With the “Seattle” road trip (being the Brewers started as the Seattle Pilots for a year before moving to Milwaukee) ending tonight, some musings:
Going into this six-game road trip against two tough teams (even though the Padres swept Seattle at Petco last month, Seattle was 14-4 against the Padres the last four seasons prior to this year and the Padres hadn’t won a road series in Seattle since 2018), I would have been happy with a 3-3 record. So to get a 4-2 record including a sweep of Seattle to complete the season sweep was awesome to get back to ten games above .500 at 28-18, last seen when the Padres were 19-9.
Lucas Giolito looked good for the first five innings, being super efficient to get through in 59 pitches. But seemed like waiting too long in the top of the sixth as the Padres scored five runs and maybe being fatigued since this was his first major league start after four minor league warmups, his velo went down in the bottom of the sixth as he walked the first three batters. This ended up being his undoing as he left with 5+ innings, 78 pitches, 3 strikeouts and those 3 walks. So it didn’t end that well but a good start through the first five innings as he continues building up.
To win a game 8-3 with the Mariners only getting one hit (since those three walks ended up scoring on another walk by Yuki Matsui and two sacrifice flies) while not using the high-leverage bullpen was pretty impressive. So kudos to Matsui (two innings) and Bradgley Rodriguez (two innings) for getting through the game without additional damage to rest Miller, Adam, Moreon and Estrada and leave the bullpen in good shape for three more games with the Dodgers before a day off. I’m assuming Miller will be available Monday even though he threw 34 pitches on Friday to get the 4 out save since he’s had two days off and Estrada will be available since he only pitched Saturday. They may try to avoid Adam and Morejon being both pitched back-to-back days on Friday and Saturday and pitching Monday would be three times in four days for both.
Holy Sheets what a night for Gavin in this last game of the trip. He’s been pretty clutch this year including the winner on this trip in the second game against Milwaukee but going 3-3 tonight with 2 home runs, 4 RBI and 2 BB to get on base a career high five times really set the tone and gave the Padres breathing room they rarely have had this year with this offense. He’s been so big all year and really even since he came to the Padres starting in 2025. Speaking of this offense,
It’s super surprising that the team is 28-18 considering the season Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill are having. All three got a base hit tonight, the first time the three of them each got a base hit since April 27. We’re still waiting for them to really get going and baseball is a cyclical sport, so we’ll see where these guys are at when it’s halfway through the season. Can’t expect the other guys (Sheets, France, Castellanos, Andjuar, etc) to continue to carry the team as they’ve been doing so we just gotta hope at least one of them gets going soon.
In Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Mason Miller ended the game by striking out 4 batters in the 9th inning to get the save. This game had some interesting facts since there were three instances where a batter struck out and made it to first base on a wild pitch (bottom 4th Manny Machado struck out versus Dustin May, bottom 7th Ty France struck out versus Justin Bruihl and then top 9th Yohel Pozo versus Mason Miller which lead to the 4 strikeouts in the inning) which in general rarely happens once in a game.
Then add in the fact that the last time a Padre struck out 4 in an inning was done in 2021 by now manager Craig Stammen. Lastly that this is more rare than I thought as Miller was the 108th time it’s been done, more rare than a no hitter, cycle or immaculate inning, which was also an achievement for Mason Miller as a Padre.
Even though it is rare to see a strikeout with a wild pitch for the batter to end up at first base, I was still surprised how rare it was. It made me curious if 5 strikeouts in 1 inning has ever been done but no that hasn’t happened in the majors, but it has happened in the minors, even as recently as 2024.
With the Padres playing in Mexico City (CDMX) again, we took another trip to go back to Mexico City and Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú (went in 2023 when the Padres were there the first time) so some thoughts from a visit to the city and ballpark this time:
If you’re flying from San Diego, using the CBX is super easy to get into the Tijuana International Airport (TIJ) to fly to CDMX and also when you get back to cross back into SD. You do have to Uber to right next to the border or park there but the process of going back and forth is super easy and I can’t recommend it enough for flying anywhere in Mexico.
Had no issues getting an Uber from the airport when flying into Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX). There had been talk about taxis protesting making it hard for Uber drivers to pick up from the airport but they were able to pick us up no problem curbside outside the gates. The only problem I ran into with Uber for the first time since I’ve been using it is the driver picked up someone else for my ride (I could literally see the car pulling away 50 feet from me with other people in the car) and the app showing my ride had started. I tried waving the driver down but he didn’t see me but the app made it super easy to cancel the right and say the reason was a wrong pickup.
