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Padres To Hire Ruben Niebla As Pitching Coach

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OCTOBER 27: The Friars have finalized an agreement with Niebla, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic (Twitter link). As expected, he’ll be the club’s pitching coach in 2022.

OCTOBER 24: The Padres “are locking in on” Indians assistant pitching coach Ruben Niebla as their next pitching coach, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets.  The hiring isn’t yet official, though Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (via Twitter) that Niebla “is considered all but a done deal” to change teams.

Ben Fritz had been serving as the Padres’ interim pitching coach since Larry Rothschild was fired in late August.  According to Acee, the Padres are hoping Fritz remains with the team — Fritz had been working as the bullpen coach before his in-season promotion.  It remains to be seen how the rest of the coaching staff will shake out, as bench coach/third base coach Bobby Dickerson has already left the team to join the Phillies, and there could be a wider coaching shakeup once the new San Diego manager is hired (as presumably that new skipper would get some say in assembling the staff).

Niebla will already be in place, however, as the SoCal native will now be moving closer to home for his first official gig as a Major League pitching coach.  Niebla briefly served as Cleveland’s interim pitching coach in 2012, his highest rank in 21 seasons with the organization.  Much of that first decade was spent as a minor league coach before Niebla joined the MLB staff as a coaching assistant in 2010, and then following his interim gig in 2012, he worked seven seasons as a minor league pitching coordinator.  Niebla has been in his current role on the Major League coaching staff for the last two seasons.

At least one familiar face will already be there in San Diego to welcome Niebla, as former Indians hurler Mike Clevinger is expected to be back next season after missing 2021 due to Tommy John surgery.  On paper, San Diego has plenty of solid rotation options in place with Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Chris Paddack, Clevinger, Ryan Weathers, and (around midseason) Adrian Morejon, except injuries and general under-performance ravaged this group last year.

In the bigger picture, the Padres will also surely be looking to pick Niebla’s brain about some of the secrets of Cleveland’s success at drafting and developing pitchers in recent years.  While the Padres have had no shortage of promising young pitching prospects, they’ve had issues in converting that potential into success at the big league level.  (To wit, all of Musgrove, Darvish, Snell, Paddack, and Clevinger were acquired in trades.)

Padres Interview Ozzie Guillen In Managerial Search

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The Padres interviewed Ozzie Guillén last week as part of their ongoing managerial search, report Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). Guillén joins Brad Ausmus, Mike Shildt and Luis Rojas as known candidates for the position.

Guillén’s sit-down with San Diego is his first known managerial interview since he was let go by the Marlins nearly a decade ago. The 57-year-old has continued to maintain interest in landing another shot over the years since, however. While he’s been away from the dugout, Guillén has spent time in the broadcast studio, working with ESPN and NBC Sports Chicago.

Of course, Guillén is far better known for his previous playing and managerial runs than for his days as a broadcaster. He played in the majors from 1985-2000, spending the bulk of his career with the White Sox. After hanging up his cleats, he moved into coaching and landed a managerial position rather quickly. Over the 2003-04 offseason, the White Sox tabbed the then-39-year-old to take over the dugout.

Guillén’s time on the bench was almost immediately successful. The Sox posted winning records in each of his first three seasons at the helm, including a 99-win campaign in 2005 that culminated in Chicago’s third World Series title — their first in 88 years. By 2007, the team had taken a step back. They rebounded to win another division title in 2008 but didn’t make the postseason again for the remainder of Guillén’s tenure. He was let go at the conclusion of the 2011 season.

The Marlins signed Guillén not long after, but his time in Miami proved very brief. Despite an ill-fated contention effort the prior winter, Miami stumbled to a 69-93 season in 2012. They dismissed Guillén after just one season, and he hasn’t been on a major league bench since then. (Guillén has managed professionally in Venezuela more recently).

In each of his two previous hiring cycles, Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has tabbed a first-time skipper (Andy Green and Jayce Tingler, respectively). Chairman Peter Seidler has stated that previous managerial experience won’t be a prerequisite for this hiring cycle either, but the Friars’ publicly-known candidates have all managed in the majors before.

