Newly hired San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen made his debut at the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings on Monday. He had his general media availability as well as doing interviews on MLB Network, the MLB Sirius
XM station as well as talking with Sammy Levitt of 97.3 The Fan (the Padres flagship station).
Stammen opened his availability with a general media presser where he answered questions regarding pitching, offseason activity as well as how to deal with Spring Training with the WBC looming.
The Winter Meeting officially began Sunday with the Hall of Fame announcement, with Jeff Kent the only player named to the Hall by the Contemporary Era Committee.
Monday was the first full day of meetings with all teams involved with discussions as well as giving media availability to MLB Network and other media outlets.
General media press conference
Craig Stammer’s initial presser brought clarity to the issue of transitioning bullpen arms to the rotation by stating that the organization has held talks with Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon and they are inclined to keep both in the bullpen for the time being. Stammen suggested that the players also preferred staying in the bullpen.
Both Stammen and president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller, referred to the bullpen being a team strength and their unwillingness to weaken their biggest strength. Both Miller and Morejon have had injury issues while starting and have been healthy as relievers. That could also be a big part of the present decision.
It was also mentioned that David Morgan will stay in the bullpen for the 2026 season. Stammen referred to the need for Morgan to have a good second season with continued growth and success before making any changes to his role.
Trip to the Dominican Republic
Stammen referred to his recent trip to the Dominican to visit Fernando Tatis, Jr., Ramón Laureano, Randy Vasquez and Wandy Peralta. He hit with Tatis, and they had dinner prepared by Tatis’ chef. His visit also included some time with Vasquez, stating that the right-hander has an aggressive workout routine this offseason and is very excited for 2026. The Padres team that toured the country also visited the Padres development facility and watched Luis Campusano play for Tigres de Licey.
WBC and Spring Training
The WBC will take place during March of 2026, while Spring Training is taking place. The Padres figure to lose multiple players to WBC teams at the beginning of March. Stammen referred specifically to Manny Machado and Tatis leaving to play with the Dominican team. He said he was hopeful that other players will step up and take over leadership roles during the spring and specifically mentioned Jackson Merrill as a player he feels is ready to take on more responsibility.
In the past, Machado and Tatis have played for the DR and Xander Bogaerts has been with the Netherlands team. Due to his injury, Yu Darvish will not be playing for Japan this year and should be with the Padres.
Yu Darvish
Asked by a media member what he expected from Darvish for 2026, Stammen passed along the close relationship Darvish has with Randy Vasquez and he expects that will continue during this season. He believes Darvish will be a strong mentor for the entire pitching staff while rehabbing from his UCL surgery.
MLB Network
During his interview on the TV side, Stammen described his role with the team as a special assistant. He had player development responsibilities with pitchers, worked closely with the minor league teams to mentor their pitchers and did on-field coaching with both major and minor league players. After working in uniform with pitchers, he would join Preller in his box to watch the game and discuss multiple aspects as the game progressed.
He believes as a recent player he will have a unique viewpoint of the challenges the players deal with and will have better communication as a result. He feels this should give him a better grasp of the mental side of what the players are going through during the season.
A.J. Preller with Sammy Levitt
97.3 FM correspondent, Sam Levitt, visited Preller in his suite at the Winter Meetings. Preller reiterated the present plan to keep Miller, Morejon and Morgan in the bullpen. He likes the strength of the bullpen. As many Padres fans are aware, Preller listens to all offers. No player seems to be untouchable at this point. He likes to explore how other organizations value the Padres players as well as begin laying the groundwork for future trades or free agent signings.
Preller specifically mentioned their ability to scout and sign both Jeremiah Estrada and Eduarniel Nunez as players that other teams undervalued and the Padres development team spotted and helped sign. This introduced the topic of the signing of Ty Adcock and Daison Acosta to major league deals despite both having all or mostly minor league experience.
Preller acknowledged that those two and Kyle Hart were depth signs that allows them to add strength to strength with the bullpen.
Levitt speaks with Stammen
Sam Levitt also had a one-on-one interview with Stammen after his media availability ended. They discussed the health of Fernando Tatis, Jr. and how he is training normally after having other offseasons where he was recovering from injury and not able to build up normally. He expects more from Tatis this season has a result. He highlighted being impressed with Randy Vasquez’s work and motivation to improve for 2026.
He discussed building team chemistry during Spring Training, despite missing players to the WBC for part of that time. He emphasized that communication will be an emphasis for the players in camp and the players returning from the WBC will be able to step into an already established system.
Stammen briefly reviewed the qualities of the newly hired hitting and bench coaches. He highlighted that both are well known to him and Randy Knorr has extensive experience in baseball, including many years as a bench coach. Hitting coach Steven Souza is recently active as a player and has a grasp of the challenges faced by hitters in the current MLB environment.
It seems that recent experience is being emphasized for the hitting coach versus long-time coaching experience. The bench coach is a different situation with Knorr being well known to Stammen but also very experienced.
