The 2021 MLB season was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the San Diego Padres. After starting the year hot, the Padres couldn’t maintain their momentum throughout the season, eventually finishing with a disappointing 79-83 record. The lack of success led to the time relieving Jayce Tingler from his managerial duties. Now, San Diego will turn its attention to finding a new bench boss.
Fortunately, BetOnline has released odds on who the next Padres manager could be. As of October 8, Buck Showalter is the leading candidate at +200 odds.
It’s been a few years since Showalter has coached in the MLB — three seasons, to be exact. The 65-year-old most recently served as the Baltimore Orioles coach from 2010 to 2018, making the playoffs three times during that span. All in all, Showalter has a career record of 1,551-1,517 across the four teams that he’s coached for.
Hiring Showalter would certainly make the Padres feel like a bigger deal. They have a lot of young and talented players on their roster, however, San Diego often takes a big seat in the limelight compared to the other California-based clubs. While Showalter may not have a World Series ring, he brings over 3,000 games of experience to the table and could be the key to unlocking the Padres’ potential.
Besides, the Orioles had made the playoffs just twice in 25 seasons before Showalter showed up. Considering how the Padres have had one postseason appearance since 2007, maybe the former Baltimore manager could work his magic again in San Diego.
Odds To Be the Next San Diego Padres Manager
Odds via BetOnline as of Friday, October 8
- Buck Showalter (+200)
- Bruce Bochy (+275)
- Bob Melvin (+500)
- Ron Washington (+550)
- Rod Barajas (+700)
- Brad Ausmus (+800)
- John Gibbons (+1200)
- Joe Maddon (+1400)
Could San Diego Hire Bruce Bochy (Again)?
At +275 odds, veteran manager Bruce Bochy has the second-best odds of becoming the next Padres manager. The thing is that it wouldn’t be his first time with the club. Bochy previous managed the Padres from 1995 to 2006. He coached San Diego to four postseason appearances, with the team’s best performance coming in 1998 when they lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series.
However, a lot has happened since then. Bochy went on to coach the San Francisco Giants from 2007 to 2019, winning three World Series titles during his 13-year tenure. It’s tough enough to find a candidate with one championship to his name, let alone three.
With Bochy managing the Giants just a few years ago, he clearly still knows the NL West division pretty well. Between that and his past experience in San Diego, it makes a lot of sense to see him coaching to Padres again. If he can somehow do to them what he did with the Giants, the Padres could be a scary force for years to come.
Bob Melvin Padres Manager Odds
At first, it may seem strange to see Bob Melvin as one of the top candidates to be the next Padres manager. After all, he’s spent the last 11 seasons with the Oakland Athletics, managing them to an 853-764 record with six postseason appearances.
However, Melvin has to decide if he wants to pick up his contract option to stay with the Athletic for the 2022 MLB season. He’s been one of baseball’s highest-paid managers over the last few years, making around $3.5 million per season. Oakland is also one of the more frugal franchises in the league, so paying Melvin that much money when he’s yet to have more than three wins in a postseason could have them wanting to part ways.
As mentioned before with Showalter, if the Padres want to seem like more of a big deal, they’d be wise to pursue Melvin. Yes, he hasn’t had a deep playoff run, but he’s managed to keep the Athletics as one of the top clubs during the regular season over the last decade or so. San Diego’s big issue this year was its collapse halfway through the season. Melvin should be able to keep them focused throughout the 162-game schedule, which would, ultimately, improve the chances of postseason success.
At the end of the day, it might come down to whether or not the Padres are willing to pay Melvin more money than his contract option offers him.
