Melvin has high-paid roster now
The hiring of a new manager rarely qualifies as a “blockbuster” move in the world of Major League Baseball. But the term is appropriate for the San Diego Padres’ latest move — hiring veteran manager Bob Melvin away from the Oakland Athletics on a threeyear deal, according to a report from MLB.com.
Melvin will take over a talented, high-priced and recently disappointing Padres roster built by a frenetic general manager, A.J. Preller, who had until this point focused largely on inexperienced managers with whom he had history. Preller fired his longtime colleague Jayce Tingler, with whom he had also worked in the Texas Rangers player development system, shortly after the end of the regular season.
In choosing Melvin, Preller seems to be departing from a previous strategy — finding a young manager to mold with an up-and-coming roster. Instead, after his once-favored Padres missed the 2021 playoffs amid reports that Tingler lost support in the clubhouse, Preller is pivoting to a manager who can help mold that roster from up-and-coming into a winner.
The Padres have not announced the choice and the Athletics have not acknowledged Melvin’s departure, though they had to approve it. Melvin, a Bay Area native, had managed the A’s since 2011. The Athletics exercised his 2022 contract option in June.
But according to MLB.com, Oakland will not be receiving any compensation from the Padres in exchange for allowing Melvin out of his contract. What the always stingy A’s will get, unofficially, is a chance to hire a manager who comes at a lesser annual cost than Melvin ahead of an offseason in which many around the baseball industry expect the team to cut even more payroll than usual. The Athletics began the 2021 season with a payroll of around $80 million, 10th lowest in the majors.
During his decade in Oakland, Melvin became one of the more respected managers in either league, a veteran known for a steady hand and getting the most out of an Athletics’ roster annually compiled on a shoestring budget.
His A’s teams made the postseason in six of his 11 seasons as their manager.