Shildt and Rojas were managers elsewhere this past season, while Ausmus managed as recently as 2019. Given how long it has been since he was last in a major league dugout, Guillén would certainly qualify as a more out-of-the-box candidate than the rest of that group. There aren’t many available options with his kind of resume, though, even if his best seasons are by now more than a decade in the past.

Which Draft Picks Each Team Would Forfeit By Signing A Qualified Free Agent

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The collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1st, and it’s unclear whether its rules for draft pick compensation will remain in place for the 2021-22 offseason, whenever teams eventually sign free agents.  It’s at least possible that the current rules will be used once more.  We know that the qualifying offer is set at $18.4MM this winter, and by mid-November we’ll know which players received and turned down a QO.  If those players sign with new teams, here’s a look at the draft picks each signing club would lose – if the old rules are used.

Competitive Balance Tax Payors: Dodgers, Padres

If either of these teams signs a qualified free agent from another team, it must forfeit its second-highest and fifth-highest pick in the 2022 draft. The team will also have its international signing bonus pool reduced by $1MM. Both teams could plausibly sign a qualified free agent, though the Dodgers have significantly more payroll space.

Revenue Sharing Recipients: Brewers, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Marlins, Mariners, Orioles, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins

These 13 teams received revenue sharing and did not exceed the competitive balance tax. If one of these teams signs a qualified free agent, it forfeits its third-highest pick. These teams face the smallest draft pick penalty.  Of this group, the Mariners and Tigers seem to be the most likely to sign a qualified free agent, but others like the Twins and Marlins are possible.

All Other Teams: Angels, Astros, Athletics, Blue Jays, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Giants, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees

These 15 remaining teams would forfeit their second-highest pick and and have their international signing bonus pool reduced by $500K. The penalty is something of a middle ground.  The Mets are of particular note: due to their failure to sign Kumar Rocker, they pick at both #11 and #14 in 2022, making that #14 pick subject to forfeiture.

What happens if a team signs two qualified free agents? The CBA calls for forfeiture of the next highest available draft pick. For example, if a team has already lost its second and fifth-highest picks and it signs a second qualified free agent, it would lose its third and sixth-highest picks. So as in the past, if you’ve already signed one qualified free agent, the draft pick cost to sign another is reduced.

Cardinals Have Spoken With Skip Schumaker About Potential Coaching Position

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  • The Cardinals have been in contact with Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker about potentially joining the  organization in some capacity, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Almost immediately after the Cards dismissed Mike Shildt as manager, speculation arose about Schumaker — a former Cardinals utilityman — as a potential successor. St. Louis opted to promote bench coach Oliver Marmol instead, although it’s still possible Schumaker could assume some other position on the Cardinals staff. The 41-year-old remains employed by San Diego, but Padres’ coaches were given permission to explore opportunities elsewhere after the Friars dismissed manager Jayce Tingler.

Padres Interview Luis Rojas

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The Padres have interviewed former Mets manager Luis Rojas as they look to replace recently fired skipper Jayce Tingler, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Rojas spent the past two seasons as the Mets’ manager but had a 2022 club option declined at season’s end and is now free to explore other opportunities.

It was an odd tenure with the Mets for the 40-year-old Rojas, who was set to enter the 2020 season as the team’s quality control coach before abruptly being elevated to manager after New York fired Carlos Beltran. The Beltran firing, which came on the heels of the league investigation into the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal, came just months after Beltran had been hired. He never managed a game with the Mets.

Prior to his unexpected run as the Mets’ skipper, Rojas had coached and managed at three levels in the Mets’ minor league system, in addition to managing in the Dominican Winter League. He was named South Atlantic League Manager of the Year for the Mets in 2014. Rojas comes from a family with a rich baseball history, as Rojas is the son of three-time National League All-Star and 1994 National League Manager of the Year Felipe Alou. He’s also the half-brother of six-time All-Star and 1997 World Series champion Moises Alou.

Under president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, the Padres have hired a pair of youthful, rookie skippers in the aforementioned Tingler and his predecessor, Andy Green. Rojas would make for a third straight hire of a manager aged 40 or younger, though he’s now spent two seasons managing a big league team in a major market — in addition to his prior work in the DWL and in the Mets’ system.

