Ron Gardenhire failed to land a manager gig after applying for a handful of openings, including finishing runner-up for the Padres job.
San Diego was interested in hiring Gardenhire as the bench coach for rookie manager Andy Green, but he apparently wasn’t interested and now the Padres have reportedly turned their attention to Mark McGwire.
Gardenhire may still be in the picture, though. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune reports that “it’s more likely that if Gardenhire were to join the Padres, it would be in a front-office capacity.”
While in Minnesota he was one of the least analytical managers in baseball, so a front office role seems like an odd fit unless Gardenhire’s focus with the Padres would be on a scouting side. Of course, if no teams are willing to make the longtime Twins manager their skipper and he’s not interested in working as another manager’s right-hand man, perhaps an off-field role makes sense.
