San Diego Padres hire Oakland Athletics' Bob Melvin as manager

The San Diego Padres reportedly filled their managerial vacancy Thursday night and left the Oakland A's with a vacancy of their own.

According to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, the Padres agreed to a three-year deal with Bob Melvin, who has been Oakland's manager since 2011. Melvin is a three-time MLB Manager of the Year (2007, 2012 and 2018) and led the A's to the postseason in six of his 11 seasons at the helm. He previously had stints as the manager of the Seattle Mariners (2003-2004) and Arizona Diamondbacks (2005-2009).

Cassavell reports that the A's allowed Melvin to interview with the Padres and the team won't receive compensation in return.

The Padres entered 2021 with high hopes after adding pitchers Blake Snell and Yu Darvish to a roster that already had the lethal batting combination of Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. While the Padres had a relatively strong start to the year and were only seven games out of first place in the brutally competitive NL West as late as mid-August, the team limped down the stretch. 

San Diego won only 13 of its last 47 games and finished 28 games behind the San Francisco Giants. The Padres fired manager Jayce Tingler three days after the team's last game of the season.

Melvin, 60, leaves the A's as the second-winningest manager in franchise history with a 853-764 record over his tenure. Only Hall of Famer Connie Mack, who managed the team for 50 seasons, has more wins.