Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Amid collapse, Padres make more front-office changes

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 9/22/21

The San Diego Padres were one of the most exciting teams in baseball for most of the season. They were near the top of the NL West and competing with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. Then August hit, and they began to collapse. Now, they’re unlikely to make the playoffs, and they are making some changes.

On Monday, the Padres told Sam Geaney that he would not return as the team’s farm director. Geaney had held that position since October 2014.

On Wednesday, we learned that the Padres made many more changes.

The Padres:

Made Ryley Westman the new farm director
Reassigned Mark Conner from scouting director to special assistant to the GM
Made Chris Kemp scouting director

The Padres made following changes to player development: Mark Conner has been reassigned from scouting director to special assistant to the GM. Ryley Westman is taking over as farm director. Chris Kemp will be scouting director while continuing to oversee international.

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) September 23, 2021

The Padres entered play on Wednesday 76-74, five games behind the Cardinals for the second wild-card spot. They were 66-49 — 17 games over .500 — on August 10.

There was likely pressure on executive vice president A.J. Preller to make some changes amid the collapse. Preller has been the GM of the team since August 2014. He received a three-year contract extension in 2017.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: