Bob Melvin, manager of the San Diego Padres, looks on during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park in San Diego, California, September 24, 2023. /CFP
Bob Melvin, manager of the Major League Baseball's (MLB's) San Diego Padres, will leave the team to take the same position in the San Francisco Giants, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
The Padres finished the 2023 regular season with a 82-80 record and ranked in the third place in the National League (NL) West, failing to make the playoffs. Though the team said they wanted to retain both Melvin and general manager A.J. Preller, they allowed Melvin to take the interview with the Giants earlier this week.
The Giants won three fewer games than the Padres and were in the fourth place in the NL West. The team went 2-8 on a homestand on the final stage of the season and lost 14 of their final 17 games on the road. In the end, they were ruled out of the playoffs with six games to go.
This year marked the third season of the Giants failing to appear in the postseason during manager Gabe Kapler's four-season tenure. He was fired even before the regular season ended. Kai Correa took over as the interim manager until the end of the campaign.
Gabe Kapler, manager of the San Francisco Giants, looks on during the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, September 20, 2023. /CFP
Melvin managed the Padres for two seasons. They were 89-73 in 2022 and advanced to the NL Championship Series but lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1. Having invested a great fortune during the offseason, the Padres began the 2023 campaign with a $258-million payroll, the third-largest of all 30 teams, but failed to go further.
It should be noticed that the two teams with even bigger salary numbers than the Padres - the New York Yankees and the New York Mets - didn't make the playoffs either.
Melvin will be introduced as the new manager of the Giants by Tuesday night, according to ESPN. He played for the Giants for three seasons as a catcher between 1986 and 1988, and worked as a manager for 20 seasons, being named Manager of the Year in 2007, 2012 and 2018.