Padres News: MLB Analyst Defends Bob Melvin Amid Lost Season for San Diego
Entering the day at 60-67, 7 games under .500 and 6 games out of a Wild Card spot, the Padres season has been an unmitigated disaster up to this point of the season.
Around baseball, pundits are ready and willing to point fingers all around the organization for the $250 million failure. Is it the players and the roster? Is it manager Bob Melvin's fault? Do issues lie elsewhere on the coaching staff or is there something fundamentally wrong up the food chain in the front office?
MLB insider Ken Rosenthal opines that it might be more the latter. On a recent edition of his Fair Territory show, Rosenthal defended Melvin and vaguely shifted blame toward the front office as a whole.
Here's the excerpt from his show.
"What has gone wrong here? Well, they'll be plenty of time for post-mortems as we go forward. I don't see the Padres coming out of it now. I've been waiting for them all season -- we all have been waiting for them all season. They have not come close to meeting expectations.
"I wrote I believe in May after a series at Dodger Stadium that the Padres were more a collection of individuals than a team. I still believe that. There is something missing here. It's not the manager. I know Padres fans, some of them are clamoring about Bob Melvin saying that's why the one run game record is bad. That's why the extra inning record is bad. No, no. Bob Melvin historically has done well in both those regards. Bob Melvin is not the issue here. The issue here is something in the formula, in the mix and I can't quite put my finger on it, but it hasn't worked. And the Padres are going to need to take a hard look in the offseason at the way they've put this team together.
"They've got some free agent defection they're looking at too. Like (Blake) Snell. Josh Hader. They've got a number of things that they're going to have to look at this offseason. Because this has been as big a disappointment as the Mets, as the Yankees, in some ways, even bigger. San Diego Padres not good."
A lot to process there. However, the key takeaway is this:
The issue here is something in the formula, in the mix and I can't quite put my finger on it, but it hasn't worked.
In recent weeks, Dennis Lin of The Athletic questioned Padres general manager AJ Preller and his hands-on approach potentially stifling the direction of the coaching staff that he's put in place -- that is, if he hasn't already fired them.
This offseason could be a critical one for the Padres if they miss the playoffs, which seems like more and more like a possibility.
