In Preller We Trust: But a Fond Farewell to Our Buddy

With the firing of Bud Black, we have mixed feelings but are not totally surprised.  In our years as a Padres fans, we have seen everyone from John McNamara to now Bud Black come and go.  Some left with little fanfare (Frank Howard) and some with more (Dick Williams and Bruce Bochy).

With the removal of Black, we find no sense of joy. It was simply something that the organization decided to do to fit the vision that AJ Preller is puting in place.  Black has surely been a survivor here in San Diego and the face of the franchise while the Padres organization was spinning out of control.  In our years as baseball fans, we cannot recall a team with so many different Owners, CEO’s, and GM’s that came and went, but yet Buddy was a mainstay through it all and was a San Diego guy, which is something we appreciated.  While we feel bad for him and will personally miss him, we know he will get another job soon and will be just fine; perhaps even better.

Now with Bud Black gone, Preller has his opportunity to pull a rabbit out of his hat like the ownership did when they hired him. Dave Roberts will handle things in the interm and it sounds like Pat Murphy may come up from El Paso and become the bench coach.  With Ron Washington in town with the A’s, it will be interesting to see if  AJ and Don Welke will talk to him about his interest in managing again.  Dusty Baker is out there and so is Ron Gardenhire.  Jason Varitek is a smart guy who has a good reputation.  We are fully confident that Preller and Welke will select the right guy for the job.

When Richard Nixon lost the governor’s race in 1962 to Pat Brown, he said he was done with politics and uttered the famous quote, “You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” And with that line we think of Bud Black.  So called “fans” on Twitter and other social media sites won’t have Bud Black to kick around anymore.  Black will be ok though and it’s likely he won’t miss the garbage spewed regularly on social media.  Thank you, Buddy! We will miss you and always wish you the very best.! #Aztec4Life