One favorite for SF Giants’ manager post comes off the table

When Gabe Kapler was fired on Friday, it was hard not to think back to his last pregame session with reporters Wednesday afternoon. Or more so, who was performing the same task in the opposite dugout around the same time.

It was Bob Melvin, whose tenure in San Diego seemed to be on the skids but, conversely, had emerged as an early favorite as Kapler’s successor. A long track record as a major-league manager, a previous working relationship with Farhan Zaidi and Bay Area roots made Melvin an obvious candidate — if his time with the Padres was up.

That proved not to be the case.

In his season-ending press conference Wednesday, Padres general manager A.J. Preller confirmed Melvin would return for 2024, despite a reported rift in their relationship and a disappointing 2023 season.

“Bob is our manager, and he’s going to be our manager going forward,” Preller said of Melvin, who has one year left on his contract.

Whether or not they had Melvin in their sights, the Giants will have to look elsewhere now.

Zaidi said they plan to begin reaching out to candidates outside the organization next week. They hope to have a new manager in place by the start of free agency in the first week of November.

Zaidi didn’t dismiss the idea of a first-time manager but said they would prioritize an effective “recruiter” who could appeal to free agents. When it comes to style, he reiterated Tuesday that “there’s no template” and “we want to be as broad in our search as possible.”

“There are guys who don’t have managerial experience but maybe they just ended long playing careers and they have relationships and they can be effective recruiters and be sort of attractive leaders for players,” Zaidi said.