Padres’ coaching staff could be raided while manager search begins

The manager search is the headline. The real drama might be who other teams try to take while San Diego looks for its next skipper.

San Diego Padres v New York Yankees | Elsa/GettyImagesThe Padres didn’t just wake up to a managerial vacancy; they woke up to a coaching market that can smell uncertainty from a mile away. Mike Shildt’s abrupt retirement dropped San Diego into an eight-to-ten team scrum for leadership at precisely the moment contenders and retoolers alike are filling staffs. That timing matters.

Every open chair elsewhere becomes a threat to poach the people the Padres most need to stabilize the transition — starting with the architects of a run-prevention group that kept them…