The Padres have interviewed former Mets manager Luis Rojas as they look to replace recently fired skipper Jayce Tingler, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Rojas spent the past two seasons as the Mets’ manager but had a 2022 club option declined at season’s end and is now free to explore other opportunities.
It was an odd tenure with the Mets for the 40-year-old Rojas, who was set to enter the 2020 season as the team’s quality control coach before abruptly being elevated to manager after New York fired Carlos Beltran. The Beltran firing, which came on the heels of the league investigation into the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal, came just months after Beltran had been hired. He never managed a game with the Mets.
Prior to his unexpected run as the Mets’ skipper, Rojas had coached and managed at three levels in the Mets’ minor league system, in addition to managing in the Dominican Winter League. He was named South Atlantic League Manager of the Year for the Mets in 2014. Rojas comes from a family with a rich baseball history, as Rojas is the son of three-time National League All-Star and 1994 National League Manager of the Year Felipe Alou. He’s also the half-brother of six-time All-Star and 1997 World Series champion Moises Alou.
Under president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, the Padres have hired a pair of youthful, rookie skippers in the aforementioned Tingler and his predecessor, Andy Green. Rojas would make for a third straight hire of a manager aged 40 or younger, though he’s now spent two seasons managing a big league team in a major market — in addition to his prior work in the DWL and in the Mets’ system.
Rojas joins former Cardinals skipper Mike Shildt and former Tigers/Angels manager Brad Ausmus on the early list of reported candidates for the Padres’ managerial vacancy.
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