October 28: Pujols had a second, in-person interview today, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. According to Acee, the Padres have narrowed the search down to the finalists. Pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bench coach Brian Esposito were also interviewed in the first round, though it is unclear if they are still being considered. Meanwhile, former Mariners manager and current Padres special assistant for player development Scott Servais is also in the mix, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
October 20: As the Padres search for a replacement for retiring manager Mike Shildt, they’re setting their sights on a big name: future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. According to a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Pujols is set to interview for the position with the Padres, though it’s not yet known when that interview will take place.
Pujols’s name isn’t exactly new as a managerial candidate. He spent the early part of the offseason closely connected to the Angels as a potential successor to Ron Washington and Ray Montgomery in Anaheim. He was thought the be the favorite for that position at one point and was even known to be discussing a contract with Angels brass less than two weeks ago, but since then it’s been reported that Pujols will interview with Baltimore while the Halos have begun interviewing other candidates. While Pujols managing in Anaheim doesn’t seem to be off the table, it no longer appears to be a foregone conclusion as it once might have.
San Diego makes a third managerial vacancy that Pujols is set to interview for, and it’s quite an attractive one. Unlike the Orioles and Angels, the Padres made it to the postseason this year before falling to the Cubs in three games during the Wild Card series. While the Dodgers have a firm grip on the NL West that they don’t seem likely to relinquish any time soon, San Diego has made the playoffs in four of the last six seasons and even advanced to the NLCS back in 2022. They’ve averaged 88.5 wins per season over the past four years and have a talented core of players that includes Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, Mason Miller, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Nick Pivetta, among others.
With that said, it’s also worth noting that the Padres are set to lose front-of-the-rotation arms Dylan Cease and Michael King this winter, with the starting rotation serving as a major question mark headed into next year. The questions regarding the rotation and the fact that some of the club’s star players like Machado are getting older could mean that the Padres don’t have quite as bright of a future as a team like the Orioles, which is littered with exciting young players in their prime who figure to be under team control for years to come.
Pujols is far from the only candidate for the Padres job, of course. Acee notes that pitching coach Ruben Niebla is expected to interview for the position. Cubs Bench Coach Ryan Flaherty, who also served as bench coach in San Diego under Bob Melvin and was a finalist for the manager’s chair before it ultimately went to Shildt two years ago, is also a speculated candidate for the job. Former Padres catcher and Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley is known to be of interest to San Diego for the role, but he recently withdrew from consideration from the manager role with the Giants due to family considerations and it’s not known if he would consider taking the Padres job at this point.
Hall of Fame players rarely make good managers. I can’t think of a single one that did in my lifetime.
Joe Torre is the closest I can think of off the top of my head. He went into the Hall as a manager, but was plenty good enough to make it as a player.
Torre was OK if that before he went to the Yankees. Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers (remember that?), meh. NYY? Fantastic.
Torre wasn’t HOF player
Super rare. Joe Torre was the only one that was exceptional at playing and managing.
Joe Cronin.
There are plenty of others, but all were in the late 1800’s through the 1920’s. In the more modern era, it is super rare.
Not sure why Pujols is this in demand. Not saying he will or won’t make a good manager ultimately, just seems like there’s a lot of hype for a guy that hasn’t had much if any coaching experience.
Look up Ted Williams- Washington Senators – 1969 –
Compare to the ‘68 season and you’ll see what I mean…
Western High School: “Look up Ted Williams- Washington Senators – 1969 –Compare to the ‘68 season and you’ll see what I mean…”
Then look up Ted Williams – Washington Senators – 1970 (.432 winning percentage) and 1971 (.398 winning percentage) and you’ll see how quickly things went off the rails.
Torre was not considered a good manager when with the Mets; Braves and Cardinals. People even doubted his skill set when he managed the dodgers.
There is argument to be made that Torre happened to be at the right team at the right time with an owner who spent big money.
My opinion if your a manager with a team that is paying the luxury tax than you should be winning as you have star players
Oh yeah and I’d want LeBron James to be the head coach of the New York Knicks…
SSS, no?
This is all pure speculation.
John McGraw, Fred Clarke, Clark Griffith, Cap Anson, Joe Cronin, Hugh Jennings, Frankie Frisch, Rube Foster, Dick Lundy, Shigeo Nagashima, Katsuya Nomura, Sadaharu Oh all had HOF caliber playing careers and were managers with lots of wins and winning records.
Lou Boudreau had lots of wins but under .500. Red Schoendienst had lots of wins and a winning record, but probably isn’t a deserving HoF player
So the last one was 70 years or so ago?
You know you are stretching it when you are grabbing managers from foreign leagues.
Yogi Berra did a pretty good job
Gil Hodges too, even with his brief time in Washington
No rings, but 2 pennants
Tony Gwynn was an excellent college head coach who must be given a lot of credit in transforming strasberg into the best college pitcher arguably ever. I’d like to think about the possibility that he could’ve been the long term answer to the Padres manager and maybe even had led us to the promise land
Heaven?
Besides Joe Torre there’s been Yogi Bera who won pennants with the Mets and Yankees. Red Schoendienst with the Cardinals was a 10x All-Star and won a world title as a manager with the Cardinals in 1967. Bob Lemon 7x All-Star won a world title as manager of the Yankees in 1978.
I think the position you are most likely to see this from is catcher. Buster Posey made the move to the front office but I think he’d make a good manager. Im hoping the Red Sox will let Cora go and promote Varitek.
You make a good point, buddy.
though with Albert’s sharp decline in his 30s, he would be a poor role model for Manny to follow
I got Ted Simmons and Don Mattingly (not HOF due to injuries but pretty strong player).
Add Pete Rose just because he should be.
Pujols as manager, Tatis Sr as bench coach.
I agree, but wonder if its just that so few even become managers.
Shhhhh…don’t ruin it. I want to watch the fireworks between AP and Machado.
I never saw him play or manage but Billy Martin comes to mind. Not a hall of famer though
Sweet Lou
Yeah that part. I wish more managers would get heated like Sweet Lou did. Especially after a horrible strike called a ball or vice versa. Not sure how often it will happen with the ABS System being implemented next year.
So? What are you implying is the causation, here?
This doesn’t really tell us anything. Most people don’t make good managers. For every Bruce Bochey or Bobby Cox you can find countless other non-HOFers who failed miserably. There’s a very small pool of HOFers to choose from, so of course their aren’t going to be many good managers from that group. The question is, is the success rate any worse than non-HOF managers?
Joe Torre in 70s t0 early 2000s. Torre didn’t have a post season win until his 16th year as a manager and his 4th team. Only one post season appearance in his 1st 15 seasons as a manager.
Before that Gil Hodges in the 60s.
Yogi Berra had a couple of pennants, one with Yankees and one with Mets, but I don’t think he had a WS ring. That’s about it.
HOF players don’t have a very good track record as manager.
Frank Robinson HOF player had a manager of year award in 1989; although you are right about very HOF players make good managers.
I think it because they have such a different skill set so elite and some things came so easy they are not able to relay certain things to other players who don’t have the skill set
Paul Molitor wasn’t bad in Minnesota, they just never really gave him much to work with. I think most of the time they just tend to look bad when they get stuck managing rebuilding teams.
Frank Robinson was pretty good, but yeah that’s mostly true.
I think Frank Robinson was a pretty good manager, he just never had a very good team to manage.
Pujols is a diva. He would be a risky hire.
Most people rarely make good managers.
Candlestoked: “Most people rarely make good managers.”
Thats why hiring a proven good manager is a good idea. If that isn’t possible, at least hire someone who shows good potential. I think Pujol’s personality makes him a bad bet.
Preller: Albert, how old are you?
