Padres promote Mike Shildt to manager two years after he was fired by the Cardinals as San Diego looks to improve on 2023 disappointment with slugger Juan Soto’s future up in the air

Mike Shildt is a Major League manager again after being hired by the San Diego Padres, two years after being abruptly fired by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Padres announced Tuesday that Shildt had been signed to a two-year contract.

Shildt replaces Bob Melvin, who was hired by the San Francisco Giants on October 25 with one year left on his contract with the Padres. This ended a two-year relationship with general manager AJ Preller.

Shildt was named NL Manager of the Year in 2019 while with the Cardinals. He takes over a big-spending team that flopped dramatically in 2023, a year after making an electrifying run to the NL Championship Series and after boosting its opening day payroll to $258 million, the third highest in the Majors.

Shildt has served as a senior advisor to the Padres’ Major League staff and player development department since 2022. His familiarity with the team’s major league prospects could be an added bonus in guiding a big league roster led by star Fernando Tatis Jr. Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.

Shildt stepped in as third base coach early in the 2023 season after Matt Williams underwent surgery for colon cancer. The previous season, Shildt also stepped in as third base coach, first base coach and bench coach due to various medical situations.

He is San Diego’s third manager in four seasons and fifth full-time manager under Preller since midseason 2015. Preller’s teams have never won a division title and Melvin was the only manager to lead the Padres to consecutive winning seasons under the GM led.

Preller and Melvin said they could work together next year. But when the Giants asked for permission to interview Melvin, the Padres agreed, and Melvin was hired by his hometown team shortly thereafter.

Shildt started as a scout with the Cardinals in 2003, switching to player development and working his way through various levels of the minor league system. He was appointed interim manager in August 2018 and took over the permanent job the following season. The Cardinals won 91 games that season, earning Shildt the NL Manager of the Year award, and advanced to the NL Championship Series before being swept by the Nationals.

The Cardinals had a franchise-record 17-game winning streak in 2021 and reached the wild-card game before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a walk-off homer. He was fired a week later due to what Cardinals president John Mozeliak said were “philosophical differences” between Shildt, the coaching staff and the front office.

Shildt’s 2022 season was best known for a confrontation with San Francisco Giants first base coach Antoan Richardson, who accused him of using “undertones of racism” during the disagreement.

Richardson said Shildt used an expletive and told Giants manager Gabe Kapler to keep Richardson under control.

Ultimately, the two men chatted on the field and shook hands before addressing the media about the exchange. They hugged after speaking to reporters.

“I don’t believe he’s a racist,” said Richardson, who is black. “I think, though, to the most important point, he recognizes that some of his words, our words, are powerful and impactful. And we just want to bring awareness to a situation that I think is important to our community.”

Shildt, who is white, acknowledged that he used inappropriate language and said he appreciated Richardson saying he was not a racist.

“I’m grateful that Antoan cleared this up,” Shildt said. “It’s clearly been misinterpreted, and I think he knows this, my value as a human being is to love people. That’s exactly what I represent. So I appreciate him clearing that up for myself and my family.

‘I don’t know Antoan’s origins. I can’t walk in his shoes. “I can only have empathy and love, which I have, and I always have in my life,” he said.