For a second time this offseason, a former Washington National has become a manager. This time it is former reliever Craig Stammen, who got hired as the manager of the San Diego Padres. Stammen had a 13
year career, which was split almost evenly between DC and San Diego. Now he will be managing the team he left the Nats for.
Stammen started his career as a starting pitcher, but became one of those lovable rubber armed middle relievers. He was never the closer, and usually was not even the set up man, but Stammen was a valuable weapon out of the bullpen. In DC, Stammen was the bride to the late inning guys, usually Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen.
With Kurt Suzuki taking the Angels job, the Nationals have a full battery that are now running their own teams. I remember the days of Suzuki catching Stammen in DC. It is crazy to think that both of those guys are managers now.
The hiring of Stammen came out of left field. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols and Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla were seen as the top candidates. The Padres even had a 9.5 hour meeting with Pujols. I don’t see any reason a meeting should go that long, but it happened.
However, as he often does, AJ Preller made an unexpected move. Stammen was a special assistant to Preller and played with the Padres for six years, so he clearly knows the organization well. He does not have any coaching experience though.
Hiring inexperienced or outside the box candidates has been a theme of this year’s managerial hiring cycle. The Nats went with Blake Butera, who is 33 and has never coached in the MLB. The Giants hired Tony Vitello straight from college without any pro coaching experience, something that has never been done before. Also, the Angels hired Kurt Suzuki, who did not have any coaching experience.
There is clearly a shift towards younger, more relatable managers. Hiring a manager who was just fired by another team does not seem to be in style right now, unless you are the Twins.
With Stammen becoming a manager, there are a lot of former Nats running big league dugouts. Obviously Stammen and Suzuki are now managers, but Aaron Boone and Alex Cora also had stints with the Nats. Now over 10% of all MLB managers have played for the Washington Nationals.
It is cool to see the franchise become old enough to have numerous former players managing around the league. I am sure that Stammen and Suzuki will get warm welcomes when they come to DC next season. Both were well-liked players who always delivered when called upon. They were not the stars, but both were great glue guys.
It is often those glue guy types who become the best managers. A lot of times the former star player does not deliver when they become a manager or executive for whatever reason.
It is really fun to see these guys become managers and continue their baseball journeys. Stammen will inherit a good situation in San Diego, with plenty of star players at his disposal, many of whom he played with. It would be cool to see Stammen lead the Padres on a playoff run and dethrone the Dodgers in 2026.