Traffic around CDMX continues to be gnarly. To get from the airport to our hotel in Reforma, it took almost an hour on a Thursday night at 9pm even though it was 12.6 km (7.8 miles). Trying to get from the Reforma area to the Frida Kahlo Museum took an hour and 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon due to the afternoon traffic even though that was only 11.5 km (7.1 miles). Anywhere we went took some time with traffic that we had to alter our plans and give more time. We thought about using the Metro but the subway station was a bit away from our hotel and then we’d have to walk even further at stops so it ended up being the same time.
The food here is cheap and great. I see the Mexican food as done differently than what you can get in San Diego (they’re not big on burritos in CDMX) so I really like both types of Mexican food. Food is definitely one of the highlights of going to CDMX.
My flight home was on Sunday night at 9:40pm and since Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú is only 3.5 km (2.2 miles) away from the stadium, I first went to the airport to leave my bags and then from there went to the ballpark. Both terminals have lockers for baggage storage located before security and you can leave your suitcases there for 300 pesos each per 24 hours. So with the 2pm game on Sunday, we left at 11am to go to the airport (took about 45 minutes), dropped off the bags and went to the game. You can take the Metro to get to the ballpark but Uber is easy (especially being available from the aiport as mentioned above) and cheap.
Teotihuacan which is about an hour northeast of the city is definitely worth a visit. I would recommend either using a tour or taking the bus they have to go there. Getting an Uber there is no problem but on the way back, considering the remoteness of it, it’s hard to get a ride back and the Uber drivers that are around may try to scam you into canceling the Uber ride and instead paying them cash at an absurd price. The Pyramid of the Moon currently allows you to walk up to the middle, taking about 50 steep steps to get to this point.
Once you get to the middle, it’s a great view to see the steps to go up even higher (which are blocked off):
As well as see the Pyramid of the Sun to the southeast:
The Pyramid to the Sun is blocked from walking up it:
Our tour guide mentioned they were originally planning to allow people to walk up the Pyramid of the Sun temporarily during the World Cup season but that was paused after the recent shooting on top of the Pyramid of the Moon. Even though we were there only four days after the shooting, we felt it would be safe and there was a heavy police presence there to get into the site and around the site as well. Would definitely recommend visiting if you’re going to CDMX.
Now onto Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. The ballpark’s main gate is Gate (Puerta) 8, which has a walkway and bridge that goes to the main entrance:
Once you cross over the bridge, you get a great view of the ballpark:
In the last Mexico City series with the Padres, they used the two-level Tienda Diablos store at the ballpark to hold all the merch but this time they expanded it to a tent in front of the store:
Like 2023, there was a lot of merch only available here that you couldn’t find online or at local New Era stores in CDMX. So a lot of other people had the same idea to get here when the gates opened three hours before game time to see the merch available:
And just like last time, the merch sold out quickly in popular sizes, leaving only super large or super small sizes available later in this game when you could just walk into the store. Here’s some of the gear they had:
The ballpark holds roughly 20K and the walkways do get super crowded with a capacity crowd making it hard to walk around.
They do restrict the outfield to only those who have tickets there so you can’t go out there unless you have a ticket for those seats. And since the outfield isn’t fully connected (you can’t walk from left to right field as the batter’s eye separates it and they don’t have a walkway behind), you will only want to enter the outfield seats from down the line i.e. left field from the third base line and right field from the first base line.
While walking around the ballpark gives good views of the field,
The views from the seats themselves have some challenges. If you sit behind home plate, you have a good view:
But the vendors are constantly walking up and down throughout the entire game (all the way until the 9th inning), so your view is constantly blocked by them. It’s great so you don’t have to leave your seats as the seat vendors sell many of the items from the stands but it’s simlar to how some ballparks allow people to walk up and down anytime during the game your view being blocked as a result.
If you sit further down the line (like around third base), the seats are facing straight towards the field right in front of you, versus being angled towards home plate like many of the new ballparks. It reminds me of how the old cookie-cutter stadiums all had seats facing straight ahead. So as a result, you angle/lean forward toward home plate which blocks the person next to you from seeing home plate and everyone ends up doing the same thing.
Going here on occasion is great to experience, especially with the Padres coming back to win the first game and the energy in the building with the large contingent of Padres fans. The energy and noticing the little differences (like how they list batter’s stats as 4-1 meaning 1 hit in 4 at bats versus the US approach of 1-4), the 7th inning stretch in Spanish, etc all make it a fun time.
Though there are the limitations of being a small ballpark and the seat views that would impact me if I was going to games all season like back ato Petco, I would recommend Mexico City as a place to visit and catching a MLB World Tour game there as it’s definitely an experience.
With Anaheim actually the closest ballpark to San Diego and the Padres playing the Angels on the weekend, decided to go up there yesterday to catch a game. I’ve been to Angel Stadium a handful of times over the years after they introduced interleague play, with my first time in 2001 during Tony Gwynn’s last season.
I remember back in 2001 the Angels doing a short ceremony before the game for Tony Gwynn being it was his last season (I went to the first game of the series) and liked the renovations the Angels did back then after the Rams left. I walked around the ballpark then and what stood out was that the views were good whether you were in the upper level or in the outfield beyond the bullpens in left field as it still didn’t feel far away like some other ballparks.
A few notes on Angel Stadium in 2026:
It’s pretty easy and quick to exit off the freeway (we exited about 12:30pm for the 1:07pm start) but it does back up when you’re at the road right in front of the ballpark. In this case, we entered at the State College entrance coming from the State College Blvd exit off the 5 freeway and it was backed up from the Orangewood Ave and S State College Blvd intersection. That part took us about 15 minutes to go one block since there’s only one right turn lane from this direction into the parking entrance.
The large parking lot around the stadium is great for tailgating and reminds me of the old Qualcomm Stadium days. They are starting to build more apartments (with businesses at the bottom) around the area but there still really aren’t a lot of places to go within walking distance, like how Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center have many restaurants around them on the other side of the freeway.
As a result, the skyline of the ballpark is pretty blank as shown in the pictures below since there really isn’t much around it.
Seats continue to have a good view as shown in the pictures below. First base (visitor’s dugout) side is the sun side for day games (like Petco Park) so definitely get in the 200s if you want to be behind the visiting team and in the shade. Being this was mid-April, we sat in row Z of section 124, which was the last row of the section and we were in the shade the whole game. So early games you have shade if you’re in the last 2-3 rows of the 100s as shown in my pictures below.
The video boards they upgraded in 2018 still hold up well and provide good views for replays. They don’t show advanced metrics like you see at other ballparks for pitching and batting as all you saw was the speed of the pitch and what type of pitch (“92 MPH Changeup”).
One thing I found interesting is the Angels’ bullpen is the one closest to the stands with the visitors in front next to the outfield. I figured they would be like other teams where the visitors are the closer one to the fans so that the fans can bother/heckle the visiting team’s bullpen pitchers more than the Angels.
I don’t put Angel Stadium high in my list of rankings but for just watching a game like I did yesterday (didn’t really walk around or anything being we got there right before game time and I’ve been here before), Angels Stadium provides good views and the prices are comparable if not slightly cheaper than Petco for a weekend game. So if you just want to watch a game, Angel Stadium is still good for this but as I put in my reviews of other ballparks, all the other amenities, design, surroundings, etc is what make the top ballparks what they are.
With the 2026 started, it’s time to resume my chase to see all 30 ballparks and no better way to start this season than Fenway Park, which along with Wrigley Field, are considered the two must see classic ballparks.
Starting from a hotel in the Back Bay area of Boston about a mile away, it was an easy walk over to the ballpark and the ballpark’s location is easy to get to in general, with a couple of subway stations nearby.
We entered the ballpark at Jersey Street (formerly Yawkey Way) where they do security and ticket scanning versus at the gate of the ballpark itself. I like this as it allowed the blocked off street to be a place where they had food, music, the team store and other entertainment to hang out before entering the ballpark.
A nice touch on Jersey Street is the starting lineup using retro-style Topps baseball cards:
As well, on the backside of the Green Monster (Lansdowne St) is the Bleacher Bar (that allows you a peek of center field) and other bars and food that are open to anyone without a ticket:
Once you enter the ballpark, depending on which entrance you go into (we entered from Jersey Street which covers Gate A and Gate D), you may end up in the tunnels underneath the grandstands which can get pretty crowded and hard to navigate with large crowds and how small these tunnels are, which is expected considering the design when these ballparks were built over a hundred years ago. Other entrances enter more opened areas but entering under the grandstands, it is pretty tight to walk around.
