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Ruben Niebla

Padres Finalize New Contract With Pitching Coach Ruben Niebla

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The Padres and pitching coach Ruben Niebla have finalized a new multi-year deal, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune on X. 2024 was the final year of his previous contract but the two sides worked out a new pact to keep their relationship going, though the exact length of the new pact is unclear.

Niebla, 53 in December, was hired by the Padres going into 2022 after spending many years in the Guardians organization. The Friars have generally been successful in that time. They won 89 games in 2022 and made the playoffs, their first time doing so in a full season since 2006. They had a bit of a dip in 2023, falling to 82-80, but were back in the playoffs in 2024 with a 93-69 showing.

The pitching has generally been good in that time, with the club having a collective 3.80 earned run average over the past three seasons, good enough to get into the top 10 in the majors for that period. That’s despite some notable roster churn, as Sean Manaea and Mike Clevinger departed after 2022 before Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Nick Martinez, Josh Hader and Michael Wacha departed after 2023.

It’s always tough to separate player performance from the contributions of a coach, but Niebla has enough respect in the game that he’s been considered for managerial openings. However, the Padres clearly wanted to have him back as the pitching coach. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller said this week that the club wanted to “reward the staff” that been part of the club’s recent success, per Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune on X.

Once again, the Padres will be challenged on the pitching front going into next year. Joe Musgrove recently underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss all of 2025, blowing a big hole in the rotation. They still have a strong front three of Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish but they don’t really have established options beyond that trio and both Cease and King are slated for free agency after 2025.

Changes are surely coming. The budget may be tight but Preller is often one of the most aggressive executives on the trade market. Though the roster may get shaken up in the coming months, the Friars can go into 2025 knowing the pitching coach won’t change.

Quick Hits: Bieber, Niebla, Shildt, Cardinals

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Shane Bieber’s season was ended by a Tommy John surgery back in April, and he’ll now head into free agency with this big question mark attached to his health.  It could be that Bieber ends up sticking with the Guardians, as Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer thinks “there’s interest on both sides” about a new contract.  Since Bieber won’t be able to return to a big league mound until probably June or July, a new deal might just involve one guaranteed season with some type of option for the 2026 season, or potentially a two-year guarantee with a small salary in 2025 and then the majority of the money slated for 2026 when Bieber will presumably be able to complete a full season.

Similar contracts have emerged in the past for pitchers coming off major surgeries and facing reduced or non-existent workloads in the first year of the two-year pacts, and the reduced cost of such a trade has particular appeal for a lower-payroll team like the Guardians.  A two-year guarantee would keep Bieber from entering free agency again until he is about to enter his age-32 season, though he might want to lock in some more guaranteed security now while he is still dealing with the uncertainty of his TJ rehab.  From a baseball perspective, Bieber surely would be open to staying in a familiar environment and playing for another winning team, while bringing back Bieber for even a half-season could be a help for a very unsettled Guards rotation.

More from around the baseball world…

  • Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla’s contract is up now that the season is over, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  It isn’t known if there have been any talks between the two sides, but Acee feels an extension “should be a no-brainer” given how well the Padres’ staff has performed over Niebla’s three seasons on the job.  San Diego pitchers have a combined 3.80 ERA over the 2022-24 seasons, ranking ninth in baseball in that span. Manager Mike Shildt is also now entering a walk year since 2025 is the last season of his initial two-year contract, and surely the Padres will also look to give the skipper more security in the wake of his very successful inaugural campaign with the club.
  • The Cardinals are putting a renewed focus on player development in what might be a rebuilding year in 2025, but some fresh steps were already taken this past year.  Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cards led all four minor league levels in innings pitched by starting pitchers, which was a stated goal for the organization since the simple idea was the pitching prospects could learn just from working deeper into games.  As explained by Cards pitching coach Dusty Blake, “you find out that once you get to pitch #80, it’s hard for you to get your breaking stuff down, so here is the adjustment to make sure if you’ve got to beat this guy a third time.”  If a pitcher isn’t taken out to manage innings or to avoid a jam, “there are ancillary pieces that you continue to learn and adapt with workload.  You find out about yourself as you experience some fatigue.  How do you keep competing and making pitches to give you that best chance?”  Another wrinkle is that getting used to longer outings might help Cardinals youngsters adjust to the future should the league institutes a rule about a minimum number of innings pitched or batters faced in a game.

