Sports Time Radio

Do you know who the longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball is? It took me three or four guesses before I finally got the right manager. If you guessed Bob Melvin you are correct.

Melvin has been the manager of the Oakland A’s for the last 11 seasons. The A’s have a record of 853-764 and have been to the playoffs six times in the 11 years Melvin has been their manager.

Next season Melvin will still be the longest tenured manager in Major League baseball, but he won’t be in the Oakland dugout next season. It was announced this week that Melvin will be the new manager of another California team as he signed a three year deal to manage the San Diego Padres.

The Padres will be the fourth team that Melvin has managed, But San Diego will be the first team he’s managed that has spent big money on free agents. Melvin managed the Seattle Mariners for two seasons. Then he spent four full seasons and parts of a fifth as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks before ended up with the A’s.

Now the Mariners, Diamondbacks and especially the A’s aren’t known to go out onto the free agent market and sign players t long term big money deals, but the Padres currently have multiple players signed long term for big money. Fernando Tatis Jr.is signed until 2034 and his contract is for a total of $340 million dollars. Manny Machado is in the third year of a 10 year deal worth $300 million dollars. Add in Yu Darvish who is signed for two more seasons. Darvish will make $20 million dollars next season and then $19 million dollars in 2023. You can even throw Eric Hosmer into this mix even though there where a lot of reports that San Diego would like to trade him. Hosmer has four years left on an 8 year $144 million dollar deal. Don’t forget that Will Myers is scheduled to make $22.5 million dollars next season and then the Padres have a club option on Myers for 2023 at $20 million dollars. Then there’s Blake Snell who will make $13.1 million dollars next season before his salary jumps to $16.6 million dollars in 2023.

It should be interesting to see how Melvin handles a team that is carrying high salary players compared to how he managed the A’s. Just for comparison the A’s highest paid player headed into next season will be Elvis Andrus who is scheduled to make $14 million dollars, but almost $7 million dollars will be paid by the Texas Rangers.

Now the Padres where a disappointment last season as they where trendy pick to possible win the National League West or end up with one of the two National League wild card spots. In the end San Diego finished four games under .500 at 79-83 and manager Jayce Tingler was let go after the season.

If the Padres can just stay healthy next season especially in the starting rotation they should improve just because of that, but you have to wonder if they’ll be looking to add this off season.

Melvin has shown that he can guide small market low salary teams into the playoffs and now he’s got a chance to manage a big money team. Will he be able to lead the Padres into contention in the National League West? The Los Angeles Dodgers should still be the favorite and will have to see if the San Francisco Giants can continue to surprise and contend again next season.

Do you like the hiring of Melvin by the Padres? If you don’t let me know who you think they should’ve hired instead. I’d also be interested to know if you think this will help the Padres contend next season.

Albert Pujols isn’t ready to retire and will play winter ball for the Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Professional Baseball League. Pujols turns 4 years old in January and this will be his first season playing winter ball in the Dominican. Pujols said “I said I was going to play here before I retire. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to retire yet. My time to retire hasn’t arrived yet. Why do I have to retire because someone tells me to? I’m going to do it on my terms and when I feel I can’t play anymore.”

Pujols played in 109 games last season as a member of the Los Angeles Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pujols hit .236 with 17 home runs last season and has 679 career home runs. If Pujols plays in the majors next season there’s a good chance that he’ll reach the 700 home run mark for his career. If Pujols reaches the 700 home run mark he’ll be just the fourth player in history to hit 700 career home runs.

Do you see a team out there that might sign Pujols? There’s been some talk about him ending his career where it started with the St. Louis Cardinals, but with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at 1st base Pujols playing time would be very, very limited. You’d think that he’d be a better fit for an American League team, but if the designated hitter is put in throughout baseball then he could be a fir for any team as a designated hitter and fill in 1st baseman.

Okay, let me know if and where you see Pujols next season.

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You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime