Padres hire former reliever Craig Stammen as next manager

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres have hired Craig Stammen to be their next manager on a three-year contract, the team announced on Thursday. Stammen, the longtime big league reliever, will be introduced in a press conference on Monday at Petco Park.

The move comes as a surprise, after the Padres had narrowed their list of candidates to a small handful -- including pitching coach Ruben Niebla, surefire Hall of Fame slugger Albert Pujols and longtime catcher Nick Hundley. It was always unclear if there was another finalist in the mix. Evidently, there was. And that fourth finalist is now the Padres’ 24th manager.

“Craig has been a strong presence in our organization for nearly a decade,” Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller said in a statement. “He possesses deep organizational knowledge and brings natural leadership qualities to the manager’s chair. As both a player and in his post-playing career, Craig has displayed an ability to elevate those around him. His strength of character, competitive nature and talent for bringing people together make him the ideal choice to lead the Padres.”

The 2026 season will be Stammen’s 10th in the Padres' organization. He spent 13 seasons as a pitcher in the big leagues, including the last six as a reliever with the Padres from 2017-22. Stammen was the de facto leader of the bullpen for several years in San Diego before he retired during the 2023 season, when it became evident he would not return from a torn capsule in his right shoulder.

Stammen remained in the organization, and he was promptly hired as an assistant on the big league coaching staff and in the baseball operations department. In that role, he served in a number of different capacities. He worked alongside the big league club and made himself available to Minor Leaguers. He sat in with the front office during trade discussions. In short, Stammen has done a bit of everything over the past two seasons.

“Honestly, we realized it when he was playing,” Preller told MLB.com. “Whatever he was doing -- whether it was pitching or coaching or managing -- you want this guy in your organization in a leadership role.”

Still, the manager’s chair is clearly a major step up for Stammen, who has never held the role at any level and has never formally served as a coach. He inherits a team with clear win-now ambitions and a talented roster -- albeit one with several questions to be addressed this offseason.

Of course, they first needed to fill the manager’s chair after Mike Shildt stepped down on Oct. 13. Shildt helmed the Padres to two straight 90-win seasons for the first time in franchise history. But San Diego twice came up short in winner-take-all playoff games in 2024 and ‘25.

Stammen’s job is largely to build on Shildt’s success, then help the Padres take the next step in October.

“Craig has been here a long time, and the biggest thing you see with Craig is his belief in the Padres organization and his belief in our players,” Preller said.

Stammen was largely known as a do-anything middle-innings guy during his tenure with the Padres. The clear highlight from those six seasons was his surprise start in a winner-take-all Wild Card Series Game 3 against Shildt’s Cardinals in 2020. Stammen, who learned he would be starting that game via text after he woke up that morning, pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings as nine Padres pitchers combined for a shutout, the most in postseason history.

It’s unclear where the hiring of Stammen leaves the rest of the Padres’ coaching staff. Sources indicated that Niebla is expected to return in his role of pitching coach. Niebla was perhaps the runner-up for the skipper job, according to one source, and he remains under contract. He is extremely well regarded for his work with the Padres’ pitching staff over the past four seasons.

Bullpen coach Ben Fritz, meanwhile, recently received a contract extension, according to sources, and appears set to return to that role. (Presumably, Fritz would’ve been promoted to pitching coach, had Niebla been hired.)

Clearly, stability is expected on the pitching front. But hitting coach Victor Rodríguez has since departed for the same role with the Houston Astros. It’s unclear how much further continuity can be expected on Stammen’s coaching staff.

But Preller said: “We have a talented staff that’s been a part of a lot of winning here recently and has good processes. Craig has seen that. Craig understands that.”

Stammen’s first order of business will be filling out that coaching staff. He shouldn’t need to do much work getting to know his players -- he’s already played with a handful of them, including Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. He shared a bullpen with a young Adrian Morejon. He often pitched in relief of Joe Musgrove.

Now, Stammen is tasked with leading his former teammates from the manager’s chair. A surprise pick for the job, maybe. But given his acumen and his organizational vision, the Padres believe he’s the right one.