Pujols: 35
At this point, does Pujols himself even really known how old he is?
Benchwarmers “I am 12” comes to mind.
No.
Please God, No.
Please God yes
As an agnostic, I don’t think I have enough evidence to conclude whether I’m a yes or a no on Albert.
As a dyslexic who is allergic to dog dander, I say, Down, Albert! No!
As a hopeful pragmatic fatalistic procrastinator with back-to-earth tendencies, I would agree but only with the proper caveats
Flaherty…best choice of the candidates know to be of interest so far.
AJ pasado el día entero en una niebla.
Give us Ruben
I am with you because I don’t wanna lose Ruben in any form. This thing is not broken and he knows how to work with AJ, which might be tough for someone coming from outside the organization.
Albert has a few things going for him in regards to managing the Padres.
1. He’s rich enough not to care about getting fired. And as rich as any player in the clubhouse.
2. He’s had the career no one in that clubhouse has attained yet. That commands respect.
3. He’s big enough to beat the hell out of anyone that gives him a hard time in the clubhouse. See point 1.
He mustn’t agree with your sentiment since compensation was a huge sticking point between he and Arte in Anaheim
He’s rich enough not to want to deal with Moreno being a cheap owner.
He’s already getting paid by the Angels to do almost nothing. He decided a slight raise wasn’t worth all the BS managing the Angels entails.
Fan – Once he’s managing another team, doesn’t that pose a conflict of interest which would likely result in the termination of his contract with the Angels?
I’m sure he would have to terminate that contract on his side or buy out the remainder of it.
Yep, it’s gotta be Ruben.
If he’s not the Padres manager in 2026, he’ll be the manager of another team, or in the worst case, a bench coach/manager in waiting. He’s earned it. The Pads have lost a lot of good (coaching/manager) talent by not promoting from within. I highly doubt Niebla will be the Padres pitching coach next year – he’s too attractive a candidate for promotion.
How about Bochy? He would be a great addition to a team that’s got a lot of personalities and is looking to be a playoff team.
I think they want a manger to be there for at least a few years. Bochy looked like he was having trouble getting around this last year. I don’t think he will be managing any more.
It certainly was painful to watch him walk out of the dugout onto the mound….
Jesus Christ, not this ridiculousness again.
He’s practically in a full body cast, would never want to work under A. J. Preller and if he does want to continue managing (BIG if) there will be plenty of opportunities elsewhere.
If Albert accepts a job with another MLB organization there’s no way MLB allows him to keep his “personal services” deal with the Angels.
That would be a clear conflict of interest.
This is a good test to see how Manfred handles this possible situation.
Manfred works for the owners.
Interesting wrinkle to the situation for sure. I’m guessing they’d restructure it as a buyout.
In the business world he would have to forfeit his personal services contract with the first entity prior to signing with a new entity. Have no clue what the rules are for that in MLB.
Arte is paying him $1 million per year under a 10-year personal services contract.
Isn’t that exactly what Kurt Suzuki is getting as manager?
I was assuming the team hiring Pujols would buy that out. But, maybe not if it is $10 million a year or whatever.
It would be much better to have him as their hitting coach.
This could work
Kevin Acee!
I can see AJ introducing them… “Pujols, meet our resident Ace-hole!”
Or Poo-holes meet Ace hole!
Let’s just hope they don’t acquire Richard Fitts.
Acee was a HS teammate of mine. not an a$$ hole
FUHS? (Fallbrook?)
San Pasqual
Ahhh, I knew his sister from FUHS.
Does the fact that he was your teammate in HS really make a difference in who he has become nearly 40 years later? He might have been a great kid. He is not a great journalist and has been willing to lie to get his articles read. That doesn’t make him a nice guy today.
still in contact. not an a-hole. have a great night
I have had a beer with Kevin on a couple of occasions and enjoyed the conversations. But I have to wonder by some of his reporting if he forgets that there is a difference between facts (in context) and his personal opinions. I’m interested in both, but only when clearly demarcated to readers. When it’s not clear, it’s journalistic poison and where he’s gotten himself into trouble.
