3 best things San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt said at the MLB Winter Meetings

How Mike Shildt will evolve with the San Diego Padres in 2024

Shildt will once again get the chance to manager in 2024 after being cut loose by the St. Louis Cardinals following the 2021 season. While leading St. Louis, the Cardinals posted a 252-199 mark, so it certainly wasn't the on-field results that caused Shildt to be jettisoned. However, the new Padres manager said there is always room for him to improve with the second chance he has been given in southern California.

"I will continue to evolve," Shildt said. "That's how we get here. I think the starting point at the end of that is I need to be comfortable and confident with what I know and continue to be open-minded to what I don't. That's been a strength of mine really my entire career. Otherwise, I don't get here the path I took without that open mindedness and growth mindset.

"Time will tell. Again, I know I'm a better version of myself than I was the last time we played against the (Los Angeles) Dodgers in the Wild Card in '21 (his final game with the Cardinals), which was good. But there was a lot of things that went well that allowed success to have taken place to get the job.

"Again, creating the understanding and openness to realize, 'Okay, what are my blind spots?' and being open to that and hearing hard conversations and being open to create sweet spots."