In a surprise that was foreseen by no one, the new manager of the San Diego Padres is Bob Melvin. That would be a normal sentence most of the time, except Melvin is still the skipper of the Oakland Athletics. Now, he joins the Padres on a three-year deal. Melvin joined the A’s as a manager midyear in 2011, two years after he was dismissed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Melvin brought his 2007 Manager of the Year award to the bay area and would win two more, in 2012 and 2018. He is one of the most respected managers in the game, and over his eleven seasons with the Athletics, he had a .528 winning percentage. Melvin has managed in baseball for 18 seasons, starting with the Mariners in 2003.
Since Melvin is leaving Oakland, the question is, what will be going back to the A’s? Nothing. Even though they exercised his offer for 2022, Oakland let Melvin interview and accept the San Diego job. He has a rich contract and the A’s are once again cutting costs. This was deemed necessary by them. Still, it is odd to see them not demand some quality in a return for a coveted boss. They now enter the managerial market for the first time in over a decade. Seeing as Melvin’s contract was likely deemed too expensive (unless there is some behind-the-scenes discourse that we are missing out on), hiring a cheap rookie manager would make sense, as would promoting an internal option.
Every single player on the A’s has spent the entirety of their Oakland tenure under Melvin. Matt Olson has been in the organization longer than any other player on the team, and he was drafted in 2012, Melvin’s second season with the franchise. Speaking of which, this could be the start of another rebuild, or seeing that it’s the A’s, a retool. Players like Olson, Sean Manaea, and Matt Chapman could soon see their names on the trade block. It is hard to state how big of a loss this is for the Athletics, especially with how obsolete managers have become in today’s game.
Melvin will get to join the most exciting team with an opening. The Padres entered 2021 as World Series favorites, but could not even muster a winning season. This sent Jayce Tingler to the unemployment market. Melvin, who turned 60-years-old on the day of the news breaking, will lead a team with a core including Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. It doesn’t seem like a bad gig.
While Melvin may not have a World Series ring or a ton of playoff success in general, this is a slam dunk hiring for the Padres. He is extremely well regarded and has managed a winning team in four consecutive seasons. Melvin has seniority while staying in touch with an ever-changing game. This is the best hire possible, even though it didn’t seem doable entering the offseason.
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