*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
The new bench boss was already in San Diego to begin with. The San Diego Padres have hired Mike Shildt to be the team's new manager, according to The Athletic's Dennis Lin. The team has confirmed the hiring.
Shildt receives a two year contract to manage the Padres in the wake of Bob Melvin leaving the team to manage the San Francisco Giants. Prior to the news, Shildt had spent the last two years serving as a senior advisor with the team.
Padres GM AJ Preller said of Shildt that "Mike Shildt teams are very prepared and detail-oriented. His communication with players and his style is very open and transparent. The game’s about winning, and Mike’s done a ton of winning."
After almost a decade as a coach with the St. Louis Cardinals, Shildt got his first opportunity as manager when the team fired Mike Matheny in the middle of 2018. Shildt ended the year with a 41-28 record before leading the Cardinals to a 91-71 record in 2019 and a 30-28 record in the Covid shortened 2020 season.
In 2021, Shildt led the Cardinals to a 90-72 record in the regular season and a spot in the playoffs. They lost the NL Wild Card game to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a walk off home run, and Shildt was fired shortly after.
In each of Shildt's 3 full seasons managing the Cardinals, they reached the playoffs, making the NLCS in 2019 while losing in the wild card round in 2020 and the wild card game in 2021. Shildt won the NL Manager of the year award in 2019 as the Cardinals won the NL central in his first full season managing the team.
Shildt becomes the Padres 7th manager since the 2015 season, when Bud Black was fired midway through the season. Dave Roberts and Pat Murphy managed the team through the end of the season before Andy Green took over. Green lasted until the final stretch of 2019, when he was fired.
Rod Barajas managed the team through the end of the season before Jayce Tingler became manager ahead of the 2020 season. Tingler only lasted two years before he was fired at the end of 2021, leading to Melvin being hired. Two years later, it's Melvin out the door, with Shildt being tabbed as his replacement.
The Padres had reportedly interviewed bench coach and offensive coordinator Ryan Flaherty for the job along with former Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin and current Angels infield coach Benji Gil.
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