Padres one of two teams interested in Albert Pujols as Mike Shildt's replacement

Matt Sullivan

•
Padres one of two teams interested in Albert Pujols as Mike Shildt's replacement image

The San Diego Padres, after being eliminated in the National League Wild Card series, saw their manager Mike Shildt surprisingly announce his retirement.

Now in need of a new manager, the Padres search is one of the more fascinating ones in the MLB. A playoff team being in need of a manager is rare, especially one with the talent that the Padres have. Who becomes the new manager will be very interesting, and there's already one name emerging as a potential Shildt replacement.

According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the Padres are one of just two teams interested in St. Louis Cardinals future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to be their new manager.

Padres interested in Albert Pujols to be the team's manager in 2026

"Albert Pujols will not be the Angels' next manager, per source." Fiensand reports. "The Orioles and Padres remain interested in Pujols. @JonHeyman was on it."

From this report, the Padres interest in Pujols isn't the first mention of this connection. But, the news that the Los Angeles Angels, one of Pujols' former teams, is out on him to be their new manager, is a big deal.

Down to just two teams, the Padres and the Baltimore Orioles, Pujols has a decent chance of becoming the Padres manager. If the Padres do bring in Pujols to be the manager, it'd be a very interesting pairing.

San Diego is a playoff team, and while they could play it safe and hire an experience manager, going with Pujols, who's not managed in the Majors before, would be a risk.

More: Padres' Mike Shildt announces retirement following 2025 season

There's been a lot of former players turned managers in MLB history, and Pujols would be one of the greatest to do so. He hit 703 career home runs, and was one of the greatest right-handed hitters ever in MLB history.

But, his on-field play will have little bearing on his ability to manage a team. He might have been a fantastic player, but his ability as a manager is still up in the air.

And that's partially why, for the Padres, going with Pujols would be an interesting decision. Pujols would be a first-time manager taking over for a team that's coming off back-to-back playoff runs.

It'd be a risky hire for any team, but for the Padres, it's an especially risky one. San Diego is one of two reported teams interested in the future Hall of Famer, as they'll contend with the Orioles to bring in Pujols to be their new manager.

More Padres News:

News Correspondent