The chaos caused by the sudden resignation of San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt continues to go unresolved, and several coaches have been left hanging. One of them, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, which be moving on for firmer pastures, presumably, as Rodriguez accepted a job in the same role with the Houston Astros. 

Rodriguez may have been on shaky ground anyway. His first season with San Diego went well, as the Padres let the majors in batting average for the first time in their history, which is saying something given that the team had Tony Gwynn for two decades. 

Season two didn’t go as well, however. The team’s batting average number remained high as they finished seventh in the league, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, but the Padres’ power numbers dropped precipitously. 

San Diego fell to 28th in the league in home runs, and the Padres were 18th in runs. Those issues showed up big-time in the Padres’ loss to the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card round, as the team scored just five runs in three games. Rodriguez had one year remaining on his contract. 

The coaching carousel will continue to spin in San Diego until Shildt’s replacement is hired. The Padres were expected to announce Albert Pujols as their new manager, but that hasn’t happened yet, and the team has also interviewed two other candidates, Nick Hundley and pitching coach Ruben Niebla. 

Finding stability in the hitting coach position has been a thorn in San Diego’s side for a decade. The Padres will hire their tenth hitting coach since 2015 when they bring in Rodriguez’s replacement, and the new manager will be the team’s fourth in seven seasons. The ongoing instability has caused some to wonder if the open managerial position is as much of a plum job as GM A.J. Preller thinks it is. 

Part of the problem stems from the park itself. Petco doesn’t lend itself to big power numbers, so to some extent the Padres almost have to play small ball. That goes out the window when the team goes on the road, however, and it’s difficult to construct a roster that can play both ways. 

Payroll is the other obvious issue when it comes to attracting power hitters in the free agent market, but right now the big issues are the lack of a manager, a GM who hasn’t been extended beyond this year, and a team that now doesn’t have a hitting coach.