Bob Melvin isn’t alone in going from the Padres to the Giants, as reports have suggested that San Diego third base coach Matt Williams will be joining Melvin in San Francisco. Padres associate manager Ryan Christenson also looks to be on the move, as The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly writes that Christenson is expected to be a part of Melvin’s staff with the Giants. Christenson has been Melvin’s second-in-command for the last six seasons, first as Melvin’s bench coach with the A’s from 2018-21 and then joining him with the Padres as a bench coach and associate manager for the last two seasons.
It isn’t known what coaching roles Christenson and Williams might take with the Giants, though most of the (very large) staff was expected to stay in place. Bench coach Kai Correa is under contract for next season, though Baggarly writes that the Giants are likely to give him permission to interview with other teams, so this could provide an opening for Christenson to just assume the bench coach job. Mark Hallberg is the third base coach, and since the team thought highly enough of Hallberg to interview him for the manager’s job, the Giants could probably try to find space for both Hallberg and Williams on the staff.
More from around the NL West…
- Also from Baggarly’s piece, he suggests that Matt Chapman could be a good fit as a free agent target for the Giants this winter. Of course, Chapman played under Melvin for years with the A’s, and beyond that recruiting link, adding Chapman would solidify a proper everyday player within a San Francisco lineup that has perhaps suffered for having too many platoon players and moving parts in recent years. Chapman’s stellar glove would instantly upgrade the Giants’ struggling defense, and put less fielding pressure on Marco Luciano (possibly the next regular shortstop in the Bay). J.D. Davis and possibly Casey Schmitt would then become trade chips for San Francisco if Chapman was installed at the hot corner.
- With the Cubs and Yankees both already rumored to be eyeing Juan Soto this offseason, the trade speculation about the Padres star isn’t likely to end until he is either extended by San Diego, or until a trade actually happens. Of course, it isn’t yet clear if the Padres are willing to move Soto at all this winter, and The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner hears from a league source that if Soto is dealt, it might not happen until closer to the trade deadline. Dealing Soto that late would naturally reduce the trade package San Diego would receive in return, yet for a Padres team desperate to contend in 2024, they might first want to see if they can get on track with Soto in the lineup before considering a deal.
- Clayton Kershaw has one-year free agent deals with the Dodgers in each of the last two offseasons, and it has been widely known that Kershaw was choosing between only retirement, returning to Los Angeles, or possibly signing with his hometown Rangers. While Kershaw opted to keep playing in L.A. on both occasions, Bill Shakin of the Los Angeles Times wonders if Texas’ breakout success now makes it a tougher decision for Kershaw, as the Rangers have now shown that their willingness to spend can translate to championship contention.
It’s odd the Giants were dissatisfied with Kapler’s performance, but the GM who hired him and assembled the roster he led, gets a 3 year extension.
Managers don’t get fired just based on W-L records. Clearly there were additional issues going on with Kapler that did not sit right with the decision makers above him.
Kapler was a victim of a player revolt led by Logan Webb.
Makes me respect Webb all the more.
What are you talking about? Of course managers get fired for won-loss records. It’s the main reason they are fired.
In Kapler’s situation it was a combination of 3 things. Win-Loss record. Late season collapse. Players complaining about him not providing direction. His hands off approach didn’t work.
But, mostly, the fact that he had a very meh roster to work with. Kapler was not the problem.
The main reason they are fired it to take the blame for front office failures.
It’s ridiculous that the GM got an extension.
They’re roster on paper looked good to me and I certainly wasn’t alone. Managers do get fired for poor W-L performances but with a much shorter hook with a team expected to at least compete. We do here of a lot of firings over differences between managers and front offices as front offices meddle a lot more in decisions. Take a Padres assistant Schildt with the Cardinals he had them roaring back to make the playoffs but the Cardinals surprisingly cut ties sighting philosophical differences. Point is both happen
I agree it’s dodgers or retirement for Kershaw. Going to the Rangers to compete would only be because of where he’s from the Dodgers have a chance every year practically
Pete Putila got a 3 year extension? Source please.
Maybe Kapler said he believed in merit, and they put him at odds with management.
I would be odder that a VP of Baseball would hire a manger on a 3yr contract and himself only be on a 1yr deal.
But for further context, Giants ownership did not let Zaidi tank, they have always felt the need year to year to put out a competitive team. On the MiLB front the pandemic has interfered on some level with evaluating of the farm. The only glaring mistaken on his scorecard is not matching TOR for Gausman. He wanted to be here and when talent wants to be HERE (SF) you sign them. The talent void left by Gausman leaving and Posey retiring hasn’t been replace.
Giants – I like that Melvin is bringing along a few guys he knows to help his staff up here. It adds to the changing flavor of coaching that the Giants need.
Sounds like Williams might replace Correa and I’m good with that. Matty always did look a little strange in anything other than a Giants uniform.
gfan — Well, the article already mentions Christenson as “Asst. Manager,” which may or may not be the same as “Bench Coach.” If it’s not, I’d see Mark Hallberg as Bench Coach, Matt Williams at 3B.
