The Padres may have one more offseason battle to fight off the field: keeping Ben Fritz.
Fritz has settled into a key role in San Diego’s dugout since returning to the bullpen coach job after a brief run as interim pitching coach in 2021. The Padres turned to him on Aug. 23 of that season, when they cut ties with veteran pitching coach Larry Rothschild and handed Fritz the staff in the interim.
San Diego was 69-58 at the time, but the year still ended four games under .500. In those 35 games with Fritz running the pitching side, the staff posted a 5.25 ERA.
He went back to the bullpen after the season, and the job has remained his ever since. The results since then have been strong enough to draw attention. From 2022-26, Padres relievers have posted the lowest expected ERA in baseball at 3.53, plus the second-most fWAR and the sixth-best actual ERA.
It’s impossible to pin all of that on Fritz from the outside, but another club seems interested in trying. The Athletic reported that he drew interest from teams searching for a pitching coach last offseason before the Padres gave him a “significant raise.”
Now there’s a familiar possibility hanging out there. The Oakland Athletics are looking for a pitching coach after firing Scott Emerson at midseason, and they never took the interim tag off Dan Hubbs. That opens the door for Fritz, who was drafted by the A’s in the first round, 30th overall, of the 2002 MLB Draft.
A San Jose native, Fritz spent the next six seasons in the Oakland system. He was then taken by the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 Rule 5 draft, though he never made it to the majors.
A move to Oakland would also bring him back to Northern California, at least temporarily. The A’s are currently playing at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento while a new Las Vegas stadium is being built.
Other clubs could join the market for pitching coaches before next season, depending on how manager and GM changes shake out around the league.
For now, the Padres are hoping most of their current staff stays intact in 2026. “We expect a majority, if not all of them, to be back,” manager Craig Stammen said.
“And a lot of that depends on contract stuff and offers from other teams and all that kind of stuff. We’ll have ongoing conversation here over the next couple weeks, but we hope to have everybody back.”
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That uncertainty matters because the Padres were already weighing ways to add another left-handed option to the bench, and the market offers a few names with more proven availability and production. Nathaniel Lowe and Cedric Mullins are among the free agents who could fit that need, giving San Diego a possible alternative if Sheets status leaves too much doubt in a roster spot that was supposed to be straightforward. [Read more 🡒]