Padres News: Black Out

The San Diego Padres announced Monday that they had relieved Bud Black of his managerial duties and replaced on an interim basis with former bench coach Dave Roberts.

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The move both is a surprise given the Padres history of holding on way too long before making changes and is not a surprise given the team’s overall lackluster play despite the highest payroll in team history.

The next question following the shockwave of his dismissal is who next?

One initial thought would be AAA manager Pat Murphy as reported earlier this month.

Another recent trade has been bringing in former players in the organization – even those with no prior managerial experience. The White Sox did it with Robin Ventura, Tigers with Brad Ausmus and Twins with Paul Molitor. The Phillies hired Ryne Sandberg after he worked his way up the minor league ladder – though the early results don’t show that it actually makes much of a difference.

For the Padres, another former player whose personality is fiery rather than the even keeled Bud Black is Phil Nevin. He has several years of managerial experience and is currently managing the AAA club for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was interviewed for the open Astros position but they went a different direction.

Another option would be Hall of Famer and San Diegan Dave Winfield. He has never managed before but would certainly a different presence to the team and HOF credentials. It seems he would be a natural mentor to hitters like the trio of outfielders like Wil Myers, Matt Kemp, and Justin Upton.

A final current option would be Trevor Hoffman, who has worked with the team in various roles after his retirement from the Brewers and is currently senior advisor for baseball operations.

General Manager A.J. Preller has remade the roster his way and had stopped short of the manager – but now that time has come too. Who replaces him will have a huge hand in turning around this season and keeping 2015 championship hopes alive.

On a side note, we posted a fan poll a few weeks ago on if fans thought the Padres should fire Buddy. The results were a 60-40 in favor of firing.

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