Baltimore Orioles: Phillies And Padres Pass On Buck Showalter

The Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres announced coaching hires on Thursday, passing on former Baltimore Orioles skipper Buck Showalter.

Thursday may be an off day for the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, but news around Major League Baseball has kept fans entertained, even without a World Series game tonight. Today has been a day of managerial news as two more organizations have hired a new manager for 2020, none of those names being former Baltimore Orioles skipper Buck Showalter.

Showalter was considered a favorite to return to coaching with the Philadelphia Phillies, who have elected to go with former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, per MLB.com’s Joe Zolecki. Showalter’s connections with Philadelphia’s front office, including team President Andy MacPhail, weren’t enough to sway the Phillies into bringing him in.

Also filling their managerial vacancy today were the San Diego Padres. After relieving Andy Green of his duties before the end of the 2019 season, San Diego began their search for a new leader to take a young and exciting group of players to the next level in 2020.

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Former Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado had reportedly expressed to San Diego’s front office that he would like for the team to at least consider Showalter for the job, a move that would have been a lot of fun to watch for Orioles fans. Unlike Philadelphia who went with a manager with World Series experience, the Padres went with the young, first-time manager in Jayce Tingler, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Tingler worked as a minor league coordinator, coach, and more recently as an assistant general manager with the Texas Rangers. Atlanta Braves bench coach Ron Washington was also in consideration, but there were nno reports of any formal meeting between Showalter and the Padres.

With Joe Maddon going to Los Angeles and David Ross going to Chicago (weird but I’ll reserve judgment until later), that leaves San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and New York still searching for a new manager.

Showalter’s only connection has been to New York, where he has openly expressed interest in coaching. The Mets have been connected to just about anyone who ever played baseball close to New York and reports indicate that an unknown  “bombshell” is in play. It’s the Mets, so it could literally be anyone.

It now appears less and less likely that Showalter returns to coaching this season, especially after the Phillies elected to go with Joe Girardi. The 20-year coaching veteran owns a career record of  1,551-1,517 (.506%) with the Yankees, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Orioles.