Padres Manager Green says he has not lost the clubhouse

Padres Manager Andy Green has been tagged as being soft for not retaliating against the Cubs last week. But it may have been the MLB instructions to Padres Chairman Ron Fowler that led to the decision to let the Rizzo destroy Hedges at the plate with no penalty or plunking from the Padres.

“Baseball has talked to me about making sure that we didn’t have what I call another Boston-Baltimore situation,” Fowler said, referencing the protracted feud that occurred after Baltimore’s Manny Machado took out Boston’s Dustin Pedroia with a hard slide in late April.

He continues:

“Obviously, Rizzo clearly violated the rule,” Fowler said. “It was probably the most egregious violation since the rule went in, and to do that with no repercussions, I think, is pure BS. I told baseball that.”

Whether it was MLB’s instructions or Green’s softness that led to lack of retaliation we may never know and Green is keeping his instructions inside the clubhouse.

Yesterday Darren Smith asked Andy Green if he’s concerned he lost the clubhouse by not plunking Anthony Rizzo and defending his players. Andy sounded very defensive, especially when Darren probed him further for what he told the players in the clubhouse, which Andy didn’t reveal and I didn’t transcribe.

There is zero concern for me on that front whatsoever. I have complete faith that all the players in this clubhouse are completely bound together, know they fight for each other, know they believe in each other and know that I got their back. And there’s literally zero concern from me in that regard.

I made players aware of some of the layers of complexity of the issue that maybe the mainstream fan probably isn’t aware of. And I think that should stay in the clubhouse and should remain that way. I think the players understood absolutely everything.

Are there a few guys that want to go out and fight? Yeah that’s a wonderful concept. Guys want to fight for one another. I applaud that. Love that. Want that. Will push that forward as we move forward as an organization. It’s an important part of being a great organization and when we’re out there competing for championships you better believe we’ll be out there fighting for each other when the time calls for it. I have zero concern that the group of guys within this clubhouse have any doubt that I have their back. They know I have their back.

Andy hasn’t lost me because I’ve been skeptical of this new guy since day one. The Padres need a manager that acts swiftly and decisively in the best interests of the club.