I was wondering what was the difference in those two positions as well. I just meant hopefully Correa is out and Williams is in. Not a fan of Correa he just didn’t seem to add anything to the staff.
@gfan Correa is also the base running/infield coach.
So bench coach, infield, and base running all his responsibilities yet the Giants have more coaches than most other teams. Maybe a restructure is in order then. Davis did improve as a defensive infielder but other than that, still not impressed with Correa.
And Estrada improved at 2nd and Wade improved at first. Pretty good.
Correa has been credited with the boost this year in infield defense, this year he has been responsible for rebooting the defense in general, jd Davis has credited a lot of his improvement to it
The Giants have more because when Kapler took over he installed 4 hitting coaches and 3 pitching coaches. There is also a sleep coordinator person that they use who works with the schedule and plans out how they need to deal with the schedule- wear coast teams often have really difficult travel there were a few times this season that the Giants flew across the country to the east coast, played a couple of games for back played in the West without a day in between, there was one where they played a night game followed by a day game Android the country
Worst defense in the league so probably good idea to let Kai move on
Farhan selecting aging outfielders, and people out of position made it worse. They need to sign at least two regulars, a back up cat her, and possibly another SP.
Yeah that too. They’ve been saying they want to get younger and more athletic so maybe they’ll work on that finally.
True, the move for Wade going to full-time 1B is quite the task..gotta give Correa some credit for that..
@Nevrfolow A lot of that can be attributed to the outfield defense. Correa has done a great job with both Davis and Wade. Along with age, I think the ban on the shift hurt Crawford.
Matt Williams as a 3b-man was awesome back in the day…but as a 3b coach not so much (his aging health probably had something to fo with it.)
He had runners run through his stop sign and still score at home…while at the same time waving runners (as slow as Soto) home only to get thrown out.
BoMel knows him from the Dbacks days…so why not let them re-unite again?
Niebla was hired by Preller before Melvin got there and just a hunch…me thinks will not be allowed to leave SD. Can’t greatly blame SD either…because he’s worked wonders with SD’s pitching.
Melvin should have a free hand in picking his coaching staff. Giants staff is to large, get rid of 3 or 4 of them.
Kershaw will retire as a Dodger when he does retire.
Agree 100%
Indeed. About the only thing he could to do tarnish his legend in Dodgerland is to sign with Texas, especially after that final appearance of the season. As usual he’ll take a few months to regroup and assess how he feels, and either go one more round with the Dodgers or retire.
Was Ichiro’s Seattle legacy tarnished by him playing for the Yankees and Marlins?
Ichiro hadn’t played his entire professional career in Seattle.
And, that’s the answer.
is it a fair comparison? because ichiro was a major star before coming to mlb and they were banking on that popularity and pushing that narrative in seattle. Also he played multiple years and came back to seattle for technically 2 years. That and you also had MLB pushing him every chance they got to open that market and pave the way for more and more far east players. Kershaw was not that when he started and didnt have that kind of backing. If Kershaw goes to the rangers its most likely a one and done and maybe a token signing with the dodgers if anything.
What happens if he is horrible in Texas and he was their big acquisition. Yes it could be tarnished. If he stays with LA regardless if he stays an ace or becomes Carlos Carrasco it will be forgiven. I would say andruw jones might be more of a fairer comparison of a potential bad scenario. He was pretty big at the end of his braves life and went to LA and fell off a cliff and never really recovered his prior “legend” even though overall after the one year in LA i believe he was an average batter. I think Trevor Story currently and Tulo in the past could be other examples of bad after leaving the team.
Does it really matter if he does?
Does it really matter if he does… what?
Kershaw is a HOF and one of my favorite players but why if Texas wins the World Series why would they want to add Kershaw rather than keeping their expensive team intact by signing a guy like Montgomery.
Agree that Kershaw will either retire or pitch part or all of one last season – with the Dodgers.
I could see Kershaw not signing with anyone, ramp up late and look to pitch with one of the LAD or Texas Rangers. I don’t know what relationship he has with either Chris Young or Bruce Bochy but for a man with 4 young children the allure to play at home has to be large vs leaving them.
Kershaw isn’t like say a Tony Gwynn who was SoCal born and then San Diego his whole adult life, college, pro’s and then in retirement? No one can say what’s in Kershaw’s head but as an outsider looking at the LAD can anyone say their approach to October is a winner? To me it’s Einstein’s definition of insanity.
He’s got a ring but didn’t get a parade, does that matter to him? (insert shrug emoji)
The Cubs aren’t gonna trade for Soto. Suzuki and Happ are both locked in for a couple more years. If they drop big dough, I’d bet on Bellinger and a front line starter.
To be honest, the Rangers should just try to resign Montgomery and tell Kershaw “We’re good”.
Old Matt Williams returning to the Giants. Modern day version of him in Chapman maybe coming to town. I like the idea for San Francisco. Great fit. Jays won’t be making any attempt to re-sign Chapman and that’s for the best for both player and team. There are only a handful of teams that would be smart to sign Chapman, but I like the potential fit.
I think Chapman is not only a terrible choice for the Giants but also an expensive one. His numbers are almost exactly the same as JD Davis, and even Chapman’s glove is not worth the investment. More important to sign Yamamoto and Lee and make one or two substantive trades for everyday bats.