Rojas joins former Cardinals skipper Mike Shildt and former Tigers/Angels manager Brad Ausmus on the early list of reported candidates for the Padres’ managerial vacancy.

Phillies Hire Bobby Dickerson As Infield Coach

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Oct. 25: The Phillies have formally announced the hiring of Dickerson as the Major League infield coach for the 2022 season.

Oct. 22: Turnover continues in the Philadelphia and San Diego dugouts, as the Phillies are set to hire Bobby Dickerson away from the Padres to serve as their infield coach reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Dickerson pulled double duty during the 2021 season for the Padres, serving as the team’s official bench coach and third base coach following the front office promotion of previous third base coach Glenn Hoffman.

The hiring serves as a reunion between coach and organization, as Dickerson served in the same infield coach capacity for the Phils during the 2019 season. This followed an eight year stint with the Orioles, who boasted a few Gold Glove-winning infielders during Dickerson’s tenure.

As was the case with the team’s recent hiring of Kevin Long, Phillies manager Joe Girardi adds a veteran coaching presence to cajole some new talent out of the existing roster.  Dickerson will look to help Girardi in the latter’s third year with the team and boost an organization that has been stuck in a near .500 rut for four years in a row.

Philadelphia’s move to rehire a respected defensive coach comes on the heels of what the front office surely recognizes was an organizational weakness this past season. By measure of Defensive Runs Saved the Phillies ranked last in all of baseball in 2021, with the Jean Segura-manned second base the only position on the team to score plus marks in the metric.

As for the Padres, the departure of Dickerson comes as no surprise in the wake of recent firings to pitching coach Larry Rothschild and manager Jayce Tingler. It remains to be seen what other changes await a San Diego dugout that is quickly growing accustomed to making them.

Latest On Padres' Managerial Search

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  • While many experienced former managers have been connected to the Padres’ search for a new skipper, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the team has “at least inquired about the interest of at least one former player working as a college coach, multiple former players currently on major league staffs and at least one longtime player working in television.”  There was some sense that the Padres might hire a seasoned manager after GM A.J. Preller’s first two hires (Jayce Tingler and Andy Green) were running a big league club for the first time, yet team chairman Peter Seidler has said that experience is again not a prerequisite for the job this time around.

Padres To Interview Mike Shildt This Weekend

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10:15pm: Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that there’s another former manager on the list: Brad Ausmus. Ausmus managed the Tigers from 2014 to 2017 and the Angels in 2019.

7:39pm: The Padres are going to interview Mike Shildt this weekend for their open managerial position, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic. It was recently reported that the Padres were considering Shildt but were still looking into what happened to conclude his tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals. It would appear that they didn’t find anything distressing enough to cross him off of their list of candidates, based on the fact that the interview seems to be going ahead.

It was just over a week ago that Shildt was surprisingly fired by the Cardinals, on the heels of a 90-win season that ended when they lost the wild card game to the Dodgers. Since then, he’s been repeatedly connected to the Padres position that’s been vacant since Jayce Tingler was fired the previous week.

For his part, Shildt is trying his best to stay tight-lipped about things. On Tuesday, he appeared on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio and, when asked about whether he’d been contacted about open positions, said, “There’s been some back channeling.  I don’t want to say anything.  You know, I’m really unclear how to handle it.  I’ve never really been fired from a manager job and been on the open market so I’m not sure how this exactly works, guys.  There’s been some informal conversations but nothing beyond that. Like I said, the good news is the phone has rung, I think there’s going to be opportunities to explore which is exciting.”

Shildt won’t be the only one considered for the job, of course, and Lin reports that there is a belief in the industry that Mike Scioscia “will emerge as a candidate.” Scioscia’s entire MLB managerial history has been with one club thus far, as he managed the Angels from 2000 to 2018. That tenure included a 2002 World Series victory, as well as Manager of the Year honors in both 2002 and 2009. He recently returned to bench boss duties with the United States men’s national team for the Tokyo Olympics, where the club took home silver medals.

Lin also reports that Bruce Bochy is not getting strong interest from his former club. Bochy managed the Friars from 1995 to 2006, before moving up to San Francisco and managing the Giants from 2007 to 2019, a run that included three World Series championships.

