Bench coach Tingler comes face-to-face with ugly piece of recent past

SAN DIEGO - Jayce Tingler has a pretty short to-do list this weekend. Savor his favorite fish tacos at Seaport Village. Catch up with Padres coach Ryan Flaherty. Say how-ya-been to the veteran players on one of the National League's best teams, a group that he championed, defended and led through a bitterly disappointing season last summer.

And then try to beat them.

"I'm sure it'll bring back memories, and for sure, I'm looking forward to seeing the players," said Tingler, who managed the Padres for two seasons until being fired last October. "But I don't think about [last year] a lot. I kind of live in the moment, and I'm here now."

"Here" is in the Twins' dugout, as bench coach for Rocco Baldelli, making Tingler only the third Twins coach with previous big-league managing experience, and the first in nearly four decades. (Karl Kuehl from 1977 to '82 and Jim Lemon 1981-84 were the others.)

If he misses being in charge of his team, it doesn't show.

"Doing this role, being with Rocco and this staff, and of course the players, this has been one of the funnest years, if not the funnest, of my baseball career," Tingler said. "I'm having a blast — teaching, coaching, connecting with guys. I can't express how much I've been rejuvenated and re-energized this year."

If that sounds like an indictment of how rugged last September was for the 41-year-old Missourian, Tingler confirms it only indirectly. Endlessly sunny San Diego can seem like a paradise, but not when one of the preseason favorites in the National League collapses down the stretch.

"Three-quarters of the time, it's really good," Tingler said. "And when you go through a quarter that's tough, it can become a struggle."

Tingler, whose only previous managing experience had been at the rookie level or in winter ball, was a surprise hire in the winter of 2019, his ties to Padres General Manager A.J. Preller getting him an interview. He led San Diego through the tumultuous COVID season and into the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

The Padres won a wild-card series before the eventual World Series champion Dodgers swept them out in three games, but the Padres were viewed as serious contenders last year, especially after adding Yu Darvish and Blake Snell to the pitching staff.

They had the best record in baseball in May, but pitching injuries undid their success. A 7-21 final month, with unfamiliar faces on the mound, left the Padres with a losing record and doomed Tingler's regime.

The end was messy. Rumors of clubhouse unrest spread, and word of Tingler's expected firing was leaked with more than a week left in the season. He exited with a .523 winning percentage (116-106), making him the only Padres manager above .500 in 30 years.

Tingler was vocal in defense of his players — "I don't think anybody ever quit," he insisted — but "there were some things out there that weren't reality. It's miserable, going through that, but you learn a lot about yourself. You learn that you're resilient and you're tough and you can keep putting your left in front of your right."

A phone call with Twins GM Thad Levine, however, soon led to a call with Derek Falvey, and then a couple of face-to-face meetings with Baldelli. Within a month, he had another dugout job — and though he turns silent when asked about his relationship with Preller, he makes it clear how happy he is in Minnesota.

"It's been an absolute blessing," Tingler said. "Working with Rocco, with this front office, this staff and these players, the communication here is awesome."

Baldelli is happy about it, too.

As a former manager, Tingler "is able to come at me in a lot of ways, in a lot of different scenarios. He knows what goes into every decision. He's made all those decisions," Baldelli said. "He's a teacher of the game, and he's very good with the mental side of it. I've been extremely impressed."