The San Diego Padres are expected to hire either Ryan Flaherty or Mike Shildt as their next manager in the wake of ex-skipper Bob Melvin leaving for the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.
“The current expectation from within the Padres is that Ryan Flaherty or Mike Shildt will get the job, even if external candidates are interviewed,” Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported.
That news has also been confirmed by Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Flaherty is the Padres’ bench coach and offensive coordinator. Shildt serves as the Padres’ senior advisor to player development and major leagues.
Flaherty, 37, played in the bigs from 2012-2019 for Baltimore, Atlanta and Cleveland as an infielder. After his playing career ended, the Padres hired him as an advanced scout and development coach. He was promoted to bench coach last February.
Shildt served in the St. Louis Cardinals organization for two decades as a scout and manager. He was a manager in the minor leagues from 2009-2016. The Cardinals then called Shildt up to the bigs, where he was a quality control coach, third base coach and bench coach before earning the job of interim manager in 2018. St. Louis removed the interim tag in August of that season.
In three-plus seasons as the Cardinals’ manager, St. Louis went to the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Shildt went 252-199 over his career and notably led the Cards to the 2019 National League Championship Series. The team dismissed Shildt in 2021 due to “philosophical differences.”
One or the other will be leading a Padres team that entered the 2023 campaign with sky-high expectations but fell well short of them. The talent is certainly there to rebound nicely in 2024. Now it’s on general manager A.J. Preller to pick the right person for the job as San Diego looks for its first pennant in 26 years.
