San Diego Padres Fire Longtime Manager Bud Black
On Monday, the San Diego Padres decided it was time for a new direction on the field and fired their manager Bud Black. Black had been managing the Padres for nine years, winning the National League Manager of the Year Award in 2010. He led the Padres to an overall record of 649-713.
This season has been quite a disappointment for San Diego as they have a record of 32-33, good for third place in the N.L. West. As reported on earlier here at the Inquisitr general manager A.J. Preller brought in a bunch of new talent including Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Justin Upton, and Craig Kimbrel this past offseason and expectations were high for the Padres. Instead, the team hasn’t really clicked together and has been floating around the.500 mark. Instead of watching the season completely slip away, the Padres front office decided it was time for a new voice in the clubhouse. Bench coach Dave Roberts will take over managing duties as the Padres start a short two-game series with the Oakland A’s at home on Monday. According to their media announcement, the Padres will begin a search for a new manager immediately. Early favorites to replace Black are Roberts, Mark Kotsay, and the Padres AAA manager Pat Murphy.
This move by the Padres doesn’t come as a complete surprise, but it wasn’t the managerial firing that many people expected to take place on Monday. Instead, many thought that the Boston Red Sox would send John Farrell packing after a miserable weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
While this is certainly a dark day for Black, many in the baseball community believe he will be able to bounce back quickly and find work elsewhere in the game.
Bud Black’s next managerial stop? Cincinnati? Miami? Seattle? he won’t be out of a job long that’s for sure.
— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) June 15, 2015
Bud Black will have no problem finding another managerial job. Highly respected within the industry; won’t be assigned any blame for SD ’15.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 15, 2015
Once the Padres do find their new manager, if things don’t get better, expect Preller to make more changes to find the right combination. He likes to run the Padres like a fantasy baseball squad and even though he made a plethora of moves this offseason, there are still holes on the roster. Preller put this bunch together, but today Bud Black took the fall.
Do you believe the San Diego Padres were right to fire Bud Black today?
[Photo by Dennis Poroy/Getty Images]
