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Mike Shildt led the San Diego Padres to a 93-69 record and a playoff appearance in his first season as manager, and the team is reportedly keeping him for longer as a result.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported Tuesday that San Diego is finalizing a two-year contract extension with Shildt and could announce the deal Wednesday.
The manager was signed through just the 2025 campaign on his previous deal, so this means he will be in place through the 2027 season.
The 2024 campaign stood in stark contrast to the 2023 one for the Padres.
San Diego had plenty of star power but went just 82-80 and missed the playoffs in 2023. Both Acee and Lin highlighted a reportedly fractured relationship between manager Bob Melvin and general manager A.J. Preller, and the former left to become the manager of the San Francisco Giants for the 2024 season.
The Padres then hired Shildt, who proceeded to lead them to the second-most wins in franchise history. Only the 1998 Padres won more when they went 98-64 and reached the World Series.
San Diego’s success reportedly won’t only impact Shildt, as Acee noted “the team has been working on contracts for most of its baseball operations employees and some members of the coaching staff. Those deals, including one for pitching coach Ruben Niebla, are expected to be completed in the coming days.”
Success is nothing new for Shildt.
He went 252-199 as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from when he took over for the fired Mike Matheny during the 2018 season through the 2021 one. The Cardinals made the playoffs three times during that span, including when they advanced to the National League Championship Series during the 2019 campaign.
San Diego found some postseason success in Shildt’s first year. It defeated the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Round and then took a 2-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Divisional Series.
However, Los Angeles won the next two games and went on to win the World Series.
Shildt and the Padres will look to close that gap on their National League West rivals next season.
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