If you watched the Melvin-era Padres up close, you’d know Ryan Christenson wasn’t just a guy on the top step. He was the traffic cop, the coach who made sure nine innings didn’t devolve into chaos. From bullpen matchups to late-inning defensive tweaks, you could feel his fingerprints on a lot of the quiet, correct choices that never trend on X but win you a Tuesday in May.
So, seeing him head back to the Athletics stirs a little nostalgia in San Diego. The Padres have turned a few pages since Melvin left, but Christenson’s exit makes you remember the dugout cadence of those seasons: deliberate, orderly, strangely calm even when Petco turned into a jet engine.