The San Diego Padres have been sailing through rough waters, but they want manager Andy Green to continue steering the ship.
Things aren’t going very well for the San Diego Padres on the field at the moment, but the team has decided that it wants manager Andy Green to remain at the helm for the foreseeable future. The club announced a contract extension with the skipper, which MLB.com reports is for an additional three seasons after Green’s current deal ends after 2018. The new arrangement will take him through the 2021 season.
Green hasn’t enjoyed much success since taking over as Padres manager prior to the 2016 campaign, but the club hasn’t exactly put him in a great position to succeed. He owns an overall record of 119-159 (.428) as the top man in the San Diego dugout. The team went 68-94 last year, finishing last in the NL West. They’re on a slightly better pace this season at 51-65 and are avoiding the basement thanks only to the despondent San Francisco Giants.
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The Padres famously had a whirlwind offseason in preparation for 2015, adding Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Craig Kimbrel and James Shields in a bold effort to remake the team into a legitimate contender. It all went spectacularly wrong, and Myers is the only one still with the club.
It’s hard to win many games when your team is committed to a full-scale rebuild, and that’s the situation Green has largely been saddled with over the past year and a half. However, the organization evidently likes what it has seen from Green in the manager’s chair beyond simply the win-loss column.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller praised Green for his performance as skipper during the club’s lean period, per MLB.com:
"“Throughout the past two seasons, Andy has consistently proven to us his leadership abilities and strong character. Andy’s knowledge of the game and passion for his players has earned him respect in the clubhouse and throughout the organization. As we continue to build a system that produces winning baseball from top to bottom, I am confident that Andy provides the leadership and stability needed to deliver a championship to San Diego.”"
Many teams going through transitional phases prefer to maintain a sense of continuity at the top. The Padres kept Preller at the head of the front office despite a suspension by the league last September for withholding medical information in trade negotiations. With Green now under contract for the next several years, San Diego has given a vote of confidence to this regime to lead the franchise forward in the rebuild process.
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The Friars will hope to see some progress next season, but with the Dodgers at the top of the division as well as the emergences of the Diamondbacks and Rockies as contenders, it will be a tough climb for Green and company.