Good Morning San Diego: Craig Stammen adds to his coaching staff; Jake Cronenworth identified as possible trade candidate

New San Diego Padres Manager Craig Stammen made his first moves as the team’s skipper by selecting Randy Knorr and Steven Souza Jr. as the new bench coach and hitting coach respectively. Neither name is all that familiar to Padres fans, but they are familiar to Stammen. One is a long-time coach and former player and the other is a former player with a data-driven approach to hitting. How effective Knorr or Souza Jr. will be in their knew roles is anyone’s guess, but if San Diego continues to win the Friar Faithful will see their selections as a positive.

Padres News:

• Will Leitch of Padres.com provides reasons for each MLB team to be thankful this holiday season. He points to the loyal fanbase and claims San Diego is amidst one of its best eras ever.

• Fans of the Padres have at times, had issues with Jake Cronenworth. He is a versatile infielder, who made the All-Star Game in 2021 and 2022 and was given an extension following a postseason in which he helped San Diego get past the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. Cronenworth has not been the same offensive player over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but showed he may be potentially working back to his All-Star ways with a solid 2025 season. This is the reason Mark Feinsand of MLB.com has him listed as a potential trade candidate this offseason.

Baseball News:

• Speaking of trades, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has come up with seven ridiculous trade ideas for the offseason. Some of the suggested trades seem so far-fetched that the title of the article is more than fitting.

• The Toronto Blue Jays believe they have another solid arm in their rotation after adding Dylan Cease earlier this week, but Keith Law of The Athletic thinks the seven-year, $210 million contract is too steep of a price for a pitcher, who has been dominant at times, but inconsistent far too often.

• The Miami Marlins, who were reportedly interested in signing right-handed starter Michael King are also reportedly interested in signing Pete Fairbanks. The former Tampa Bay Rays reliever has received interest from multiple teams with Miami being the latest.