But I do like that you can still walk around and see the field like newer ballparks in certain parks, like there’s a walkway behind the grandstand level, even if the walkway is small in some areas:
And they do have standing room only around most of the ballpark and on every level (except the box level where you can enter from the aforementioned tunnel underneath the grandstand), even if they uniquely do it like in right field where you’re standing elevated behind the narrow walkway:
I’m a big fan of places that have standing room only so you can go around to see different vantage points, even if it’s just for a few innings or as you’re walking to get food and drink.
Of course the grandstand is where you have the beams blocking your view and depending on how you view it, they still have the old school chairs:
Some might find this quaint and keeping with the old school look while others might not like this at all because the seats are uncomfortable plus your limited sightlines with beams blocking some of your view. We sat in the loge box in front of the grandstands so they had more standard seats and no beams so didn’t have this issue but I can see those who sit back knocking Fenway down a notch because of this.
Walking around the ballpark, they have group/bar areas as well as a kids area, things to allow for socializing as well as activities for the kids. I do like how they’re doing these things to keep people entertained and make baseball attractive to those who want it to be a social event too.
I get how baseball purists may not like this since the focus should be on the game but to really get the crowds to keep coming out and make the ballpark a place to be, you do need all these things to keep the casual fans coming. Because to me, having a ballpark that people want to go and with full crowds gives it so much energy that is substantially better than a small 10-15K crowd of hardcore fans.
As far as food options, the ballpark has food that’s locally inspired, like lobster rolls and clam chowder, along with what you see as standard ballpark fares, with hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders and fries. Jersey Street has more options but it doesn’t have the variety and/or featuring local eateries as you see in other ballparks. There are a good number of restaraunts outside the ballpark so that’s the better option to grab something to eat before getting to the ballpark.
I found the ballpark to have pretty good views in the different areas we visited. It does seem to have obstructed views no matter where you sit, similar to how new ballparks are designed in that you may not see a small portion of the field, like sitting in Loge Box 137 you couldn’t see the left field corner right where the foul line meets the warning track. But I considered that part of how ballparks are now in order to get away from the cookie-cutter circle/oval design.
While watching the game, I did notice that the netting right behind home plate goes over the seating and right up to the second level so any foul balls hit right behind home plate would roll back down to the field where the ballboy would be waiting to grab them. Found that interesting to add that extra layer of protection (which I actually don’t mind with how hard hit some of these foul balls are and taking some off my hands in the past that flew right over the netting). This netting over the seats is strictly only in the few sections right behind home plate as the rest of the netting down the foul line is the standard netting that goes straight up in front of the stands.
The other nice touch is how the LED boards behind home plate that show the box score, balls/strikes/outs and the batter are colored in green to match the rest of the awning (the ones not showing ads that is), which I found to be a nice touch to blend into the rest of the ballpark.
As well, you can’t help but enjoy the old school scoreboard on the Green Monster and manually updating it:
In keeping with the old school theme, they don’t show advanced pitching metrics (horizontal break, vertical break) but interestingly they do show advanced batting metrics (distance, launch angle and bat speed) on the replay of the ball the batter gets a hit on or an out.
And in between innings, they generally just play music (though it does include contemporary music and not just organ music), with minimal entertainment like you see at the newer ballparks that play skits, contests and games with fans/players, have the in-game announcer trying to hype you up to make noise, etc. It goes with the old school vibes that the ballpark tries to still maintain while doing updates to work in the new age.
Overall I really liked Fenway Park and can see why it’s a baseball cathedral you must visit. The tickets are quite expensive when compared to other ballparks for similar seats but it definitely is in my top tier of ballparks and one that I would recommend anyone check out a game at least one time.
