Padres Manager Craig Stammen Sends Message to Fans Amid Frustrating Stretch

After a hot start to the year, the San Diego Padres now find themselves battling for a wild-card spot in the National League.

San Diego has fallen in the standings due to inconsistent offense mixed with poor pitching from the starting rotation. This has been a recipe for disaster for this team, and it's been fairly frustrating for all parties involved.

While the Padres were able to salvage their series against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 6-1 win on Wednesday, they scored a total of just two runs in the first two games, including nearly getting no-hit on Monday.

In a conversation with 97.3 The Fan, manager Craig Stammen sent a message to the frustrated Padres fans amid the tough stretch.

"I understand, our fans are passionate and they care a lot about the Padres," Stammen said. "Honestly, the people that care the most are the people in this clubhouse and this locker room. You talk about frustration, we're living it every day, and the one thing for fans is that these guys care about this immensely. And they go home thinking about it, thinking about it all day long.

"They aren't just showing up, laddie dah playing baseball, see if we win today kind of thing. There is none of that going on."

Craig Stammen joined @BenAndWoods this morning and was asked what his message is to Padres fans amid the team's struggles: pic.twitter.com/6hN95bcyK7
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) June 17, 2026

Stammen is in his first season as the manager of the Padres, and he started off his tenure on a high note. But multiple star players, including Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., have struggled offensively, leading to the team's ceiling being lowered.

However, the Padres aren't giving up on the stars and the coaches have been working with them tirelessly to figure this out. Stammen understands that there is frustration around the performance that the Padres have displayed of late, but the team has to keep pushing.

The manager also credited the Cardinals for some solid pitching to open the three-game series. However, San Diego's offense has been one of the worst in baseball this year, with a team OPS of .652 that ranks last in MLB.

"The coaches are working every single day diligently, trying to find that one little solution that might unlock some of our perennial All-Stars that are struggling right now or unlock the offense in general together to be able to score some more runs," Stammen said. "The Cardinals threw some good pitching at us the last couple days and we struggled and kind of put us back to square one."

The recent downtrend of the Padres could have the front office looking to the trade deadline this summer to address some of the issues. This team has goals of winning the World Series, but if the offense keeps sputtering like this, it will become another wasted season in San Diego.

Machado and Tatis need to get going consistently at some point, as this would drastically help the Padres find more success on the field. But until that happens, all the Padres and the coaches can do is hope for a turnaround, while putting their best foot forward each time out.

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