What Will Andy Green Bring to the Padres?

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New manager Andy Green is one of the youngest managers in MLB at just 38 years old. He comes with no major league managing experience and only one year of major league coaching experience. While he has managed at the minor league level, there is clearly a difference at the major league level. The Padres are excited that he can use his youth to his advantage as he embraces new ideas and tactics to take the analytics from the front office to the playing field and yield positive results.

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A.J. Preller made the final hiring of Green and clearly has high ambitions with his new manager who is just one year older than Preller. As reported by FoxSports, Preller had this to say about Green:

"“He’s open to any idea that’s going to help a team, help an organization get better. He’s not looking at any idea or a particular statistic as being gospel. I think that’s something we share. You present an idea, he wants to hear it and then he wants to see how it works.”More from Friars on BaseJurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunionFernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts additionPadres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny MachadoPadres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcherThis veteran DH target seems ideal for contending Padres roster"

For a Padres team that has been managed by Bud Black who is decidedly more old school on many of these topics, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in actual baseball next season. Whether Green will have much actual influence over how the team plays baseball or be more of a “Preller Puppet” will be one of the story lines to watch for 2016. In Arizona, Green gained some notoriety for his use of defensive shifts and using his brain to manage a baseball team as well on drawing on his own playing experiences:

“In me, there’s a desire to take information from wherever you can get it to gain a competitive advantage. I’m open to anything,” Green said. “I believe, to be successful going forward, we’ll be open with our front office and be ready for any information that’s going to come through the door. If it’s usable, let’s put it into practice and take advantage of it.”

As a fan of the Padres, while I wasn’t initially happy with the hiring over a more experienced manager like Ron Gardenhire, I am glad to hear this approach and have high hopes for what he can do with the Padres.