I was just comparing Davis and Chapman and saw that too. It also seems Davis is still trending up while Chapman not so much.
JD Davis was almost unrecognizable with his glove in 2023, so kudos to him and the staff. He was a rock on both sides in the first half and the workload and some minor injuries caught up with him in the second half, he looked gassed. I think he can build on his 2023, pre All-Star break he was .277/.350 /.450 /.800,
I like Davis on the roster in 2024 which will be his age 31 season plus I’m not sure tying up 3rd base (Chapman) if there’s a possibility Luciano needs to come off shortstop is a good idea. I’d much rather see if Pete Alonso can be acquired should the Mets and he not be on the same page. Alonso is rep’d by Boras so unlikely he extends for the Mets or Giants.
I was wondering if the SF could sign Matt Chapman to play 3rd and Davis move to 1st and Wade Jr. return to the outfield?
Sad that the poster with “Bauer We Trust” in his screen name is so busy talking about another poster, not even on this thread, having “to renounce his manhood”. This is a baseball site, who talks like that? And why? (These are rhetorical questions.)
It’s that weirdo DeGrom Texas Ranger and his infinite alt accounts. IIRC, we had a couple of normal convos and then he went off the rails with his “tateism”. Doesn’t 4chan have a baseball thread or something?
Giants can have them. They obviously couldn’t get the job done in SD. As long as they keep Niebla.
Soto isn’t going anywhere unless the Padres are in a bad spot at the deadline. Even then I could see Preller holding on to him.
Why would Kershaw not play for one team his whole career so close to the end. Rangers will be good for a while but winning back to back pennants is tough
Matt Williams was busted for PEDs, that was when he was caught so doesn’t count years not caught. Sounds good for SF.
So… As was said many times on here, Soto is not being traded this offseason. Seidler will do everything he can to extend Soto and then if they don’t contend and have been unable to extend him, maybe he will be traded. Soto is a future HOF player and extending him would be the smartest choice. The Padres cannot replace him with anything they pick up in trade or anyone in the farm system.
Flaherty was the bench coach in SD by Preller’s insistence. Christenson was the associate manager.
Williams is a great guy and a good coach. He will do well no matter where he goes. He is also a good fit PR wise as a former Giant returning home.
Will the Giants employ the same Manager, Associate Manager, Bench Coach setup we saw in San Diego? Good question. Melvin seems to want his own team of coaches, so he may ask Zaidi to clean house, something Preller was not willing to do. Preller wanted best possible, not just the guys Melvin was familiar or comfortable with. Guys like Flaherty and Niebla. The guy Preller wanted as hitting coach, Troy Snitker, was someone that Melvin said absolutely not to, so we will see what happens there this offseason.
I hope that Kershaw returns to wear Dodger blue one final season if he chooses not to retire this offseason. He is HOF bound and watching a great player like him only don one uniform their entire career is something I would like to see more of.
The question with Soto is whether you wind up with a DeSoto (whose cars suffered from leaky windshields and rear windows, weak torsion bars that occasionally broke, splitting upholstery and flaking paint, and many other problems) or a Sotomayor (the fearless federal trial court judge who saved Major League Baseball from a ruinous 1995 strike).
Or Sotobore with obscure references meant to exhibit intelligence or Virtue Signaling.
Chapman would be a great fit for the Giants! Instant glove upgrade at 3B.
Chapman is a terrible choice for the Giants. Expensive too. See my comments above.
Kapler got fired partly for his hands off approach so the Giants hire the Padres skipper that was let go for his hands off approach.
Kershaw has a world series, he’s a lifelong Dodger player, he’s been paid an absolutely incredible amount of money, I don’t see why he wouldn’t re-sign one more time with the Dodgers if he doesn’t retire.
It’d be very weird for his legacy if he did 1-2 seasons on the Rangers or somewhere like that.
Could he probably get a larger salary to play for the Rangers and could he keep a little more after taxes by playing his home games in Texas? Sure. Of course. But does he need the extra money at this point? Definitely not. Could he possibly win another world series on the Rangers? Sure. But his chances aren’t any better or worse on the Dodgers in 2024.
There’s no logical reason for him to not end his career as a lifelong Dodger with no other team uniform connected to him.
It’s ridiculous to say oh the Texas Rangers spent money that means Kershaw will go there. The Dodgers don’t waste stupid money.
When it is someone else’s money (talking about Billionaires here) it’s ALWAYS stupid money. Sometimes it’s less stupid than others but in a world where 800k / year is a minimal salary and 45 mil/ year is the max (for now) it’s all incomprehensible to average person.
Kershaw needs to end his 1t ballot HOF career with the Dodgers. Don’t want to even think about him in any uniform other than the Dodgers. I don’t see any team paying more than the Dodgers either.
Chapman is both a defensive and offensive upgrade for the Giants, albeit only slightly on offense. He is a good fit there.
Williams is a former Giant so that is a good place for him to land in his final job. Will it be 3B coach knocking the incumbent out or bench coach knocking the incumbent out? He missed so much time with his bout with cancer that the Padres already know how they will do without hm.