Jayce

Tingler

In addition, the Twins have named David Popkins as their new hitting coach. Tingler was recently fired as the Padres manager after the club struggled down the stretch and finished with a disappointing 79-83 record, but he’s quickly found a job on Rocco Baldelli’s staff. He’ll replace Kevin Morgan, who has been reassigned in the Twins’ organization.

The writing has been on the wall for a while now, and the Friars made the move official on Wednesday afternoon via a press release. San Diego carried lofty expectations into the 2021 campaign and sat in good position to claim a postseason spot as late as mid-August before fully cratering down the stretch and finishing under the .500 mark with a record of 79-83. Tinger has been offered an opportunity to remain in the organization in a different role, per Padres general manager A.J. Preller.

Preller added Tingler will manage the Padres on Saturday afternoon and also noted that a report from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, which indicated that the team was planning to relieve him of his managerial duties, was “completely premature.” It appears that Tingler will remain the Padres manager for the moment, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility that he will be dismissed at the conclusion of the regular season. There should be further clarity on the situation in the near future. Stay tuned.

This is a bit of a surprise. The Padres entered the 2021 with lofty expectations, but failed to live up to them as a massive second-half collapse -- fueled by an avalanche of injuries to their pitching staff -- and the emergence of the Giants as a legitimate contender caused them to miss the postseason entirely. It’s unclear where the Padres will go from here, but there should be an official announcement from the team shortly.

The Padres have lost eight out of 10 and fell out of the second NL Wild Card spot over the weekend, with the Reds pulling head, so they decided to shake things up down the stretch. Pitching has been a major issue for the club of late, but a lot of it has to do with injury, not necessarily anything with Rothschild. Still, the club is hoping that this sends a message. Ben Fritz, previously the bullpen coach, will serve as interim pitching coach for the remainder of the season.

He will shift into a role in the San Diego front office as a senior advisor to baseball operations. Dennis Lin of The Athletic says the Padres “expect to retain almost all of their other coaches” from the 2020 staff.

Mattingly gets the nod after helping to guide the Marlins from 105 losses in 2019 to a postseason appearance in 2020, even after battling a nearly-team-wide COVID-19 outbreak in late July. Cubs manager David Ross and Padres manager Jayce Tingler are the other finalists. The winner will be revealed next Tuesday night.

The Padres plan to announce the reason for the postponement as soon as additional information becomes available. Obviously, there’s a chance that it could be related to a positive COVID-19 test within one of the organizations. Stay tuned, as there should be an update soon.

Preller went on to note that none of the players who have tested positive are included in the club’s 60-man pool for the upcoming 60-game 2020 season. They are all asymptomatic too. The Padres are currently planning to use Petco Park and the University of San Diego to stage spring training 2.0. They have shut down their facility in Peoria, Arizona due to COVID-19 concerns and scorching triple-digit temperatures in the area.

The team has also committed to paying its entire baseball operations staff through October 31, though some higher-paid employees are taking pay cuts. Padres minor leaguers will continue to receive the agreed-upon $400 per week stipend as the baseball world attempts to wait out the coronavirus pandemic.