Breaking News: San Diego Padres Hire Craig Stammen as Manager

Breaking News: San Diego Padres Hire Craig Stammen as Manager

Craig Stamon is the next manager of the San Diego Padres’s. 41 years old, spent the last six seasons of his big league career, a long one as a reliever with the Padres’s. And this would comes out of left field. Three-year contract with Stamon and the Padres’s. He’s been working for the team since he retired, so 2023, 24, and 25 as a special assistant to the general manager. and he worked a little bit with the major league team, a little bit with the minor league team. What do we think about this? Then we’ll get to the poo holes and anyone else that was in the running factor. But what do we think about Craig Stamon, a young Craig Stamon taking over in a big-time role like this with some big personalities and a team that is expecting to be in their winning window still. This is the new way. This is they say in the Mandalorian, another Disney reference, this is the way. You get into an organization and you become a special assistant to the manager, the GM, the owner, and then when they have a job opening, they hire you because they already know you and you’ve already told them all your ideas. And they’re like, I like his idea. And oh, if you get and then they can say, oh, well, I’ve heard him talk about this. I like that idea or I like this. I like that. And then this is this is kind of the way. And then also they say, oh, wait, I can I already know him, so I can tell him what to do. we have the same ideas on everything and then we do, you know, this and that. So, I mean, I hope it works for the Padres’s. We’ll see. But, I don’t know. Craig Stamon has always come across as a smart guy and a nice guy, but we’ll see. I mean, he’s been there for a couple years now, so they know him better than we do. But, you know, good luck. Everybody I know that played with him says, “Incredible dude.” My biggest hangup anytime a pitcher gets a managerial job. It is hard to part of probably one of the biggest things of managing a team is how you manage your bullpen. So he knows that part of it. He knows, you know, when guys lie, when guys don’t lie, how far to push some guys, you know, how far he could be pushed. So I think he’s got great insight on that, great experience on that. But how much does he know the other ins and outs of being in the dugout? I’m not talking about X’s and O’s of baseball. I I think you can think you can learn that at the, you know, bench coach that does all that. But how much does he know the ins and outs of pushing a Manny Machado, pushing a Xander Bogarts, pulling back the reins on a Fernando Tatis. Like that’s the kind of stuff that he’s going to have to navigate. I think sometimes pitchers don’t always have the the experience, the insight. He’s been in the organization, so he knows how the organization works. Great dude. Sounds like he’s an incredible people person. But to make a political reference, back when George Bush was finding a a vice president, he hired Dick Cheney to be his vice president after he had hired Dick Cheney to be the person to go find him his vice president. So, is this what happened with Craig Stamon? Craig Stamon was in on all the all the managerial meetings and he’s like, “It’s pretty good. It’s pretty good.” And he just took everybody’s ideas and he’s like, “I’ll be the manager.” I just I just I don’t know. I mean, again, this is another fascinating hire because who’s his coaches going to be? That’s what this this all comes down to with Vitello, but now Stamon, all these guys that really have no experience ever being in the dugout of a major league. Not that Stamon hasn’t been in the dugout, but I mean like running a team, not a coach. Who are they hired to help them? That that’s the biggest that’s what I want to see. Like who what’s their network like and who can they bring in that they trust to help them run the bullpen? I know Neba is probably going to stay there. So, I’m assuming Sam Stam is just going to be like, “Ruben, you run the you run the pitching staff, and I’ll just take care of the other side of it.” But who’s going to be their bench coach? Who’s going to be this guy? Who’s going to be that guy? That’s the things to me that are fascinating about these hires is can it work? Absolutely. But they’ve also never had to make decisions. Do I bring in a pitcher? Do I bring in Do I pinch hit? Do I do I do this? Do I do that? How do we do this? How There’s a million things that happen so fast. And I think every manager you talk to that does this for the first time is amazed by how fast the game actually goes when you’re sitting in that seat. And you better have somebody sitting next to you that one you can trust. you can have arguments with and get over with it and get over it and also know that they have your best interest and also the team’s best interest in mind because crowds I’m sure you played on teams and I’ve been around it where coaches don’t always mingle because sometimes guys have different motives and you know because they’re like oh maybe if he gets fired I can slide into that job right like so I mean there’s always there’s always ulterior motives and and that’s the thing that’s fascinating is how do you find the right guy to be by your side grew thick and thin. Maybe Craig has somebody like that. Maybe. I don’t know. I I I don’t know. But I know Ryan Flity was on that staff. I’m not sure his status now, but he’s been interviewing for some jobs. Ruben Neabula, I think, was actually in the running for this job. So, do you bring two coaches back that didn’t get the job that they wanted and now they’re just being your, you know, on your staff instead of being the head honcho? I saw I saw one time we had a bench coach and I won’t because I’m not going to throw I’d love to throw the one person under the bus, but I’m not going to throw the other guys under the bus. the bench coach and then there was like a big league coach on this team that the manager would look past the bench coach. They would all stand all three right on the rail and look past the bench coach for the other guys the other guy’s opinion on on subjects and the bench coach incredible very talented knew the game all that stuff and he just had to stand there and just it was it was so awkward. It changed the next year, but it was so awkward to to see him always like, “Hey, what do you think about this? Hey, what do you think about this?” And the bench coach was like anytime he spoke up, it was bad news, but it was I was It’s so awkward. So hopefully that doesn’t happen. How do you think a recently retired player will do who has spent time now in the front office and I would assume is on the same page as AJ Prowller with this particular ball club. This is a team that expects to keep winning. It is a party. It is an awesome scene. We’ve talked about this in San Diego. They fill that place up. The fan base is