In a surprising move, the San Diego Padres hired Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin to be their new bench boss. The deal materialized quickly after the A’s granted Melvin permission to interview for the job.
Melvin will take over for Jayce Tingler who was fired after a disappointing season for the Padres. Many people had picked San Diego to win the NL West or at least make the playoffs as a wildcard, but that never materialized as the team faltered down the stretch. The Padres were in the mix for most of the season for a wildcard spot but fell apart over the last few weeks of the year. Tingler appeared to lose the player’s respect in the clubhouse, and the team never seemed to recover, ultimately falling below .500.
While in Oakland, Melvin won three American League West titles in 11 years with the A’s. During Melvin’s time in Oakland, the club finished with an 853-764 record and made the playoffs six times in an 11 year span. Melvin always got the most out of his players as the team was never a perennial spender or free agent “destination”. The A’s seemingly always managed to overachieve in Melvin’s tenure as manager.
Before his time with the A’s, Melvin spent two years with the Seattle Mariners and five years with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also worked as a scout for the Mets in 2010 before taking over the Oakland job after the team fired then manager Bob Geren.
The Padres have a boatload of talent on their roster led by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. The front office opened the vault last offseason in an attempt to improve their pitching staff, but the returns never panned out as planned. San Diego will look to Melvin to get the Padres to live up to their full potential. It will be the most talented team Melvin has ever had, and they will attempt to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, who both won over 105 games last season.
In Melvin’s 18 years as a manager, he compiled a record of 1,346-1,272 and made the playoffs seven times. This was a tremendous hire for a Padres organization that is big on star power, but lacks an overall team identity.
-LaMarr Fields
Twitter: @raiderway83