I wonder what it means that Acee’s home is for sale?
Gil Hodges was a good manager and elected by the golden era for the hall, and managed a miracle team in 69 called the Mets.
One title doesn’t make you a good manager. Hodges best year with Washington was a 6th place finish, which was his only winning record with them, and aside from 1969, only finished 3rd twice after that year, being 4 games over .500 each year. Not that impressive. For that matter, I never got why all of these old farts clammored for Hodges to get in the Hall as a player. Only 370 HRs, less than 2,000 hits, and a solid glove. Why isn’t Keith Hernandez in the Hall? More hits, 8 more Gold Gloves, only 200 less RBI, and an MVP award.
Back to Hodges, I think a player that is a little less ‘vanilla’ like Davey Johnson deserves some noise as a better player and manager than Hodges. Same amount of Gold Gloves, and a solid player with decent stats in 9 less seasons. Managing, he has the title that Hodges does, and he led multiple teams to the playoffs with the Mets, Reds, Orioles, Dodgers, and Nationals. If not for fan interference in 1996, he may have led the Orioles to a World Series that year, as Maier’s obvious fan interference sucked the life out of the O’s after Game 1. If you must worship Gil Hodges for a mediocre career and a mediocre managing career, put Keith Hernandez in the Hall and give Davey Johnson his due first.
You gotta keep Niebla, whether that’s as a pitching coach or manager. I would be thrilled if they could retain Niebla and have Pujols as manager.
Shouldn’t he start as a bench coach in rookie ball or something in order to pay his dues?
This is the problem I have with him as a candidate. How about doing some of the hard work part of becoming a big league manager instead of just walking into the job because of your headline name. It’s a prescription for disaster to whoever hires him.
Yeah. The American obsession with celebrity is something unique.
@foppert3 It’s not quite exclusively an American thing.
What I don’t get is why online Australians keep bringing up America a lot nowadays… Perhaps the Aussie “cringe culture” and “tall poppy” schtick is a part of it? That’s an obsession I want to understand.
I’m not saying he’s got a knack for it, but he was a central MLB clubhouse presence for what, 2 decades? I think fans tend to overestimate some aspects of management difficulties (namely, game tactics) and underestimate behind-the-scenes work like coordinating large coaching staffs and the FO analytics. Managers either need to command or cultivate respect for better communication, conflict resolution, etc. I don’t see why a respected clubhouse guy couldn’t do it as long as he has the right coaching support in-place.
How about you just stop crying ?
Yeah it is. You revere the famous person more than any other. FFS.
You made a totally unsuitable one your president
Cringe culture ? You will have to explain that one to me. Not aware.
Tall poppy. Yeah. We love it. Big part of our culture. You get too big for your boots and we will drag you down. We aren’t fans of the “look at me” folks. It’s something we teach our kids so on and on it goes. Humble tall poppy’s are cool though. We love those.
Yeah. There’s got to be something there. People
Making the choices aren’t dumb. It’s still weird though. Your name gets you so far.
@foppert3
IKWYM, and though it’s always been that way, name/brand awareness seems to carry an inordiante amount of weight these days. That said, I’m sure Pujols has plenty of ideas of what does and doesn’t work; he’s played under some good managers.
Once upon a time that would be true but in today’s game we can take any idiot out of a tv studio and hand him a paper with what the analytics department wants him to do and call it “managing”
Skill and instinct are no longer as important as the ability to follow orders
Can’t really argue with you on that one. I suppose if he is down to do it that way, and it’s what a front office wanted, it could totally happen.
If Twinkies get Nick Punto for manager Twins are world series champs !
Aha! A great slap on the face of Arte! Hope he wakes up and sell the team!