Padres Interviewed Adrian Gonzalez During Managerial Search

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Former Padres star Adrian Gonzalez was interviewed as part of the team’s recent managerial search, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and MLB Network’s David Vassegh.  Gonzalez made it deep into the process, with Vassegh describing him as one of three finalists for the job, along with bench coach and eventual hire Mike Shildt.

Among the known candidates, Shildt and Phil Nevin had managed at the MLB level before, while Flaherty, Carlos Mendoza (hired by the Mets as their manager) and Benji Gil had experience on Major League coaching staffs.  Gonzalez was an outlier in comparison, as he doesn’t have any experience as a manager or coach in the big leagues or even in the minors.  While most of San Diego’s candidates were former players, the 41-year-old Gonzalez brought perhaps a different perspective as not only a player, but as an established superstar during his 15-year MLB career.

This might be the first managerial search in baseball history to ever include two former first overall draft picks, between Nevin (selected first overall in 1992) and Gonzalez (in 2000).  Gonzalez lived up to that lofty potential by hitting .287/.358/.485 with 317 homers over his 8046 career plate appearances.  His resume included five All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, three finishes within the top seven of MVP voting, and just recently became eligible for the Cooperstown ballot since it has been five full seasons since his last Major League game.  While Gonzalez isn’t likely to receive induction to the Hall of Fame, just making the ballot is a notable recognition of an outstanding career.

This first-hand knowledge of what it takes to be a top-tier Major Leaguer might’ve had some appeal to the Padres, given the number of high-profile stars on the roster.  Given past rumblings about tumult within the San Diego clubhouse, the Padres might’ve seen Gonzalez as an interesting candidate as perhaps something of both a boss and a peer for San Diego’s players, given that Gonzalez’s playing career only recently wrapped.  President of baseball operations A.J. Preller also has a long history with Gonzalez, as the first baseman broke into the big leagues with the Rangers in 2004 just when Preller had been hired to join the Texas front office.

It makes for an interesting what-if within the Padres’ managerial hunt, and it remains to be seen if Gonzalez might seek out further coaching or managerial opportunities in the future, whether with the Padres or another organization.  This job had obvious specific appeal to Gonzalez because he was born in San Diego and because he played with the Padres from 2006-10.

With Shildt now hired, attention will turn to the coaching staff.  The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes that pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz are likely to remain, though Fritz interviewed for the Angels’ pitching coach job that eventually went to Barry Enright.  The third base coach and associate manager’s position are both open after the departures of Matt Williams and Ryan Christenson, and it might be interesting to see how whether the “associate manager” role remains at all, or if it was somewhat unique to the division of duties between Christenson and Flaherty.

Shildt has been working for the Padres for the last two years, so it isn’t as if he is an entirely new skipper coming in and wanting to install his own staff.  That said, Lin isn’t sure if Flaherty (who is both the bench coach and offensive coordinator) could be back after coming up shy in the managerial search.  This uncertainty might also extend to first base coach David Macias, who Lin describes as close with Flaherty and possibly also a candidate to leave if Flaherty isn’t back in 2024.  Lin also notes that Shildt isn’t expected to make any coaching hires from the Cardinals, his longtime former team before his arrival in San Diego.

Ryan Flaherty, Mike Shildt Receive Interviews For Padres’ Managerial Vacancy

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The Padres recently gave manager Bob Melvin permission to pursue a job with the Giants, which quickly resulted in Melvin making the switch and signing a three-year deal. Now the Padres have their own managerial vacancy to deal with.

It was immediately speculated that bench coach Ryan Flaherty and senior advisor Mike Shildt were the top internal options and that seems to have been borne out this week. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Shildt was interviewed Wednesday, with Flaherty scheduled to have his own interview on Friday. But it won’t be just those two getting consideration, as Acee says it’s likely pitching coach Ruben Niebla will be in the mix, in addition to external candidates.

“I think we’ll sit down with some internal candidates the next few days, but we’re going to make sure we exhaust all the different possibilities to get the right choice. There’s no real timeframe,” president of A.J. Preller tells Acee. “It’s a big offseason for us. We’ve got a lot of decisions to make. This is the first one. We want to try to get it right.”

