The San Diego Padres fired Manager Bud Black on Monday after a 32-33 start. He had been there for nine seasons. The Padres have a $108.4 million payroll this year. Is their mediocre record really Bud Black’s fault?
Bud Black was hired by the Padres on November 8, 2006. 2007 was his first year and the Padres almost made it to the playoffs. They tied with the Colorado Rockies with records of 89-73. They had to travel to Colorado to play a 163rd game to decide who would move on to the postseason. The Rockies won the game 9-8 and then went all the way to the World Series that year. That was as close as they would come to playing in the postseason under Black. 2010 was the best year, going 90-72. In baseball winning 90 games usually makes the playoffs. They missed out by one game. The Braves were 91-71 that year and earned the Wild Card spot. Last season they were 77-85, finishing third in the National League West.
This off-season the Padres spent money, hoping to be not only a playoff team, but a threat to win the World Series. They agreed with Pitcher James Shields on a four-year $75 million contract. The Padres were hoping he would assist the rotation. They added Wil Myers, Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, and Derek Norris to the lineup. The expectation was to compete in the National League West.
That has yet to happen. The Padres are fourth in the National League West, only the Colorado Rockies have a worse record. San Diego decided it was time to move in a different direction. According to ESPN, General Manager A.J. Preller didn’t like how the club was playing under Black saying, “It wasn’t one magic thing. I made the decision last night and I slept on it. At the end of the day, this was the direction we wanted to go. I’ve evaluated him overall for eight months when I was looking at everything. I’ve seen inconsistencies, ups and downs. This team is not bottoming out or playing poorly. Just too much inconsistency. We have not played to the level we are capable of.”
Outfielder Matt Kemp was surprised by the move saying, “We were all shocked. I’m really surprised at the timing. There should be a lot of disappointment in the clubhouse with the way we played.”
The Padres announced on Tuesday that Pat Murphy will be the interim manager for the rest of the season. Murphy had been the manager of the El Paso Chihuahuas this year. General Manager AJ Preller believes that he is ready for the job saying in a statement, “Pat Murphy’s 30 years of experience coaching and managing, and his success at every level, stood out to me as I came to this decision. His leadership ability, his respect in the clubhouse and his familiarity with our system will make this transition a smooth one for our players and coaching staff.”
This wasn’t fair to Bud Black. They were only one game below .500 which in the National League really isn’t that bad. They brought in a lot of new faces to the ball club. It was going to take a while for them to play well together. 65 games was too short. The Padres should have waited until the All-Star break. They would know better how their season was going then.
For Bud Black, he is an outstanding manager who didn’t have the talent to win in San Diego until this year. Hopefully another team will sign him but that might be next year.
What do you think of the Padres firing Bud Black?
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