SAN DIEGO_Rod Barajas was watching his daughter's soccer game in Del Mar on Saturday morning when he learned that General Manager A.J. Preller was moving him from his seat next to Andy Green into the manager's office for the final eight games of the season. Several hours later, the 44-year-old Barajas had not considered who'd replace him as the Padres' bench coach, let alone where he stood in the developing search for the next manager.
It wasn't the time, either.
"I'm sad; I'm disappointed with where we're at," Barajas said before a 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks hours after Green's firing. "When I signed up, I signed up to be the bench coach this year and be on a playoff team. Obviously things have changed. ... It's not the position I was looking to be in this season."
Yet here they are.
They were on their way to their ninth loss in 10 games when reliever Matt Strahm was charged with a run in the sixth when Manny Machado threw to first on Eduardo Escobar's one-out grounder when it appeared he would have had a play at the plate to cut down the go-ahead run.
Rookie Michel Baez allowed two more runs in his 1 2/3 innings, all but sealing a loss because the Padres' bats were rather quiet outside Hunter Renfroe's fifth-inning homer, one of five Padres hits in the game.
Eric Hosmer's two-out single in the eighth shaved Arizona's lead to 4-2 but closer Archie Bradley struck out Francisco Mejia with the bases loaded to end that rally and stranded a runner in the ninth.
At least Cal Quantrill provided a positive development.
The owner of a 15.12 ERA over his previous four starts, the rookie right-hander struck out six over five innings of one-run ball. He allowed only two hits, didn't walk anyone and retired 10 in a row after giving up a leadoff triple to Abraham Almonte to start the game.
Named the interim manager following Greens' dismissal, Barajas' place in the organization will warrant his inclusion in the Padres' next managerial search.
He managed Renfroe as early as 2015_Barajas' first year in the organization_when he was promoted from his post as Lake Elsinore's hitting coach to Double-A San Antonio's manager, part of the chain reaction after Preller tapped El Paso manager Pat Murphy as Bud Black's interim replacement that year. Barajas managed the following three seasons in El Paso, guiding the Chihuahuas to a Pacific Coast League title in 2016 and into the postseason each year, strengthening his bond with several players who've since graduated to the big league roster.
This was his first year serving as Green's right-hand man.
The two spoke Saturday before Barajas filled out his first lineup card as a big league manager.
"It was a tough call," Barajas said. "I thanked him for what he's done for me. The mark he's left, it's only been less than a year, but what he's done for myself and my growth_one year doesn't seem like a lot, but I learned a lot from Andy."
The former big league catcher highlighted Green's attention to detail and hours of pre-game preparation among the traits to strive toward.
His own view of the state of the big league team sees a clubhouse that lost its way in the weeks after the all-star break.
They started pressing. They stopped laughing. The losses began to pile up.
"I'm going to expect these guys to go out and play like professionals," Barajas said. "It hasn't been pretty the last few days, the last few weeks. We have to get back to who we are as an organization. That's going to be my message."
