San Diego Padres Craig Stammen began his managerial tenure, winning only twice during the opening six-game homestand. For all the Spring Training talk, Stammen and company had very little to celebrate in the first week of the 2026 season.
Offensive woes continue in 2026
No question, the offensive production is a bit slow out of the gate.
The Detroit Tigers staff was not going to be an easy opening series foe. But the back end of the Giants’ rotation should have been a feast for the Padres bats.
The Friar Faithful are confused whether
the Spring Training lineup experimentation has come to an end. Stammen seems content to leave Fernando Tatis Jr. in the leadoff spot, but he did shuttle Jake Cronenworth into the top of the order in three games.
The first-year manager spent the entire time in Peoria, Ariz. promising changes to the lineup. It was baffling to see him throw out the same batting order that continued the hitting struggles from a season ago. We expected a contact-driven top of the order that would put themselves in scoring position for Manny Machado and Tatis Jr. to drive them home.
In the final game of the Giants series, the Friars’ bats may have awoken for a possible promising road trip. The hitters looked more relaxed at the plate. Collectively, the lineup had more free and easy at-bats that generated more run-scoring opportunities. Moving forward, better execution should put more runs on the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, we did not see much of that in the first homestand of the season; instead, there were too many lunging, off-balance swings for my taste.
Pitching is promising to almost dominate at times
Starting pitching was another lowlight of the homestand. Randy Vasquez outclassed the Tigers for the team’s first win. Nick Pivetta was good in his second start of the season. However, he only lasted five innings after throwing 82 pitches in the contest. Pivetta allowed only one hit and struck out eight batters.
Early results are encouraging in how Stammen deployed the bullpen to protect a lead. It made sense for him to aggressively use the pen (Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon, and Mason Miller) to secure the win before heading out on the season’s first road trip.
A baseball season is very much like a rollercoaster ride with plenty of ups and downs before settling into a steady level of play.
The Stammen era may have opened with a resounding dud, but the jury is still out on how he will run a major league club. From a strategic standpoint, we need more than six games to figure out if Stammen is a competent manager.
It will be interesting to see how he keeps the momentum going from Wednesday’s victory.
