Padres name Pat Murphy interim manager for rest of 2015
The San Diego Padres named Pat Murphy interim manager Tuesday as they chose to stay in-house with their replacement for Bud Black, who was fired Monday and had been San Diego’s skipper since 2007.
Murphy has been with the organization since 2010, most recently managing the team’s Triple-A club in El Paso. Prior to joining the Padres, Murphy was a highly successful college coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State. However, he resigned from the job at ASU in 2009 as the program was being investigated for NCAA violations. The NCAA later cleared Murphy of all reported infractions.
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Known around baseball for his fiery attitude, San Diego’s front offices hopes Murphy can help inspire a 32-34 team that came into 2015 with high expectations after a whirlwind hot stove season that saw All-Stars James Shields, Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, Derek Norris and Craig Kimbrel come aboard. The Padres are fourth in the NL West, 5 1/2 games back of the first-place Dodgers.
Earlier this season the Milwaukee Brewers indicated they wanted to hire Murphy as part of the coaching staff for new manager Craig Counsell. The Padres refused to let Murphy interview for the position, even though it would have been a promotion. Now we have a better idea why.
Murphy has his own major-league team to manage, at least for the rest of this season.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
