This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell's Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SAN DIEGO -- It was a year ago today that Craig Stammen was hired as Padres manager, a move that qualified as both stunning and sensible at the same time.
Stammen had never managed at any level. He would be tasked with learning on the fly in a win-now organization. But he also knew the ins and outs of that organization. And he’d already earned the respect and trust of his biggest stars, having played with them during his time as a reliever.
Now, one year into Stammen’s tenure, it’s worth re-examining his hire. The season contained all manner of ups and downs, and Stammen certainly wasn’t perfect. He also did plenty of good things and embraced the challenge of learning on the job. When it ended, Stammen was the first first-time manager to win at least 90 games in his first year with the Padres.
Steadying the ship
The most dejected that I saw the Padres clubhouse during the regular season came on July 3 at Dodger Stadium. They’d lost a brutal game in which Jake Cronenworth’s error led to Adrian Morejon surrendering a go-ahead grand slam.
Michael King was given what he clearly thought was an early hook that day. When we interviewed him postgame, he seemed to bite his tongue when asked about Stammen’s decision. (To be fair, I don’t think there was a single game in which King was lifted where he was happy about it.)
This was a visibly shaken clubhouse. That’s generally become pretty rare with the group of veterans the Padres have on board. But in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, they were clearly going through it.
Stammen’s message postgame? Optimism. Belief. A stay-the-course focus. I’m sure it rubbed plenty of fans the wrong way at the time. I certainly raised an eyebrow.
But, in the end, that belief was rewarded. On multiple occasions. The ship always steadied. The Padres proceeded to end their losing streak and finished the first half with five wins in eight games, staying afloat, even if only barely.
A midsummer pitching-staff masterclass
The single best thing Stammen did during his first season at the helm was navigating the month leading up to the Trade Deadline, pitching-wise. The Padres’ rotation was riddled with injuries. Even before those injuries it was already thin.
In late July, the Padres sat in 11th place in the National League, three games below .500. Yes, Stammen had been preaching a stay-the-course philosophy. But he also seemed to grasp the urgency of the situation.
He couldn’t keep trotting out that rotation. The Padres were getting beat because their starters were getting hit hard in a traditional setup. So he and his staff designed a pitching-chaos philosophy, which worked to great success.
It took discipline. Any pitcher could be used in any situation. As such, the Padres’ coaching staff spent significantly more time gameplanning and strategizing. But it got them to the Trade Deadline as buyers, in position to add the starting pitching they desperately needed. And that’s precisely what they did.
Legitimate growing pains
Stammen’s first season at the helm clearly wasn’t perfect. Far from it.
I think back to Stammen not having Ty France ready to pinch-hit in San Francisco. Or seemingly forgetting that he’d already used a mound visit when Walker Buehler was lifted against Washington. Those are bad mistakes. Inexcusable mistakes.
And Stammen didn’t try to excuse them. He owned them. He vowed to learn from them and to not make them again. For the most part, Stammen’s evolution as a manager this season was tangible.
For instance: He began the season with a clear gut instinct to over-trust his pitchers, generally leaving them in a batter or two too long. It often came back to bite him. So … Stammen started tightening the leash in real time. He showed an ability to learn from his mistakes and became better as a manager as a result.
“I try not to second-guess myself because, in the moment, I had all the information in front of me and made that decision and felt like I was 100% convicted in it,” Stammen said recently. “I’m sleeping just great at night because of it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from it and try to make even better decisions or more informed decisions as you go forward.”
What comes next?
Again, Stammen’s first season in charge wasn’t perfect by any stretch. But I think it went about as well as could have been reasonably expected for a first-time manager thrust into that situation. He guided the Padres through a tumultuous summer into the playoffs. (Frankly, I think he should’ve at least been a finalist for the NL Manager of the Year Award.)
And, sure, there were decisions in the postseason worth scrutinizing. But the truth is, they were mostly either minor or 50-50 calls. (Some lineup-construction stuff, some pinch-hitting stuff, perhaps asking a bit too much from the high-leverage relievers.) Still, Stammen mostly got the big calls right.
In the end, his first season in charge was something to build on. But here’s the thing: Under general manager A.J. Preller, the last three managers also thrived during their first season. They all reached the playoffs, too.
And none made it to a third season. Jayce Tingler, Bob Melvin and Mike Shildt all departed after Year 2.
“I’m hoping to make Year 3, I guess,” Stammen recently said with a laugh. “No, I feel good after the season. I felt like I had more in the tank. I think there were points in the season where I was like, ‘Man, this is very draining and that is taking a lot out of me.’
“I think the advantage I had was having gone through Major League seasons as a player and knowing how that mentally and physically taxes you. But going on the run that we made at the end of the season, the way we were playing baseball, getting to the playoffs, seeing Petco Park go crazy, it just gave me more energy -- gave me more motivation going into this next season.
“I’ve been there. I was one of the players on all those teams where we did great the first year with the manager, and then the second year, kind of tailed off a little bit. So I’ve already been thinking, ‘How do you make it fresh? How do you make it new? But how do you keep it the same? How do you get these players motivated to play just as good as they did this year in the following year and years to come?’
“It’ll be a challenge for me. But I’m excited for it.”