As soon as the Padres let Bob Melvin walk up the California coast to San Francisco, two internal candidates immediately became the favorites to replace him: advisor and occasional 3rd base coach Mike Shildt, and bench coach/offensive coordinator Ryan Flaherty. Both are well-regarded by the organization and the hope was both would stick around in some capacity regardless of who took over as skipper.
Shildt won the gig. Flaherty will not be around to help him.
The Cubs are hiring the 37-year-old (and good friend of Manny Machado) to join new manager Craig Counsell's staff as Chicago's bench coach. Flaherty had one more year on his contract but after not winning the skipper's gig in San Diego was granted permission to interview elsewhere. It didn't take him long to find another suitor.
So, there's another opening on Shildt's coaching staff. We know pitching coach Ruben Niebla will be back in the same capacity and bullpen coach Ben Fritz is expected to return so the arms are in very good shape. Here are three ideas to fill out important positions for the 2024 season.
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1) Hire Benji Gil as Bench Coach
This just seems like an absolute no-brainer to me. Gil was an external managerial candidate and impressed the Friars brass. The Tijuana native who went to Castle Park High School has drawn rave reviews from players as the Angels infield instructor so he gets along with superstars like the Padres have awfully well (his tequila shot handshake with Shohei Ohtani is utter brilliance).
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Gil is probably not going to be part of Ron Washington's staff in Anaheim so he's free to go wherever he wants. He also managed Team Mexico to a surprising spot in the World Baseball Classic semi-finals. Eventually he will very likely be the first Mexican-born manager in the Major Leagues. Until then, having him home at Petco Park would go a long way towards improving the clubhouse vibe that obviously was not great a year ago.
2) Get Ron Roenicke to Coach 3rd Base
A few years ago Padres broadcaster Bob Scanlan told he Roenicke was one of the best baseball people he’d ever been around. A former manager with the Rockies and Red Sox, Roenicke is now a special assistant with the Dodgers who's been a valuable sounding board for Dave Roberts.
Ron says he doesn't have a whole lot of interest in managing again but getting back in the dugout as an assistant could be appealing to a career baseball man and Southern California native. Roenicke owns a pair of World Series rings: one as Boston's bench coach in 2018 and one as the Angels 3rd base coach in 2002, so he's obviously good at it. Plus, taking an asset away from Los Angeles is always a good idea.
The possible sticking point here is LA would have to give Roenicke permission to talk with the Friars and given how heated their relationship is lately, that request might not be granted.
3) Make Adrian Gonzalez the Hitting Coach
Plenty of Padres fans won’t like this idea but I have honestly never understood the A-Gone hate. The franchise was under another ownership group when the Eastlake High alum became an All-Star. They didn't want to pay him so they traded him to Boston, who then dealt him to the Dodgers, where he tortured his home town team with, like, a 2.800 OPS or something ridiculous.
None of that is his fault. But, if it means something to y'all, this would be a great way to extend an olive branch. Adrian reportedly interviewed for the Padres skipper job and made it pretty deep into the process. Sometimes an organization will talk to someone under the guise of a managerial interview but they're really seeing if they want him to join the coaching staff. I don't know if that's the case with Adrian but I do know he knows hitting.
I've watched him give hitting clinics to kids and the way he understands and communicates is impressive. He understands the mechanics of a swing, the approach, how each player differs biomechanically, and perhaps most importantly how to go to the plate with the right game plan. For a team that struggled with offensive consistency for much of 2023 adding a designated hitting instructor, especially one with five All-Star Games on his resume, seems like a pretty good idea to me.
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