was in Arizona at all. I thought he was a hard nosed coach that actually cared about his players and people. I didn’t meet him in person but know plenty of people who did. All of them have nothing but good things to say about him for the most part.
I always hear you call people jerks and clowns and you seriously have no clue who the hell they are or have met them yourself. Get out of here man. Geez.
Looks like insurance policy?
There were two issues with Matt, poor bullpen use (many managers are guilty of this one) and he didn’t have the coddling skills that are needed for today’s ballplayers.
And possibly a third. He has some documented anger issues. They apparently lead to his divorce. However that could have been roid rage as he was named as an alleged user in The Mitchell Report. Hard to say if a short fuse is still an issue, but it could certainly explain how sporadic his opportunities have been.
Please note, in not trying to bag on Matt. Just offering potential reasons for him never getting another shot at manager. He was actually one of my favorite players growing up.
Matt Williams – FOREVER A SAN FRANCISCO GIANT GREAT !!
Will the Thrill and Matt the Bat were Awesome!
Matt Williams knows all about MLB lockouts. The ‘94 strike cost him a monstrous season. That year, Williams crushed 43 dingers over 112 games before the season was cut short by nearly two months. It was his career high and there’s no saying how many he would have hit over the full season. And those were the years before guys like Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds were hitting 50+
I believe he it 62 HR over a 162 game stretch (‘94-‘95). Known juicer though.
Too bad we couldn’t keep Kirbs at 1st… but welcome aboard gentlemen!
Between Matt Williams and Will Clark that Giants locker room must have been loads of fun…
I blame Matt Williams for the current trend of every ugly-ass white guy (I’m white) shaving his whole head at the first sign of baldness-it looks like shyt, and you are not fooling anyone-aliens are depicted this way for a reason
Considering the Kia Tigers were 18 games under .500 and 9th of 10 teams in the KBO in ’21, it looks like a good time to come back stateside. His old buddy Melvin threw him a life preserver.