Bob Melvin, who until recently was the manager of the underachieving San Diego Padres, was named manager of the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. He will be under contract through 2026, team owner Greg Johnson said. Melvin had been under contract with the Padres through the 2024 season before they granted him permission to speak with their division rival about the Giants’ job.
The situation is a strange and dramatic turn of events that is surprising, in part, because Melvin is known as a straightforward personality who does not normally find himself in the center of the kind of flighty baseball machinations that can ensnare more volatile personalities in high-stakes positions.
But after two seasons with eccentric Padres general manager A.J. Preller, one that yielded a berth in the National League Championship Series and one that resulted in missing the postseason with the highest payroll in franchise history, both seemed to need a change.
“Some things transpired last year in a difficult year for the team with high expectations,” Melvin said as the Giants introduced him. “I think there was a narrative at the end that probably wasn’t going to go away with me being on my last year of my contract, and I think as far as that organization goes, it’s probably not fair if that narrative continued through next year. So all things considered, this opportunity came about and for all the reasons I stated, this feels like the right one for me.”
Sturdy, player-friendly Melvin and frenetic, hands-on Preller did not always see things the same way, according to multiple people familiar with the Padres’ inner workings. What both initially hoped would be a case of opposites attracting turned into a less comfortable situation, though with both under contract through at least next season, they had publicly suggested they would coexist moving forward.
But when the Giants fired manager Gabe Kapler, an alternate path emerged. Melvin built his reputation as one of the game’s best managers during 10-plus seasons with the Oakland Athletics in which he led the low-budget A’s to seven postseason appearances and four division titles. He was deeply connected to the Bay Area, and he represented a more traditional kind of manager than Kapler to a franchise hoping to win now.
“I thank the San Diego Padres for being accommodating and letting us pursue the perfect candidate and allowing Bob to come home,” Giants President Farhan Zaidi said.
Johnson said Zaidi will have his contract extended through 2026 to match Melvin’s, giving the pair three years to realize the dreams of a dynasty that Zaidi brought when he came to San Francisco in 2018. While Kapler paid the price for the Giants narrowly missing the postseason in 2023, Zaidi is facing a growing list of questions about his roster construction and the team’s approach to high-profile free agents. Both issues have contributed to the organization’s seeming inability to transform from a good team clawing for a wild-card berth most years into an annual powerhouse.
Preller and the Padres face even more pressing questions as they enter next year with a high-priced roster fresh off a season so disappointing that it suggested as many systemic failures behind the scenes as visible ones on the field. Since Preller took over as the Padres’ general manager before the 2014 season, San Diego has made the playoffs twice: in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and in 2022. They have won two postseason series in that time — both last year. Preller has hired four managers in that time, none of whom have stuck, all of whom have overseen disappointment. He will try to get it right when he hires his fifth in the coming weeks.
“I think the idea is you want somebody that’s here for a long time. You want to find talented people who are here for a long time. But it’s like anything, any kind of partnership: It takes two,” Preller said during a Zoom call with reporters, including San Diego’s 97.3 the Fan. “I’ll constantly look back and say: ‘Hey, how can we do this different? And what does this look like?’ You want to hire a really talented person, and hopefully they’re here for a decade. But, again, things come up.”
Two obvious choices exist in-house for the Padres. One, former St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, served on Melvin’s staff for two seasons after he was fired by the Cardinals in October 2021. Another is Ryan Flaherty, who was Melvin’s bench coach in 2023 and has been with the organization since 2019. Flaherty, 37, has strong relationships with Padres stars including Manny Machado from their time together as players with the Baltimore Orioles.
The Padres are not the only team looking for a new manager. The Cleveland Guardians need a replacement for the retired Terry Francona. The Milwaukee Brewers might soon need someone to replace Craig Counsell, whose contract is up and is regarded as one of the best managers in the game. The New York Mets, who recently hired Counsell’s former boss David Stearns to run their baseball operations, need to replace Buck Showalter. The Los Angeles Angels parted ways with Phil Nevin after this season. They will be hunting for someone, too.
The Houston Astros will join the list of managerial suitors soon: They announced a news conference for Thursday morning that will feature owner Jim Crane, General Manager Dana Brown and 74-year-old Dusty Baker. Baker, who just finished his 26th season as a major league manager and leads all active ones with 2,183 wins, is expected to announce his retirement. Baker already discussed his decision to step aside with USA Today.
The World Series, featuring the second-winningest active manager and another San Diego-to-San Francisco manager in Bruce Bochy, begins Friday. Major League Baseball prefers that teams not participating in it refrain from announcing big news or fresh hires on game days, lest they pull attention from the sport’s autumn jewel. But Melvin’s introduction Wednesday was one of multiple hires announced in the pre-World Series lull. Another was Boston’s hiring of former reliever Craig Breslow as its chief baseball officer, replacing Chaim Bloom. Breslow had been working in the Chicago Cubs’ front office before he emerged as Boston’s top choice after a search that reportedly included outreach to more experienced candidates, many of whom reportedly declined the opportunity to interview.