This must be one of the dumbest things that the Padres ever done
I’ve never managed a major league baseball team either. Since no experience is required, where do I fill out an application?
Please name the other never managed anywhere first timers to win a WS in his first year.
I think however you slice the current manager crop it’s pretty underwhelming. With the number of openings, I wonder how many managers can make a lateral move to another organization.
Are you saying it’s can’t happen? Always so dour, Dan-o!
Bob Brenly
Tom Kelly twins in the 80s
He managed in the minors.
Why should anyone hire him as a manager? Why doesn’t he humble himself and start off as a coach?
Has there ever been a MLB manager who had never played the sport ?? I know we have a lot of GM/Front Office types who never played. The closest I can think of is Jim Leyland who I think barely played minor league ball as a catcher. Very little actual experience, but great manager.
Shildt never played past HS.
Shildt played college level, NC?
@Igs. I think there are some… I know Mike Shildt never played professionally
Joe Maddon.
Please don’t sign on with the Padres. Hold out for the job with a classier organization, not one where half or more of the league laughs at you and has zero respect whatsoever for the team.
Not sure this the route for them. It’s clear Pujols will be getting one of these open jobs however I don’t see it going well. History is not on his side
Generational players are elite for a reason, and much of it is not easy to identify and therefore teach.
It’s why great players in any sport seldom make good coaches, they aren’t usually able to see the game from a lower angle.
Reminds me of Barry Bonds’ short stint as hitting coach for the Marlins then he got fired.
No matter what organization hires him as a manager, AP might have some initial success but his personality will not play well in the long run. Ted WIlliams all over again.
Meanwhile, The Atlanta Braves have shown interest in Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris to teach players and coaches how to Fast-Talk to reporters during interviews and coaching job searches. Alex Anthopolis refused to comment.
Albert Pujols is a smart guy and — if hired — would likely surround himself with veteran coaches and bring a mentor along as a bench coach. Whether it be the Padres or another team, Pujols has been close enough the game as a player that I see him less of a risk as a manager than someone like Andy Green or Jayce Tingler.
For A.J. Preller, he has to hit on this hire and also make some moves to shore up the pitching staff. He can’t allow a new skipper to come in and be set for failure.
For those wondering if Ruben Niebla would stay if passed over for manager, only he can say for sure. However, Darren Balsley remained as pitching coach through successive managerial changes before deciding to step away.
As is typical for him, Acee has left out much of the story and kept only the sensational. The Padres have also interviewed several candidates that would not get you to even look at an Acee article if that was his headline and he has failed to mention them at all and instead is trying to say no one knows. Sorry Kevin, that won’t fly. Other publications have mentioned 3 other candidates that have met with Preller besides Niebla and Esposito.
bitter much ?
I am truthful, You seem bitter. Are you really Acee’s burner account? Why is your house for sale Kevin?
Looks like you ARE Acee’s burner account.
One of those publications that mentioned other candidates was the Padres official beat writer.
I don’t think this would work out well for the Padres.
Fans don’t know much about what managers do. Thus, they don’t really know who’s good or who is bad. Nor do they know who will be good or who will be bad.
Zero managerial experience at any level and multiple interviews. I must be missing something.
Dannyocean: “Zero managerial experience at any level and multiple interviews. I must be missing something.”
He managed DR Winter league. Losing reg season, but won it all in post season. I don’t think he’ll be a good MLB manager in the long run, and I don’t think you can equate DR winter league experience with MLB experience. But his experience is not zero.
Unless there is a contract dispute, you can put it on the board…yes! Pujols is your next manager of the Fathers.
Vogt and Ross both jumped pretty close from players to managers recently. I think Counsell also although he worked front office for a bit similar to Pujols. Pujols managed in winter league and WBC. I’d like to see him get the Padres’ job.
Good grief. I hope Alberts divorce did not bankrupt him. I would be living on a private island in the ocean with the money he made during his career.