San Diego Padres interview Tom Gordon for managerial opening
Jon Heymann of CBS Sports reports that the San Diego Padres recently interviewed Tom Gordon for their managerial opening. The position opened up when the Padres fired Bud Black in June after a disappointing start to this season. Pat Murphy, the Padres AAA manager, served in an interim role through the end of this year.
The Padres finished 2015 with a 74-88 record. This came on the heels of an exciting off-season that saw San Diego turn over a substantial amount of its starting lineup. Even after adding Wil Myers, Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Derek Norris, Will Middlebrooks, James Shields, and Craig Kimbrel the Padres finished with a worse record than their 77-85 2014 campaign. GM A.J. Preller inherited Black when he took over the team, and this is his first opportunity to hire his choice as manager.
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Gordon, who spent parts of 21 seasons as a pitcher in the big leagues, has no prior managerial experience. He spent significant time as a starter and reliever for Kansas City, Boston, the Cubs, Houston, the Yankees, Philadelphia, and Arizona. Over those 21 years Gordon went 138-126 with a 3.96 ERA and 158 saves. In 1989 Gordon finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Gregg Olson. “Flash” was also a three time all-star.
The trend of hiring managers with no prior experience has grown in popularity over the past few seasons. Paul Hagen wrote in an article for MLB.com that 11 managers with no prior experience were hired to lead teams from 2010-2013. Just this week Scott Servais, who also had no prior managing experience, was hired by the Mariners. As Jen McCaffrey noted when Jason Variety interviewed for the job in Seattle, six MLB teams are led by individuals who have no prior coaching experience. That list includes: Robin Ventura, A.J. Hitch, Mike Matheny, Brad Ausmus, Craig Counsell, and Walt Weiss.