Lin adds that Ron Washington and Buck Showalter are “not believed” to be in consideration for the position. It had been reported in recent weeks that Washington was in contention, though that may no longer be the case, if it ever was. Atlanta’s third base coach, Washington can’t interview for any jobs while the club is still alive in the postseason. Showalter, for his part, said he has not been contacted about a managerial job, though that was over a week go.

Regardless of who gets the job, it appears that the decision may come down quickly, as Lin also quotes Padres’ president of baseball operations A.J. Preller as saying that it’s “realistic” to think the hiring process will be done by the general managers’ meetings, which begin in just over two weeks, on November 8th.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Will Not Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Padres star Fernando Tatís Jr. has elected to forego surgery on his left shoulder, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. There’d been some speculation both inside and outside the organization he’d need to go under the knife this winter to correct the issue that plagued him a few times throughout the season, but that apparently won’t be the case. He’ll instead pursue non-surgical means of strengthening the area over the winter in an effort to stay healthy moving forward.

Tatís had two separate IL stints for shoulder issues this past season, missing the minimal ten days in April and another couple of weeks in August. In both instances, he suffered the injury on basic baseball activities — his first occurring on a swing, his second sliding into a base. Both injuries initially seemed to have the potential for extended absences, but Tatís returned in relatively short order each time.

When Tatís was healthy enough to play, he didn’t seem any worse for wear at the plate. Over 546 plate appearances, the 22-year-old hit a massive .282/.364/.611 with 42 home runs. By measure of wRC+, his offensive output was 56 percentage points above league average, a mark topped only by Bryce Harper, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto among those with 500+ trips to the plate.

The shoulder problems did have a significant impact defensively, as the Padres slid Tatís off shortstop into the outfield for a good portion of the stretch run. The move was made primarily to reduce the potential that he’d reaggravate the injury, but Tatís mostly returned to shortstop for the season’s final three weeks. There’s no doubt about his position moving forward, as the All-Star has already gone on record about his adamance at staying at shortstop in 2022 and beyond.

Padres Expected To Interview Mike Shildt; Not Planning To Interview Ron Washington

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10:16PM: The Padres do intend to speak with Shildt “are still investigating exactly why he was let go in St. Louis,” Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.  Acee also adds that San Diego isn’t planning to interview Braves third base coach Ron Washington, who was rumored to be on the Padres’ radar last week.

9:59PM: Mike Shildt might not be out of a job for long, as The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and Brittany Ghiroli (Twitter link) report that the Padres are looking to interview Shildt for their managerial vacancy.  After being fired by the Cardinals just three days ago, Shildt enters a market thin on dugout openings, as the Mets and Padres are currently the only other big league clubs looking for a new manager.

However, Shildt does fit the mold of what the Padres have reportedly been focusing on, as all of the names linked to the search thus far have been experienced Major League managers.  While team chairman Peter Seidler said the Padres wouldn’t necessarily only be looking at former managers, this seems to be the initial direction in what might still be the early days of their search.

Keeping an open mind about candidates is always a good idea since a team never knows what new candidates might suddenly emerge…including Shildt, who seemed as safe as any manager in baseball after leading the Cardinals to a 90-win season.  Since taking over from Mike Matheny in July 2018, Shildt posted a 252-199 record in his tenure in St. Louis, taking the Cards to the postseason in each of the last three years.  After reaching the NLCS in 2019, the Cardinals haven’t made it beyond the initial playoff round, falling to the Dodgers in the wild card game and losing to (ironically) the Padres in the expanded 2020 postseason’s 2020 wild card series.

Details still aren’t exactly clear on the “philosophical differences” (in the words of St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak) that led to Shildt’s dismissal, though it isn’t surprising that the Padres would want to speak with a manager with Shildt’s recent track record.  Since all of Shildt’s experience in pro baseball has come with the Cardinals, he doesn’t have any past connection with Padres president of baseball ops A.J. Preller, thought that also might not be a prerequisite for any hiring.  Considering how Preller’s close friendship with former manager Jayce Tingler may have played a role in San Diego’s reported clubhouse tension over the season’s final weeks, it could benefit the Padres to hire a manager perceived by the players as having some distance from the front office.

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