Padres News: Bob Melvin, AJ Preller Both Returning to San Diego for 2024 Season
San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin and general manager A.J. Preller will be returning for the 2024 season. Preller made the announcement on Wednesday in a Zoom press conference with reporters.
"[Melvin is] our manager is going to be our manager going forward," Preller said. "Both he and I are very excited about the challenge of getting this group back to the postseason next year."
This comes as a bit of a surprise, as there have been reports of turmoil between Melvin and Preller and a potential unfixable relationship. However, the two sides had a long meeting following the end of the season, and clearly came away from it feeling like they could coexist and turn this team back into a contender.
With Melvin and Preller staying, the attention now turns to the roster. The Padres had the third-highest payroll in baseball in 2023, but barely were able to finish above .500.
There were talks about the team shedding payroll in the offseason, and it'll be interesting to see what the team decides to do with their free agents, veterans under big contracts and, of course, Juan Soto.
For now, though, we know the Padres won't be making any drastic changes, and their general manager and manager will be running the show in 2024.