NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two weeks ago, the Padres introduced Mike Shildt as their 23rd manager. He spoke boldly about his belief that he was inheriting a championship-caliber roster. He spoke passionately about his desire to win a title for late owner Peter Seidler.

On Tuesday at the MLB Winter Meetings, Shidlt's second media availability as the Padres’ new skipper shifted from the macro to the micro as he touched on important details about roster and coaching-staff construction.

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Here's what to know from Shildt's availability:

1. The defensive alignment is still TBD
First, the infield: Ha-Seong Kim is one of the best defenders in baseball, wherever he plays -- shortstop, second base or third. He played primarily second base last season, but there's been plenty of speculation that he might supplant Bogaerts at short.

If that's the plan, Shildt certainly wasn't ready to divulge it. He'll meet with Bogaerts later this month, and maybe that meeting brings clarity. But for now, Shildt offered nothing but high praise for Bogaerts as a shortstop.

In the outfield, Tatis took home the Platinum Glove in right field. Could he switch to center field if the Padres trade Trent Grisham? Heck, could he switch to center field (part time) if the Padres were to keep Grisham but platoon him?

"Good news is we know he could do it at a high level and confident he could go over," Shildt said. "The other good news is we already have a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder. So that's outstanding, as well."

2. Ryan Flaherty turned down the role of bench coach
Flaherty, the team's bench coach and lead hitting coach last year, was a finalist for the manager’s job. When that job went to Shildt, Flaherty left San Diego to become bench coach of the Cubs.

On Tuesday, Shildt was asked directly whether he offered that job to Flaherty in San Diego.

"Yeah, of course," Shildt said. "I had great conversations and a good relationship with Ryan. I think the world of him. I think he was down the road with other opportunities."

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With Flaherty's departure, the Padres have vacancies at bench coach, third-base coach and lead hitting coach. Shildt was quick to note that the Padres are in the process of finding a bench coach and a third-base coach. But a lead hitting coach? It's possible they'd be content to stick with Oscar Bernard and Scott Coolbaugh, who worked alongside Flaherty last season.

"We have a lot of great people that are already on staff with our hitting staff," Shildt said. "We're working through that. ... We have a few other balls in the air in the organization, so working through a lot of things. But the staff is right at the top of the list.”

3. Shildt isn’t interested in talking about 2023
Sure, Shildt was on staff as an adviser for the team’s disappointing 2023 campaign. But at every stop, he has turned down the opportunity to discuss in depth what went wrong.

“Again, we've talked about the past,” Shildt said Tuesday. “I think it's more about being aligned in the future and being proactive.”

That doesn’t mean Shildt is avoiding the failures of last season entirely. It comes up in his conversations with players. But he’d prefer for the evaluations of the ’23 season to be constructive.

“It’s more big picture -- a little bit of what ’23 was,” Shildt said. “Want to capture the good and want to capture the areas that we can improve upon. [I] continue to be impressed by our leadership of our clubhouse and the quality of people we have and the dedication, desire to work together and be great.”