The Padres Officially Fire Jayce Tingler After The Padres Were The Most Disappointing Team In All Of Baseball And Finished Under .500 While Missing The Playoffs
See ya Jayce Tingler. Now this comes as no shock to any baseball fan but the Padres fired Tingler today after just 2 seasons in San Diego. He was offered a chance to stay within the organization but it's unknown if he will be taking it. He's a great baseball mind so it makes sense, he just couldn't stay on as manager, not after how this season went. The Padres were the biggest disappointment in baseball this year, there's no way around it. They were supposed to be fighting with the Dodgers for the NL West and competing for a World Series title. With the roster they had you thought it would be a cakewalk for them to the playoffs. It turned out to be a nightmare.
They were a feel good story last year but couldn't make it out of the NLDS and after loading up on pitching this offseason with Blake Snell and Yu Darvish there was a ton of hype and expectations around this club. They went 53-40 in the first half and hung around a Wild Card spot but absolutely collapsed in the second half. 26-43 down the stretch and not only did they miss a playoff spot, they finished under .500 going 79-83. How bad was it? On August 11th they were 17 games over .500. From there on out they had the worst record in baseball. With the names on their roster there is no reason they should have finished under .500. They choked, they collapsed, they bottomed out. It all came to light with the Manny Machado - Fernando Tatis Jr. incident after Tingler was ejected for arguing balls and strikes late in the season. It was clear he had lost the team and wasn't long for this job. Yes he brought the Padres to October for the first time in 14 years in 2020, but he didn't do enough this season to save his job, even with a year left on his deal.
Injuries plagued the team with Fernando Tatis Jr. seemingly coming and going every few weeks, but there is still no excuse for not making the playoffs. They could have gone out and made more moves at the deadline but they didn't. There was the rumor of Max Scherzer going there at the deadline but that fell through. The Padres have shaken up more than just the manger, firing some key guys during the season so we may see a complete organizational overhaul, who knows. They need a veteran guy who can come in and help get them to October. Who knows who they will hire, but they need someone who has been there before. Like the Dusty Baker situation in Houston. Do they go after a guy like Buck Showalter? There are a lot of old Baltimore guys on that club so it makes sense. Maybe a guy like Ron Washington? They need someone with that pedigree and DNA.
The writing was on the wall for Tingler, you can't have these expectations and names and fall flat on your face like this, arguably one of the most disappointing teams in recent memory. It's a move that had to be made. Jayce Tingler just isn't a manager name either, need a better name than that. Sorry, Jayce.