It doesn’t seem Craig Stammen knows how to manage the bullpen as of yet, despite being a bullpen guy himself. In the second game of the season with a 2-1 lead and Estrada walking two straight guys, you leave him in to walk another guy, give up a slow infield hit to tie it up and then you wait until you have the lefty on lefty matchup to bring in Peralta to face Kevin McGonigle, who even though he’s a rookie in only his second game, had a four hit game in his first game and is on fire and you you don’t really have a book on him yet. I get that Mason Miller wouldn’t be available for a multi-inning save in the second game of the season (though he was available to do it today in the sixth game of the season?) but bring someone else in earlier when Estrada had lost control out there.
Then in the fifth game of the season, down 4-3 in the 6th inning, after Kyle Hart had giving you two great innings, you leave him in and he gives up a double and a walk to start the inning. Instead of having another reliever start the inning (asking two innings out of Hart is already a great ask) or pulling Hart at this time, you leave him in. He does strike out the next batter before giving up another two more singles to drive in another run to make it 5-3. At that point you pull him but it’s the bases loaded and you’re putting Bradgley Rodriguez in a tough spot. Of course it doesn’t work out and the game gets out of hand then and becomes 8-3 and eventually a 9-3 loss.
The offense continues to sputter, similar to last year. New coaching staff, new hitting coaches and still the same result. I thought with a new manager, you would see more creativity in the lineup. At least in today’s game, Stammen did tinker with the lineup a little bit, moving Manny down to cleanup and Laureano, who’s been the hottest hitter in the lineup, up to fifth. Laureano continued his hot ways, helping give some cushion with a two-run home run in the 8th to push a 3-1 lead up to 5-1 in what became a much needed 7-1 victory.
It was great to see Nick Pivetta bounce back today and get through five innings with no runs, one hit, eight strikeouts and only two walks after the bad opening day start of three innings and six runs. Hoping this is the start of seeing him like last year as he continues to build up (only 82 pitches today).
Thought the Padres would get off to a better start. The Tigers I figured would be a tough matchup with who they had for starting pitching but seeing them get swept by Arizona after playing the Padres and seeing how SF struggled against the Yankees in their opening series, I expected a little more and figured a .500 homestand. So 2-4 isn’t as bad, especially after yesterday’s poor 9-3 loss to SF. so we’ll see how the team looks after this road trip against Boston and Pittsburgh and finally getting to hit against Paul Skenes.
Opening Day continues to be one of my favorite days of the year as it’s great to be back at the ballpark and catch Padres baseball again after the end of the previous season, especially being at Petco Park where it’s such a great place to watch a game.
As usual, when we get to the ballpark on Opening Day, we like to walk around and see what’s new as they always seem to be doing something new at Petco.
There is a good article at the San Diego Union-Tribune about the new food, though we didn’t get a chance to try any of it today as we arrived just in time for pre-game ceremonies. I did notice the Coco Ichibanya stand that took over the location of Delaware North’s San Diego’s Finest Chicken in the Mercado and is definitely one I plan to try at a future game.
The one thing that stuck out from my seats is the new video boards on the towers. I’m glad that they’re starting to show pitching metrics consistently now, something that other ballparks have been doing for some time. Last year’s intro of the pitching metrics on the LED ribbon boards behind home plate (see below) in the middle of the season was a good start so it’s nice to see they continue showing this information.
Now with these boards, they have a more permanent place to toggle them in addition to showing the standard pitching data:
They do use these boards to show the in-game messages as shown on the other boards, like “Strikeout”, “Get Loud”, etc and of course (which was probably the main reason to have them), circle through ads before the game and in between innings. But overall being someone who likes tech, I do like having these boards and don’t think it detracts from the ballpark’s aesthetics. Now if they can update the big video board in left field as it’s starting to show its wear (some panels of it look burned from the sun) after being around for 11+ years now…
As far as the game itself, Nick Pivetta didn’t look too good and it got out of hand early as coming back from a 6-0 deficit after three innings (even a 4-0 deficit after one inning) was going to be difficult against Tarik Skubal. So that dampened the mood of the game pretty quick and raises the questions everyone’s been wondering about the starting pitching. It is just the first game so let’s see after the first turn through the rotation.
I feel pretty good about the bullpen, considering Mason Miller is the closer (and should have been the closer to end 2025) and the many arms the Padres have there, even with Jason Adam being slow-played by starting on the Injured List (IL). I know relievers are pretty volatile in general (one year they’ll be great and then the next year fall off), but at the same time it seems AJ Preller and staff are able to find bullpen replacements every year if needed. Who would have thought that guys like Steven Wilson (2022), Tom Cosgrove (2023), Jeremiah Estrada (2024) or David Morgan (2025) would be as good as they ended up being going into those respective seasons?
Even with the return of pretty much the same lineup as the end of last season (Ramon Laureano would have been in the lineup during the playoffs if he didn’t get injured at the end of the regular season), I still like this lineup along with the additions of Miguel Andujar and Sung-Mun Song when he’s healthy and ready to go.
It also makes sense to add veteran guys like Nick Castellanos and Ty France where you can buy low and start the season with them, keeping the guys with minor league options in the minors and hoping these vets bounce back like we’ve seen the past few years with Gavin Sheets, Donovan Solano, David Peralta and Jurickson Profar (though of course with Profar you have questions now considering multiple PED suspensions). If these guys work out, then great as it was a cheap flyer on them and if they don’t, you move on like has been done the past few years with Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz, Jason Heyward and Yuli Gurriel and then try one of the young guys that still have minor league options.
Similarly with the starting pitching and the flyers on Walker Buehler and German Marquez. Starting pitching is more worrisome considering Joe Musgrove is starting the season on the IL and you hope Michael King is back to who he was before the injury last year and there isn’t much depth there. But maybe I’m a little too optimistic, but I feel they’ll find ways to fill innings as they have the past few seasons, considering we have Ruben Niebla leading the staff and despite today’s rough start by Pivetta.
Going into the offseason, it was unlikely that Dylan Cease and Michael King would return but if I had the choice of one, I would go with Michael King. Cease is a workhorse but seeing how inconsistent he is (not to mention how he’s done in the playoffs) along with King’s repertoire and the fact that I figured his contract would be cheaper, I was really hoping the Padres could find a way to bring him back.
But once Cease signed early in the offseason with Toronto for 7 years $210 million, you figured King would get a good deal especially as you heard about the Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles being interested, all teams on the east coast where King was from.
But then you heard murmurs about the Padres still being interested and the deal was quickly announced. He gets one year at $22 million, which is pretty much the $22.025 million qualifying offer, and then two additional years at his option to make it two years $45 million or three years $75 million.
Three years $75 million was what some were projecting he would get going into free agency and considering the qualifying offer draft pick compensation, his injuries in 2025 plus his limited history as a starter, this may have scared off some teams or lower their offer to a lower average annual value to less than $25 million.
I see this as a good deal for both sides. King benefits more since, if he pitches extremely well, he can go back into free agency for a big payday without the qualifying offer attached that scares some teams off and if he doesn’t, he can opt in and try again in a year or two.
But I see this as a win for the Padres since they need starting pitching for 2026, they know what King’s capable of and anyone else who could be of ace quality would have been at least the same cost if not more. I’ve always felt that long-term contracts for pitchers are extremely risky for the team with how injuries affect pitchers. Just look at Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove and the injuries to them since they both signed their long-term extensions.
For the Padres with a bunch of large contracts, having King on a short-term contract is ideal so you have quality pitching without being tied to something large and long term. Of course it would have been better if it was team options or a straight three year deal but it seems being creative to reduce the actual cost (since the contract is structured with $12 million as a signing bonus, a $5 million salary in 2026 and a $5 million buyout if he declines the option) is something AJ is having to do to keep the Padres costs down. So this seems to be the only way to get him to accept is giving him options. Then again, it may be what the Padres prefer since they may hope guys opt out so we don’t have too many more long-term contracts on the books.
I’m bullish on King being closer to his 2024 self versus what we saw in 2025. Considering in 2025 before his first injury sleeping awkwardly, he was pitching great (10 starts with a 2.59 ERA, .195 AVG against, 1.02 WHIP, 3.26 FIP) and he says he’s fully healthy so I can see him having a great season in 2026 and being at the front of the rotation.
My first reaction was this couldn’t be serious considering we hadn’t heard anything about him being a candidate and Stammen not having any managerial/coaching experience. There had been talk of a fourth mysterious candidate outside of Albert Pujols, Ruben Niebla and Nick Hundley so at that point it didn’t seem that far-fetched if he was the person.
Then the Padres announced it an hour later:
We have agreed to terms with Craig Stammen on a three-year contract to become our new manager. pic.twitter.com/sqEiUH5Z5h
Once the shock wore off and I started reading more coverage of it, I could see why he was the choice. All four candidates that were finalists didn’t have MLB managerial experience (granted Pujols had experience managing in the Dominican Republic league) so any candidate was going to need to learn on the job and have a good experienced staff around him.
