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Ruben Niebla has been a member of the San Diego Padres organization since 2021 and has been credited with helping players like Seth Lugo and Michael King transition from relievers to starting pitchers, and with helping Blake Snell win his second Cy Young Award in 2023. Niebla has proven that he knows how to get the best out of his pitchers, but would he be able to do the same for the rest of the San Diego roster?
With Mike Shildt announcing his retirement as manager of the Padres, the team has a hole to fill and will need to fill it with a manager who can get San Diego back to the postseason in 2026. Niebla would be a first-time MLB manager, which could be seen as a negative, BUT he has been with the team and in the clubhouse, he is familiar with the players and they are familiar with him. Niebla also knows A.J. Preller and the front office, and the transition from pitching coach to manager should be relatively easy to make happen.
The question with making Niebla the manager is his ability to get more from the lineup. No matter who San Diego selects to lead the team, the offense will have to improve. If he can convince Padres ownership, and Preller, that he has a plan to make necessary changes to the offensive approach and improve production, it may be time to allow him to lead the team.
The alternative is another candidate gets the position with the Padres and Niebla gets an opportunity with one of the other seven teams looking for a manager. If he is not selected as the manager of another team, he could be let go by the new manager, who wants to bring in his own people. It is possible that another manager is selected and Niebla is retained, but if he wants the job and does not get it, he may not want to stay in San Diego.
Gaslamp Ball would like to know if you, the Friar Faithful, would select Niebla above all others to lead the Padres in 2026 and beyond.
