Padres need to be very careful about jumping the gun with a Mike Shildt extension

There is a laundry list of reasons why the San Diego Padres exceeded expectations in 2024 despite their NLDS loss to the Dodgers. The offense was among the deepest in baseball thanks to Jackson Merrill's rapid ascension as well as Jurickson Profar being the biggest bargain free agent signing in the league. The pitching staff had some injuries, but San Diego had guys step up all year long, and the bullpen was tremendous.

However, one cannot overlook the impact that manager Mike Shildt had on this Padres squad.

The Padres hired Shildt to be their manager in the wake of a truly disappointing 2023 season. The hope was that Shildt, who Padres players were already familiar with, would bring some order to the chaos of the Padres' clubhouse without losing their edge. Obviously that worked out well and now Shildt has a very strong argument for NL Manager of the Year.

However, general manager AJ Preller talked with the media on Monday about a potential contract extension for Shildt. While he very much praised the work Shildt did this season and said that the team would absolutely talk to him and the rest of the coaching staff about keeping them around, the Padres need to be very careful about pushing too far all-in.

Padres need to exercise caution with a potential Mike Shildt extension

Before you get your torches out, no one should be arguing that San Diego shouldn't entertain the idea of extending Shildt. The Padres were absolutely a different team under him in 2024 and it is a certainty that Preller and the rest of the front office wouldn't be talking about extending him unless they hadn't gotten strong feedback from their key players.

That said, Shildt does have a bit of a reputation as being cantankerous at times and it isn't like the end of his time with the Cardinals wasn't messy. Shildt has some old school tendencies and there if he and the analytics-forward Padres front office end up on different pages regarding the roster or in-game decision-making, things could go sideways.

As Preller said during his media availability, the Padres should reward those who perform well for the team and Shildt should be in that camp. However, Shildt is also already under contract for 2025, so the urgency of handing out a lengthy a long-term extension should not be there.

If the Padres want to renegotiate the terms of Shildt's current deal to give him a raise for 2025, add another year, and then maybe a team option for 2027, then sure, go for it. If Shildt wants a longer commitment than that, San Diego would be better served to wait to make sure that this partnership will be fruitful for longer than one year. There was a time when Bob Melvin was supposed to their manager for the foreseeable future and we all remember how that turned out.

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