Craig Stammen’s first season in charge of the Padres is already carrying real pressure, and a new update from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests the stakes could get even higher if San Diego slips out of the postseason picture.
The Padres are in a playoff spot as of August 17 and sitting at 67-58 through 125 games, but the margin is tight enough that a late stumble would change everything. Nightengale reported that if the club misses the playoffs, Stammen could end up as the “fall guy.”
“He signed a three-year contract in November. Yet, if the Padres miss the playoffs, someone needs to be the fall guy, and Stammen is A.J. Preller's seventh manager in 12 years since becoming GM and president of baseball operations," Nightengale writes.
San Diego’s position is solid but far from safe. The Padres are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies, though Philadelphia holds the tiebreaker after winning multiple series against San Diego earlier in the year. That leaves the door open for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are just one game back, to shake up the race if the Padres and Phillies cool off and San Diego fades.
The timing makes the situation even more pointed. A.J.
Preller went for it again at the trade deadline, adding Robbie Ray and Casey Mize to bolster the rotation. With that kind of push, missing the playoffs would be a major setback.
Stammen was hired this offseason instead of Albert Pujols, who had gained momentum late in the search. Now, with the race this close, Nightengale’s reporting adds another layer to the pressure: the Padres may be battling not just for a playoff berth, but for their manager’s job as well.
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