One of Bob Melvin’s trusted lieutenants will be joining the manager in San Diego, as The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (via Twitter) that the Padres will hire Ryan Christenson as their new bench coach. Christenson worked as Melvin’s bench coach with the Athletics for the last four seasons.
Christenson has longstanding ties to Oakland, working as a minor league manager from 2013-2017 and also playing for the A’s from 1998-2001 after being drafted by the club in 1995. The 47-year-old saw MLB action with four different teams during his six seasons in the Show, and while he played 60 games with the Rangers in 2003, this was just a year before Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was initially hired to join the Texas organization.
The firing of manager Jayce Tingler following the season also led to an overhaul of the Padres’ coaching staff. Along with Christenson, Ruben Niebla is the new pitching coach, Michael Brdar the new hitting coach, and Francisco Cervelli was hired as a catching coach. According to Lin, the Padres will announce their full slate of coaches next week.
With Christenson now moving on, the A’s have one less internal option to consider as Melvin’s replacement. Christenson had been mentioned as a possible candidate as Oakland’s next skipper, and he also interviewed for the Pirates’ last managerial vacancy back in October 2019. There has been very little public buzz about the Athletics’ managerial search, but with all other baseball business on hold due to the lockout, the team has been expected to now turn its full attention to finding a new bench boss.
Time to rebrand to the San Diego Athletics.
Probably waiting until the Matt Olson and Frankie Montas trade is official.
Christenson follows Melvin ORDERS! ORDERS THAT MUST BE OBEYED AT ALL TIMES!!!
Or Las Vegas athletics maybe?
…or the Texas Athletics of San Diego.
Preller is poison.
I hope he doesn’t micromanage Melvin.
San Diego Rangers*
Tejas Athleticos de Districto Gaslamp
Puts that San Diego stamp on it.
San Diego Athletic Rangers
I think that all but confirms Mark Kotsay will be Oaklands new manager. Congrats !
Matt Williams, fresh out of his job being manager for the Kia Tigers, was spotted flying into Oakland 2 weeks ago.
Ron Washington?
Is Matty still being quarantined?
At this point all he has to coach is just a bench 🙁
I totally forgot Melvin was in SD
He’s doing great so far! Hasnt lost a game yet !
Anything to get Mark Kotsay away from 3B coach…
It’s got it be really hard to coach a bench. I can’t imagine that they respond to criticism very well. Actually, benches don’t respond to anything. Maybe he’s just in charge of where the bench goes, or what they can or can’t put on the bench.
I dunno. I had an uncle who talked to benches all the time.
Of course, he also used to wear his underwear on the outside quite a bit.
My kind of man!
Does a Bench coach also coach the benches in the bullpen or just the dugout?
Benches are some of the toughest members of a team, ask Huscar Ynoa.
I’ve seen benches respond to women of large girth, they must make them happy because it looks like the bench is smiling when they sit in the middle of them.
I guess we know who won’t be A’s manager next year. If they ever get around to naming Melvin’s replacement its most likely going to be Mark Kotsay
I get really tired of dumb comments on here. It’s like pre-school.
You can just mute the dumb commenters ?
*eats paste*
*sticks crayon in nose*
Hey now, I resemble that remark.
“haha, I do that!”
Dodger Fan….Case closed
Most of us were not even in preschool last time the dodgers won a World Series with out an asterisk
I thought teams weren’t allowed to talk to anybody during the lockout.
It’s only the players that are locked out.
I am an A’s fan, and I love this move! Hope the A’s hire Ron Washington
Agreed. Wash shall be the A’s new skipper. Kotsay’s in the conversation as well…
Considering his age and looming rebuild situation, I m not sure he’d want to be manager here
Yes. Hopefully, the A’s hire the chain-smoking, cocaine addled philanderer as their manager. That would be a Public Relations coup if they indeed move to Las Vegas.
Kotsay to manage? Seems like the process of elimination is in his favor. Plus, Kotsay is probably the right price in his first crack at manager.
All that matters to John Fisher’s cheap ass is his low price tag. Washington is wayyyy more qualified
My guess is the A’s go with a player/manager to save money. Maybe Jed Lowrie
Ha! Knowing John Fisher’s cheap ass, you’re probably right!
Makes sense.
whatever happened with him giving that nazi salute or whatever?
Didn’t happen, Tovarisch. We have always been at war with Oceania
Welcome to San Dee-ah-go, Mr. Christianson!
Catching coach?
Did they just do away with the bullpen catcher and hire Cervelli to coach and catch the pen? lol
I know he can rove around ST and coach all the players in the system wearing the tools of ignorance around facility but what happens after the team goes north?
If you had your choice manage A’s or Mets?
Really creating content at this point.