Melvin gets 3-year contract with SD

SAN DIEGO – Bob Melvin put on a Padres home pinstriped jersey and stated the obvious about becoming San Diego’s new manager.

“What an opportunity. I’m probably as surprised to be here as you all are,” Melvin said Monday after being introduced at a news conference at Petco Park.

The hiring of Melvin, who has 18 seasons of big league managerial experience, was a surprise for a few reasons. He was still under contract for one year with the Oakland Athletics, where he spent the last 11 years, and Padres general manager A.J. Preller had a proclivity for hiring skippers with no previous big league managing experience.

Melvin inherits a team that had five All-Stars – including Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth – but underwhelmed after the trade deadline and finished with a losing record for the 10th time in 11 seasons. The Padres were 79-83 and third in the NL West, 28 games behind San Francisco.

Melvin signed a threeyear contract to replace Jayce Tingler, who was fired after the worst collapse in team history dropped the Padres from a one-game lead for the NL’s second wild-card spot on Sept. 9 to elimination with more than a week left in the season.

The Padres and Melvin were able to keep their courtship under the radar. Melvin lives in Arizona in the offseason and his first meeting with Preller was at the team’s spring training complex in Arizona.

“Once I got here and met A.J. in his gym shorts and his T-shirt and four basketballs sitting behind him, that was the first hook,” Melvin said about the gymrat GM.

Melvin came to San Diego to meet with other Padres executives.

He said the big attractions are Petco Park, where the A’s played a two-game