So now that I had a week to mope around with what seemed like a constant soundtrack of peanuts “Christmas Time Is Here” while doing the sad walk.

I’m now excited about the possibilities of the manager search for the Padres.

Personally I’m hyped for either Bud Black or Trey Hillman. With the success of bringing what was an apparent joke of a franchise to a Japanese title he might just be the man we need. However for some reason I really like the possibility of Bud as the new manager of the 2007 Padres. I don’t know what it is, I just think being one of the right hand men to Mike Scioscia for the past half dozen years or so he’s ready for the hot seat.

As much as I like Ron Washington something tells me he won’t be the ideal candidate for the Padres. Ron seems to be the type of manager that’s not too keen on being told by upper management on how to run the game on the field and won’t be a token figure on filling out the lineup card and handing it to the umpires before each game. I think his likely destination will be the Texas Rangers where management gives the impression that they know their job is to supply the players and allow the manager to move the pieces. I just don’t see the new Sandy Alderson run Padres taking that approach.

Which brings me to ask that I’m not sure why the Padres are interviewing Dusty Baker as impressive as his resume is, he seems to be a more expensive and dare I say it, better field manager then Bochy. It must be a token interview to appease MLB’s preference for a minority higher. But he also doesn’t seem to be the type that will take to the behind the scenes string pulling of upper management.

So I’m thinking the choices boil down to Bud or Trey and with Trey’s recent success in Japan giving him a little leverage in salary, the new manager will be Bud Black. Let’s hope that whomever it is that the Padres do the unthinkable and finally bring a championship to a city that hasn’t had it’s fair share of sporting success.