Flaherty, 37, joined the Padres in November of 2019 as quality control coach. In January of 2022, the Mets were interested in him for their vacant bench coach position, but the Padres denied that club permission to interview him. That perhaps indicates the Padres are quite fond of Flaherty and they made him bench coach in San Diego a year later. He doesn’t have managerial experience but is clearly well respected around the game, having garnered plenty of interest since retiring as a player.

Shildt, 55, managed the Cardinals from 2018 to 2021 but was surprisingly dismissed after clashing with the front office. He then joined the Padres in a player development role but has expressed an interest in returning to the dugout at some point.

Niebla, 51, has been around the game for some time, having served as a coach in the minor leagues for many years. He was hired by the Padres to be their pitching coach after the 2021 season. It’s unknown if the club is interested in interviewing him but Acee relays that Niebla has previously expressed an interesting in managing.

It’s unknown which external candidates will be considered or how long the Padres plan to take to make a hire, but it seems they don’t have a strict timeline based on Preller’s comments. It’s a key offseason for the club, who will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2023 season. The club had a run differential of +104, which was actually third best in the National League and miles better than the -15 of the pennant-winning Diamondbacks. But the Padres went 9-23 in one-run games and 2-12 in extra innings, causing them to fall just shy of the playoffs.

Reports emerged after the season of discord between Preller and Melvin. While they initially planned to work together again in 2024, the Giants came calling and it seems the Padres did little to stand in the way of Melvin jumping to the Giants. They received no compensation for Melvin’s departure, apparently content to get his $4MM salary off the books and start fresh with a new skipper. The Friars have a number of high-priced veterans and will surely be motivated to win while those players are still in/near their primes. It’s also their final season before Juan Soto departs via free agency, though other teams figure to call and talk trades, especially with the Padres looking to cut some costs.

Padres Promote Ryan Christenson To Associate Manager

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The Padres announced their coaching staff for the 2023 season this afternoon. There are a few shakeups for Bob Melvin’s second season leading the San Diego dugout.

Ryan Christenson has been given the title of associate manager. The 48-year-old joined Melvin in making the jump from the A’s to the Padres last offseason. Christenson had been Melvin’s bench coach in Oakland from 2018-21 and took on that same role for his first season in San Diego. He now earns a bump in title to associate manager, though his position as Melvin’s top lieutenant seems unchanged.

Filling the role of bench coach is Ryan Flaherty, who’s going into year four on the San Diego staff. He also gets the title of offensive coordinator, essentially taking on the hitting coach duties vacated when Michael Brdar was poached by the Tigers at the start of the offseason. San Diego will go without anyone assuming the traditional “hitting coach” title.

The 36-year-old Flaherty has spent the past two seasons as a quality control coach. He drew interest from the Mets in their bench coach search last offseason, but the Friars denied New York’s interview request. One year later, the former Orioles infielder gets both that title and the lead hitting responsibilities in San Diego.

He’ll be joined on staff by assistant hitting coaches Scott Coolbaugh and Oscar Bernard. The 56-year-old Coolbaugh joins the Friars after two years as the lead hitting instructor with the Tigers. He’d also previously served as hitting coach in Baltimore and Texas and an assistant role with the White Sox. He brings plenty of coaching experience to help Flaherty in his first crack as offensive coordinator.

Bernard, meanwhile, gets promoted to the MLB staff after seven years as San Diego’s minor league hitting coordinator. The 39-year-old spent some time as a player and instructor in the Cubs’ minor league system before joining the Friars in 2016. It’s the first big league staff job for the Dominican Republic native. Also joining the group is catching coach Brian Esposito. The 43-year-old spent last season managing the Friars’ Low-A affiliate in Fort Wayne.

The rest are holdovers from last season. Ruben Niebla is back for a second year as pitching coach, pairing with bullpen coach Ben Fritz. Matt Williams and David Macias will coach the bases and defense — Williams the infield, Macias the outfield — with Peter Summerville and Herberto Andrade as coaching assistants. Former big league managers Bryan Price and Mike Shildt will reassume the advisory roles they manned in 2022.

Padres Finalize Coaching Staff, Hire Bryan Price As Senior Advisor

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The Padres on Monday announced manager Bob Melvin’s staff for the 2022 season, revealing within that former Reds skipper Bryan Price has joined the organization as a senior advisor to the Major League coaching staff. Price, according to today’s press release, “will work alongside the Major League coaching staff throughout Spring Training and the 2022 season, serving as a both an on-field instructor and a mentor within the clubhouse.”

