Padres Dismiss Bud Black as Manager

Black out in SD after 9 seasons. Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

San Diego has made a change in midst of a disappointing season so far.

By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)


The Padres have cut ties with their longtime manager in Bud Black today. In what has been  a very underwhelming season so far for the club. Dave Roberts will be the manager for now until the club comes up with an interim manager. Here is the official statement released by the team: 

The club will immediately begin the formal search for an Interim Manager for the remainder of the 2015 season. Until that process has concluded, Bench Coach Dave Roberts will serve as the Manager beginning with tonight's game against Oakland.

This is not a surprising move in the least as this club, after a flurry of off season activity full of trades and change, has stumbled to a 32-33  record, sitting six games back of the first place Dodgers in the N.L West. This was suppose to be  a team that was going to get to the top of the division and be able to be right in the thick of the division race right through the fall.

The additions of Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Craig Kimbrel, Wil Myers and others were going to be the key players who would lead a turnaround for the franchise and have them thinking themselves as a threat for a postseason berth. Through some of the trades they made to acquire players have worked out so far, others have flat out underperformed and are not doing much of anything for the team in a positive manner when it comes to their play.

No magic mid season trade will be able to change the fortunes for this group around. This turnaround will have to come within that clubhouse and find a way to get on a winning streak. Now the manager can only do so much when it comes to getting performance out of his players.

He cannot bat and pitch for them when they are out there. Black certainly put them in position to win but their is also their must be responsibility by the players be taken. Their sloppy, up and down play has been lingering around them for way too long and already has taken a toll on this club's potential to do something special this season.

Whether it is fielding  a ground ball in the infield, executing with runners in scoring position etc Padres have to do abetter job of doing the little things better in order to have the breaks and wins come their way in bunches.

You can have all the talent in the world, but yet if you do not make those plays that do not exact show up in the box score and newspaper, you can leave yourself open to having those close losses as San Diego has.

Bud Black is  a good baseball man but sometimes their is just not  a connection between manager and team. This group of Padres looks like they never quite fully bought into Black's way of playing the game and what he asked of them to do for the good of the team.

Black had great longevity in San Diego with this being  what was his ninth season in charge of the Padres. At some point though, success at  a high level must kick in to have a chance to continue to extend that long tenure. Unfortunately outside of the one 90 win season under his guidance, the team never could reach that level again, falling to the 70's in terms of win totals.

GM A.J Preller did not hire Black, which made it an even more difficult for Black on the job, knowing he had to win big in order to be able to convince the general manager that he is the answer at manager for the long term of this changeover from the previous GM regime.

 Unfortunately that was not happening so far this season and now Black moves on and the Padres must hope they can find an interim manager sooner rather than later.