McKeon Resigns as Manager of Padres; Job Goes to Riddoch

Jack McKeon resigned as manager of the San Diego Padres to turn his attention to the front office and the club today named Coach Greg Riddoch to replace him.

McKeon, who recently said he planned to step down as manager at the end of the season, remains with the Padres as vice president of baseball operations.

“I just felt two jobs was too much. I was really getting burdened,” McKeon said at a news conference today. “I know the club has been an underachieving club. We expected a great deal out of the players. Maybe it’s my fault. I take full responsibility.

“It’s just a case where I was wore out. I didn’t have the time to devote to both jobs. I was cheating the organization. I was cheating myself.”

Riddoch, in his fourth season with the Padres, will be managing in the major leagues for the first time. The 44-year-old Riddoch previously had minor league managerial jobs at Seattle, Billings, Mont., and Eugene, Ore.

“I have signed a new contract through the end of the year,” Riddoch said. “I’m the manager, not an interim manager. I’m going to make it as hard as I can for them to get rid of me.”

Riddoch got right into his job when he said that batting coach Amos Otis was fired and two new coaches would be joining the team. He declined to name them.

The Padres are struggling at 37-43 and lost 12 of 15 games before the All-Star break, including eight games of a 10-game home stand. They start the second half of the season in fourth place in the National League West, 13 1/2 games behind Cincinnati.

Riddoch isn’t worried about catching the Reds.

“They are 12 to 14 games ahead of us and to look at that type of goal would be counterproductive for us,” he said. “It’s time for us to refocus together, as a team, as people with more feelings about each other and once we establish that we can go out on the field and play baseball like we did when we were kids.”