Price’s hire was not previously reported and comes as something of a surprise, given that he’d announced his retirement following the 2020 season. Price spent that year as the Phillies’ pitching coach and also managed the Reds from 2014-18, though the 59-year-old comes with decades of experience beyond those most recent roles.

An eighth-round pick out of UC Berkeley by the Angels back in 1984, Price pitched in parts of five minor league seasons before setting out on a coaching track that would make him one of the more successful and well-regarded coaches in recent memory. He spent 11 years as a minor league pitching coach and/or pitching coordinator in the Mariners’ system from 1988-99 before joining their Major League staff as pitching coach. Price held that role through the 2005 season, working as pitching coach under Melvin there for two of those seasons (2003-04).

Price was named the D-backs’ pitching coach prior to the 2006 season — again serving under Melvin — and remained there through the 2009 season. At that point, he was hired by the Reds as pitching coach, holding that post until being promoted to manager in the 2013-14 offseason.

Aside from Price, there are no new surprises included within San Diego’s announcement, as the entirety of the staff’s composition had already been reported. Ryan Christenson will follow Melvin from Oakland to San Diego, reprising his role as bench coach. Ruben Niebla heads over from Cleveland after serving as an assistant pitching coach there last year. Matt Williams will also reunite with Melvin as third base coach after spending the past two seasons managing in the KBO. (He’d previously been Melvin’s third base coach in Oakland, in addition to a two-year stint managing the Nationals.) David Macias, who formerly managed in the Mariners’ system and was on the East Carolina University staff, is the team’s first base/outfield coach. Recently retired catcher Francisco Cervelli is the team’s new catching coach.

The Padres are also welcoming back a few coaches from former skipper Jayce Tingler’s staff. Quality control coach Ryan Flaherty (best known for his six-year stint as an Orioles utilityman), bullpen coach Ben Fritz and game-planning/coaching assistant Peter Summerville are all on the staff again under the newly hired Melvin.

Padres To Hire Ruben Niebla As Pitching Coach

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OCTOBER 27: The Friars have finalized an agreement with Niebla, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic (Twitter link). As expected, he’ll be the club’s pitching coach in 2022.

OCTOBER 24: The Padres “are locking in on” Indians assistant pitching coach Ruben Niebla as their next pitching coach, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets.  The hiring isn’t yet official, though Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (via Twitter) that Niebla “is considered all but a done deal” to change teams.

Ben Fritz had been serving as the Padres’ interim pitching coach since Larry Rothschild was fired in late August.  According to Acee, the Padres are hoping Fritz remains with the team — Fritz had been working as the bullpen coach before his in-season promotion.  It remains to be seen how the rest of the coaching staff will shake out, as bench coach/third base coach Bobby Dickerson has already left the team to join the Phillies, and there could be a wider coaching shakeup once the new San Diego manager is hired (as presumably that new skipper would get some say in assembling the staff).

Niebla will already be in place, however, as the SoCal native will now be moving closer to home for his first official gig as a Major League pitching coach.  Niebla briefly served as Cleveland’s interim pitching coach in 2012, his highest rank in 21 seasons with the organization.  Much of that first decade was spent as a minor league coach before Niebla joined the MLB staff as a coaching assistant in 2010, and then following his interim gig in 2012, he worked seven seasons as a minor league pitching coordinator.  Niebla has been in his current role on the Major League coaching staff for the last two seasons.

At least one familiar face will already be there in San Diego to welcome Niebla, as former Indians hurler Mike Clevinger is expected to be back next season after missing 2021 due to Tommy John surgery.  On paper, San Diego has plenty of solid rotation options in place with Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Chris Paddack, Clevinger, Ryan Weathers, and (around midseason) Adrian Morejon, except injuries and general under-performance ravaged this group last year.

In the bigger picture, the Padres will also surely be looking to pick Niebla’s brain about some of the secrets of Cleveland’s success at drafting and developing pitchers in recent years.  While the Padres have had no shortage of promising young pitching prospects, they’ve had issues in converting that potential into success at the big league level.  (To wit, all of Musgrove, Darvish, Snell, Paddack, and Clevinger were acquired in trades.)

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