And with how highly people speak of Stammen as a leader and people person and how he’s worked in the Padres organization since 2023, I could see AJ wanting someone who knew how the organization worked, its philosophy and how the players are (especially guys like Machado and Tatis who he’s played alongside) to maintain that continuity like they did with Mike Shildt.
Of course, the other side is maybe it’s time to do something different to break up that continuity because depending on how you look at it, it’s either a good or bad thing how the Padres have been lately. Good that since 2020 the Padres have had more success than any other time in franchise history (four playoff trips in six years) but bad in that it still hasn’t resulted in winning the World Series.
I don’t have as much of an uproar about it as other people since it wasn’t like we were realistically choosing him over Bruce Bochy (which would have been great as previously mentioned) so anyone was going to be new in this role. And superstars like Pujols generally haven’t translated well into managerial/front office roles since it’s hard for them to relate and understand the mindset of all players on the roster, since they can’t understand the difficulties that journeyman players have.
So that’s generally why you see a lot of managers being players who were role/bench guys become managers and head coaches. While pitchers haven’t really been managers before and he has no experience, that to me is the unconventional part of this hire, which I don’t mind as much to try something different. So I see it as combination of both something to be stable and unconventional which is on brand for AJ Preller.
There’s been plenty of guys with limited or no experience coaching and managing like Steve Kerr and JJ Redick in the NBA and Aaron Boone and Mike Matheny in MLB. Of course, there have been plenty of other spectacular failures with new guys, just look at Andy Green and Jayce Tingler that AJ hired. So it’s a crapshoot regardless of which way it goes but I’m open to seeing how it plays out with Craig Stammen before bashing the move already like others are doing.
I was surprised as anyone by Mike Shildt’s retirement. I wasn’t a big fan of his stubbornness and how he constructed the lineup (Arraez batting 2nd all season) and his use of the bullpen (sticking with Suarez as the closer after acquiring Mason Miller and the way he used Wandy Peralta in high leverage situations) but considering the Padres won 90+ games in back to back seasons for the first time and made the playoffs in back to back years, it was expected for him to be back another year.
But once he retired and word came out about some of the coaching staff and support staff issues, you can see why he would be burnt out trying to do a tough job and working with everyone in the org. Being a sports manager/coach at the professional or college level isn’t an easy job with all the committments you have with players, coaches, the org and media. Maybe it was better for everyone if he left at this time.
What’s interesting is reading about how Ryan Flaherty was AJ Preller’s preferred choice for manager two years ago but he may have been overruled by Eric Kutsenda and Erik Greupner. When the decision was announced then that Mike Shildt would be the new manager, I liked the decision as you were going with someone who had been inside the team for the past two years to understand the team dynamics and organizational structure and was an experienced winning manager. You figured he would keep going what had been built, better handle some of the issues (like the strife between AJ Preller and Bob Melvin) and could keep it running for several years.
And Shildt did exactly that with how they won in 2024 but 2025 you started to see maybe why he left St. Louis because of “philosophical differences”. It was with the way he managed the team as there’s no way the analytics team wasn’t telling him that Arraez shouldn’t be batting second with how much he struggled throughout the season not should he have continued playing first base over Ryan O’Hearn who is a much better defender by the metrics at 1B.
As the search turns to the new manager, my ideal scenario would be to bring back Bruce Bochy for two years and promise Ruben Niebla to be the next manager. Bochy being 70 isn’t going to manage much longer (if he does manage again) so why not bring him home to take it over the finish line like what he did with the Texas Rangers.
He knows how to win and push the right buttons in the playoffs and someone like him would be respected in the clubhouse to make the tough decisions. It feels like part of the reason Mike Shildt didn’t want to make changes was the relationships he built with players that he didn’t want to upset even though it was in the best interests of the club and that’s where I can see Bochy doing this and getting the players onboard. And it would be great to have Boch finish out his managerial career with his first team and get us the elusive first World Series title.
But realistically it doesn’t seem this will happen from what I’ve read (doesn’t seem the Padres want to bring him back and not sure Bochy wants to come back into this) so will be interesting to see who the next manager is.
