Stammen Gets High Grade As Padres Rookie Manager

The San Diego Padres had a rookie manager this year, and Craig Stammen certainly had an eventful first season. It was a very up and down campaign that ended with a strong finish, even though the Padres' remarkable playoff run ended falling short of the NLCS. 

So how did Stammen do? The overall grade from here is a B+, so let’s break that down to see what some of the strengths and weaknesses were from Stammen’s inaugural campaign.

Stammen was the ultimate player’s manager

This was his obvious strength, and it got amplified during the stretch run. A lot of teams would have quit on their manager given how bad things got in June, but that didn’t even come close to happening. 

There were rough stretches, but this was a veteran team that needed someone with on-field experience, so in that sense Stammen fit the bill perfectly. 

There are plenty of examples of how this worked, but the best might be catcher Luis Campusano, who played with Stammen back when the manager was near the end of his career as a reliever. Former manager Mike Shildt never trusted Campusano defensively, and as a result his talents were largely wasted. 

That didn’t happen with Stammen. He went to Campusano early when it was clear that Freddy Fermin wasn’t going to hit enough to keep the job. Campusano responded with a tremendous defensive season that culminated with him gunning down three would-be base stealers in a single game, and his offensive contributions were beyond vital at times. 

The manager also had some brain cramp moments

It wasn’t all great, however. Stammen was shaky with some of his in-game decisions early on, even with bench coach Randy Knorr on board to provide some steerage. The worst was when he forgot about his first mound visit during a start by Walker Buehler, which meant he automatically had to remove Buehler as soon as he crossed the first base line for his second visit. 

The injured pitchers problem

The Padres were constantly scrambling to find effective hurlers, and as a result Stammen rode his bullpen hard. That resulted in a couple of key injuries, but it’s hard to tell if this was all on the manager or dictated to some extent by GM A.J. Preller.

The manager did have a doghouse of sorts

Stammen was generally fair and even with how he handled his playoffs, but there were a couple of players who wound up in his doghouse. The most notable one was infielder Sung-Mun Song, who was shuttled between San Diego and Triple-A El Paso after he got hurt and failed to find his stroke, despite being signed to a four-year, $16 million deal.