Padres, Shildt finalize 2-year extension through 2027

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres and manager Mike Shildt finalized a two-year extension on Wednesday to keep Shildt at the helm in San Diego through 2027.

The move was largely expected after Shildt's successful first season in San Diego. He was slated to enter the 2025 campaign with only one year remaining on his contract, but general manager A.J. Preller had previously stated that coming to a longer-term agreement with Shildt was his first priority of the offseason.

Shildt led the Padres to 93 wins in 2024, the second-highest total in franchise history, which included a 43-19 stretch to end the season, before San Diego's National League Division Series exit at the hands of the Dodgers.

"As Mike demonstrated this year, he has an unwavering commitment to winning and a unique set of skills that got our group to perform at a high level," Preller said in a statement. "He possesses a true love for this team and the game of baseball, and I am thrilled to continue to work together with Mike to bring a championship to the city of San Diego."

In his own statement, Shildt invoked the goal of beloved late Padres owner Peter Seidler:

"I am honored to continue leading this team toward Peter Seidler's vision of bringing a World Series championship to San Diego. In collaboration with our players and coaching staff, we are committed to building on our success, serving our community and the city of San Diego, and delivering a winning team to our incredible and deserving fan base."

Shildt arrived in San Diego in 2022, serving as an adviser in the organization and working with the team at multiple levels. He spent two years in that capacity before taking over for Bob Melvin entering the '24 season.

In the previous campaign, a star-laden Padres team had missed the playoffs after turning in a disappointing 82-80 season. Shildt inherited a roster that had cut payroll from that group and revamped its depth around several key stars.

The 2024 Padres spent most of the first four months as a .500 team before their red-hot finish. Most notably, under Shildt's purview, San Diego took a step forward situationally in 2024, with much better results in close games. The bulk of the Padres’ core is slated to return in 2025 (albeit with a couple potential free-agent departures, most notably Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim).

“That continuity between the staff and the players on the field -- we’ve established a good, good base for that,” Shildt said. “We’re only going to deepen it.”

Shildt continually praised his coaching staff during his conference call on Wednesday, noting that before his contract negotiations began, he wanted to ensure continuity on that front. He wouldn’t get into specifics of which coaches would be back, deferring to Preller, who runs those negotiations.

“We’ll have more to say over the course of the next few days,” Preller said. “We think we have a super-talented group. We’ve been having conversations with everybody on that staff, and I think it’s really about bringing that group back and building on the success from this year and having that continuity. That was important to Mike.”

The Padres' next priority is retaining pitching coach Ruben Niebla, who is widely regarded as one of the best in the sport. After three seasons in that role, Niebla’s contract is now up. But Preller indicated that a deal to bring Niebla back probably isn’t too far away.

“He’s done a great job with the pitching staff,” Preller said. “He’s been here three years now, a lot of common ground. ... It’s clear he wants to be here. He knows we want him to be here. When we announce the staff, I think you’ll see: We’re going to reward the people that perform. Ruben’s been a big performer. Looking forward to him being a big part of the Padre organization for a long time.”

As for Shildt, he had previously spent parts of four seasons as manager in St. Louis after taking over for Mike Matheny in 2018. The Cardinals missed the playoffs that year, but they reached the postseason in each of Shildt's three seasons as the full-time skipper. He's now reached the postseason in every full year he has spent as a big league manager.

It's a trend the Padres hope will continue for three more seasons at least.

“This organization’s been in the playoffs in 2020, ’22 and now ’24,” Shildt said. “I know we’re set up for success moving forward. I expect to work closely with [Preller] the next several years to continue to solidify this being a very impressive run in Padre history.”