Looking at the Padres' records the past two seasons wouldn't seem to reveal anything amiss organization-wide—San Diego, after all, won 93 games in 2024 and 90 in '25.
However, according to reports from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Jon Heyman of the New York Post, discontent flowed under the surface of ex-Padres manager Mike Shildt's club.
Heyman's report, published Tuesday, revealed that the relationship between Shildt and one of his coaches deteriorated so completely that a fight nearly broke out between them.
On Wednesday, Acee published a more expansive piece in which a slew of team sources "characterized Shildt as unyieldingly demanding of his coaching staff and the team’s support staff and as having a tendency to micromanage and possessing a quick temper that is easily triggered by questioning or feedback."
Notably, Acee's report described Shildt similarly wearing out his welcome with the Cardinals before his surprise firing after a 90-win season in 2021. This time, Shildt walked away of his own accord.
"A half dozen sources, including current and former members of the Cardinals organization and two people who were part of front offices that considered interviewing Shildt in the month after he was fired, said some Cardinals coaches and others threatened to quit if Shildt remained," Acee wrote.
San Diego lost the National League West to the Dodgers by just three games, the closest they have come to winning that division since 2010. After shaking off a Game 1 loss to beat the Cubs in Game 2 of the wild-card series, Chicago put the Padres away in Game 3.
Since its 1969 founding, San Diego has yet to win a World Series. Shildt—aware of staff discord but broadly unapologetic in his conversation with Acee—will not be around to try and change that.
“One of the reasons I am going to leave is a frustration with the stress and the inability to please everybody,” the 2019 NL Manager of the Year with St. Louis said. "I made a decision to go home because of this. I’m tired of dealing with it.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Reports Paint Picture of Padres Discord After Mike Shildt's Exit.
