With Pat Murphy not returning as the Padres' manager next season, San Diego is one of four teams actively searching for their next manager. A.J. Preller is setting up a wide search to find the next skipper for his team. One of those candidates is former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
"After a year away from the game, Gardenhire is ready to return. He also has been mentioned as a candidate for the Washington Nationals, with his agent, John Boggs, recently telling the Washington Post, "I would think Ron would definitely be interested in the Nats job.'"
Gardenhire was named the 2010 AL Manager of the Year and led the Twins to six AL Central titles before getting fired last September. In 13 season with the Twins, he had a record of 1,068-1,039.
Last week, Preller laid out the type of manager that he is looking for and it appears he is going to consider candidates with a variety of resumes.
"'We're betting on a person, we're betting on a guy we feel like can be a leader,' Preller said, 'someone who can bring more on the relationship and culture side, more on the day-to-day leadership. The clubhouse, the communication, I think that's going to be the biggest thing.'"
Gardenhire was the second longest tenured manager in baseball at the time of his firing, and would undoubtedly bring experience. Aside from just searching for a new manager, the Padres have an interesting offseason ahead of them, as they're going to lose key players via free agency, headlined by Justin Upton. It remains to be seen how Preller will approach this offseason after being the talk of baseball during last year's Winter Meetings, but he clearly has a lot of work to do.