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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“PADRES–A REAL SURPRISE”
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We all come from somewhere, so nothing ever shocks me in sports when it comes to hiring.
The Padres did something very different with the hiring of longtime relief pitcher Craig Stammen, who becomes the team’s 6th manager in the last 12-years since AJ Preller took over as General Manager.
Stammen is surely cut from a different cloth.
A 13-year veteran pitcher with the Washington Nations and then the Padres. A starter turned reliever, who reinvented himself twice, becoming a setup reliever and then recovering from surgery to become an innings workhorse-trust worthy bullpen guy.
He’s never managed anywhere. His coaching resume is limited by his interaction with minor leaguers this past 3-summers working for Preller.
Stammen brings so many intangibles to the Padres dugout job.
Experience from a decade plus in the game.
Intelligent, driven, demanding.
A baseball intellect who believes in analytics.
A thinking man manager, who has dealt with stars and scrubs.
A standup guy in every way.
A guy who has seen the Padres clubhouse from lots of different prisms.
The early years of the independent contractor personalities of Matt Kemp,Justi Upton and James Shields.
The turmoil that was from the Mr-Me-Myself-I group that involved Juan Soto and Josh Hadeer.
And observing the growth of raw talents like Machado and Tatis into men.
He has been in pennant races and teams that fell apart. He has seen fire sales and the fury of first place finishes and playoff games.
He knows the players, the farm system, and the structure of what Padres baseball is to represent.
He is a most unique individual, working for an unorthodox GM in Preller, always looking to make a different type of deal.
This was different, this hire.
Depending on which rumor you believe, Albert Pujols did not get this job done because he demanded it be his team, dugout, clubhouse and coaching staff. That or his financial demands were too steep. He may have to learn something about demands, considering he was viewed as favorites for the Angels, then the Padres jobs, and got neither.
Nick Hundley brought alot of intellect to the interview, but maybe he needs to be a bench coach first before he elevates into the manager’s chair.
Ruben Niebla is gifted at what he does, handling pitchers, but maybe he was not ready.
The unique aspect of what happened on Thursday, was the Padres now have two strong beacons from the pitching world, casting their knowledge and light on Friar arms, with Niebla and Stammen working together.
Will it work? Only if Preller’s next set of surprise decisions nets him front line pitching.
The back of Stammen’s baseball card will show wins-losses-games-innings and respectable ERA’s. He squeezed every ounce of talent out of his right arm in a nice career. Now he will be asked to lead a team that has not finished the job over the last five years.
His baseball card won’t detail this.
Craig Stammen, gem of a guy, and bright light baseball mind.
Interesting start to a critical Padres off season
We all come from somewhere. Craig Stammen’s somewhere has led him to the Padres manager’s office.
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