Padres News: Xander Bogaerts Wants to See Bob Melvin Return Next Season
After a frustrating season for the San Diego Padres, all of the talk has been about what the organization will do with manager Bob Melvin. Normally when a team underwhelms like the Padres did, someone has to pay the price, and it could very well be Melvin.
However, the Padres aren’t likely to find anyone better than Melvin to take over. So, it could see them retaining the veteran manager, and hoping for a much better season in 2024 with the core in place.
The players seemed to enjoy Melvin as their manager, with a few of them showing their support to him. One of those was shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who just signed with the Padres on a massive contract last winter.
“Utmost respect for him,” Bogaerts said. “His communication has been phenomenal. He’s been really, really good to me, and I’m pretty sure he’s been really good to most of the guys in this room. I’ve seen it on a daily basis, and he’s a very special human being, for sure.”
The Padres finally started putting things together in the last few weeks of the season, but by then it was too late. They had dug a hole for themselves that was a little too deep to climb out of.
“I’m appreciative and thankful to him for that, and it just sucks that I’ve been able to turn it on a bit too late,” Bogaerts said. “Everything is just a little bit too late, you know?”
If Melvin does return next season, the hope is that the team can take the lessons from this season to make sure it doesn’t happen again. San Diego had the talent to be a good team, but they were very unlucky throughout the year, and it came back to bite them.
“Very talented core,” Melvin said. “Whatever the complementary pieces or the rest of the pieces look like, it’s a team that should have aspirations to play well next year and go farther than we did this year.”
It should be an interesting offseason for the Friars, and one that directly impacts the future of the organization. We should know soon about Melvin, but it looks like he may be safe for another season.
