Varitek Next Padre Manager?

By Nick Wilson | Sep 30, 2015

As the season winds down, the Padres find themselves virtually locked into 4th place in the NL West. Disappointing to say the least given all of the offseason moves. The moves were exciting, but in the end the critics were right when they said the Padres just threw together a collection of successful individual players, and did not truly construct a balanced roster.

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One reason for this lack of balance was the midseason change at manager. Both Bud Black and Pat Murphy are respected skippers, but a drastic change to leadership in the middle of the season can make it difficult to find success.

The change may have in fact been a tryout for Murphy. Murphy was highly regarded by AJ Preller, so much that he was forbidden from taking an interview with the Milwaukee Brewers when he was still managing the Padres’ AAA club. However, Murphy is a mere 41-49 since taking over for Black.

I wrote earlier that the Padres were rumored to be targeting Brad Ausmus. However, it was unveiled this past weekend that the Tigers planned on bringing Ausmus back.

So where do the Padres turn now? New management or new players? It seems that what the organization is lacking in general is stability.

Enter Jason Varitek.

Varitek stood as Major League Baseball’s’ symbol of stability over his 15 year career as a catcher for the Boston Red Sox. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe stated that “Varitek is respected around the majors, dating to his catching days and how he prepared pitchers for games.” Cafardo claims Varitek as a possibility for the Padre manager position because of his connection to former Red Sox CEO and current Padre front office man, Mike Dee.

But is Varitek even interested? It is well known that he stepped away from a full time role in the game to spend more time with his family. Perhaps the fact the idea of moving his family to sunny San Diego will be enough to lure him away from Boston.

Overall I do not believe the problem with the mediocre Padres has everything to do with management. The roster needs to be shuffled to bring a better more balanced approach to the 2016 season. If Varitek becomes the man, I know he can prepare a good team with the tools Preller gives him.

What do you think? Will Jason Varitek become the manager for the Padres in 2016? Will they stick with Pat Murphy? Or go some other direction?

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