ravid and they want more winning. I don’t know what they’ll do this off season yet. I don’t think they’re going to spend like crazy AJ, but this is the type of team in my mind that has some veterans who are strong personalities and I don’t want to say necessarily had a say in this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were conversations. Manny Machado has been there for a long time. He really likes to be involved with the leadership portion of a team. I’m assuming that he gave two thumbs up on this one. Yeah, he would have to. Mhm. You would have to. Now, did he play with Stammon there as a player when Manny got there or was he already gone? I’ll I’ll check that while you’re talking about it because Yeah. Listen, there there’s probably two people on this team you really need to get Well, there’s probably three actually Manny Fern Fernando and I would have said you Darvish, but U Darvish is out for 26. So, I would have said those are probably the three people you would have they did play together. They crossed. Okay. So, they know each other. So, they have a they have a relationship prior to this. So, I I think that yeah, I think they definitely had to ask probably those three guys before they made this higher because Manny has a lot of pull. He had a lot of pull, especially with Peter side that was alive. He had a lot of pull. You could go to the owner and just get anything done. So, I like the fact that they probably involved players. We don’t know that for sure, but it just sure seems like it was part of it. Okay, good luck to Craig. We’ll learn more about how that all went down. Next layer for the last couple minutes. Albert Puhol will be shut out from a manager role. There were a ton of openings. The only one left is the Rockies as Ken said on fair territory. He does not want that. I wouldn’t call it smoke fog. Uh so he’s not going to be a manager to start 2026. He will manage the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic. But are you surprised that he didn’t get one of these? Especially after the I thought he was going to get Angels. I thought Angels was going to be the one. Right. and you just said, “Hey, work with a team, then they bring you on.” Arty was interested, but the owner might have offered him a one-year deal or a game by game. Who’s also got a new GM this year? That team at Albert played for for a long time. Cardinals. Bingo. Yeah, but Yachti wants that job, too. And Olly Marl might No, I know. Listen, I mean, Heim Bloom, though, is new. Olly Marmal. I love obviously I love Ollie Marl, but new GM, new front office, new everything. Maybe Albert sits out for a year and says, “Hey, look what I did for the Dominican in the World Baseball Classic.” Much like Mark D. Rosa does all the time to that thing to try to get a job, right? Well, he has to sit out now. I know, but but I’m just saying he sits out and he says, “Oh, well, I really wanted to go to St. Louis the whole time, you know?” I don’t know. But like I I thought he was going to get the I thought he was going to get the Angels job. Everyone was saying that he was going to get the Angels job. Yeah. And he didn’t. Kratz, question for you on Pooh Hol. Do you think that he should spend this season on a major league coaching staff? I don’t know if he will. He does some TV work. He’s doing the DRWC and it gets complicated. He shouldn’t be worried about money, but he’d probably have to give up the one million bucks for a, you know, $150,000 coaching contract instead. Should be no big deal if the long-term goal is manager. I’m just saying the Angels do have that situation by the balls to some extent. But if you were him and you really want to manage, shouldn’t he try to link up with a team this year? It might be too late because most of the coaching staffs have been picked. But your thoughts? 100%. I think he went through all the I think he went You have to interview first. My buddies who have become managers are like look the interview process is different like it’s long it’s not like oh I can’t handle it but it’s exhausting because it’s just you know they put a situation the lineup what the record of the team is at the time and then a situation that happens in the clubhouse and then you know this is going on during the game how would you handle this and you have like an hour to figure it out it’s like basically taking tests now he’s gone through that to me whatever ever reason he didn’t get the job. Like if it’s with the Angels, he didn’t get the job because he was like, “No, you’re still going to pay me my million dollars that I would have gotten and you’re going to pay me like a regular manager.” You know, maybe he isn’t that far off of being a manager. If the other teams are like, “Eh, you know, we’re we’re going to go in another direction. It’s not me, it’s you kind of thing.” He needs to work on that kind of stuff. And I never being a manager but only talking to my buddies who have managed and are working towards being managers. Being on the bench matters so much. It matters to your street cred with players. It matters to how you figure out I mean Albert’s been out of the game for a few years. Things change. You figure out how to deal with the new player. And I think Albert has to learn how to how to talk to the 20 to 26th man on the roster. Not saying he didn’t when he played. I’m just saying superstars that will always be their hurdle when they go to be a manager. Some of these hires or candidates like Albert could have a high ceiling but he also could have a low floor. Craig Stamon being part of the org now for multiple years knowing that guys like that gives him a higher floor than Albert Puhol. I think that’s part of this like hey what’s the best and worst case scenario here for a team that’s contending for a playoff spot. I think that’s a factor when they made their decision. But again, what when does this work out? We asked this about the Blake Butra thing. When does this work out? When does a Hall of Famer step in to being a manager without any experience and it work out? Yeah, not often. I mean, Albert has some people very much on his side that think he’s going to be great, but nobody made the choice this time

AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, and Scott Braun react to the breaking news that Craig Stammen has been hired as the new San Diego Padres manager. The crew debates what makes this move so surprising, how Stammen’s experience as a former pitcher and team special assistant could shape his approach, and what it means for stars like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Xander Bogaerts. They also discuss how this fits into a growing MLB trend of teams hiring recently retired players with limited dugout experience, why Stammen’s coaching staff will be crucial to his success, and what’s next for Albert Pujols after missing out on a managerial job.

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