San Diego Padres hire former reliever Craig Stammen as manager

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The San Diego Padres have hired former reliever Craig Stammen to be their manager.

Stammen got a three-year contract Thursday to begin his first managerial job at any level of the sport.

The longtime right-handed reliever retired from his playing career with the Padres in August 2023, and he spent the past two seasons as an assistant to the major league coaching staff and the baseball operations department headed by general manager A.J. Preller.

The 41-year-old Stammen replaces Mike Shildt, who retired Oct. 13 after just two seasons in charge following the Padres' painful playoff elimination in a tight three-game Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs. The Padres won at least 90 games and made the playoffs in both seasons under Shildt, who cited burnout and exhaustion in announcing his departure.

The Padres conducted a deliberate search for Shildt’s replacement, interviewing the likes of Albert Pujols, former Padres catcher Nick Hundley and longtime San Diego pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Stammen, who had not been publicly mentioned as a candidate for the job, is the Padres’ fifth full-time manager since the start of the 2016 season.

“Craig has been a strong presence in our organization for nearly a decade,” Preller said in a statement. “He possesses deep organizational knowledge and brings natural leadership qualities to the manager’s chair. As both a player and in his post-playing career, Craig has displayed an ability to elevate those around him. His strength of character, competitive nature and talent for bringing people together make him the ideal choice to lead the Padres.”

Stammen becomes the majors' only manager who is a former pitcher.

He pitched seven seasons for the Washington Nationals and six more for the Padres during his playing career, serving as a reliever for all but his first two big league seasons. An Ohio native known for his effective sinker, Stammen is fifth in Padres history with 333 appearances for the club.

The Padres are enjoying their longest stretch of success in franchise history, making four playoff appearances and posting five winning records in the past six years behind stars Fernando Tatís Jr. and Manny Machado. They got as far as the NL Championship Series in 2022, losing to Philadelphia in five games after knocking off the Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Stammen takes over the Padres' dugout just under two years after the death in November 2023 of beloved Padres owner Peter Seidler, whose aggressive spending and hunger to win galvanized the team’s fan base. Seidler’s brother, John, is now the Padres’ chairman.

Preller, who is headed into the final year of his own contract, must make several major roster decisions in the upcoming weeks with key players due to hit free agency and the likely loss of significant pitching talent from last season’s 90-win club. Starters Dylan Cease and Michael King are free agents, while Yu Darvish will miss the 2026 season after undergoing elbow surgery.

Stammen is the latest surprising managerial hire in an already-eventful MLB offseason.

The nearby Los Angeles Angels gave only a one-year contract to Kurt Suzuki, another managerial neophyte, while the San Francisco Giants unconventionally hired longtime college coach Tony Vitello. The Nationals chose 33-year-old Blake Butera, the youngest manager in the majors since 1972.

The Colorado Rockies are the only remaining team without a permanent manager. Warren Schaeffer finished their 119-loss season as the interim manager, and the team parted ways with general manager Bill Schmidt on Oct. 1.

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