Certain things are assured in San Diego: The sun will find its way through the clouds, that thing you just tripped over is a scooter and Padres fans will question nearly every decision by manager Andy Green.

Second-guessing big-league bosses constitutes the national pastime within the national pastime. Nitpicking Green, however, owns its own special place in that ecosystem — a daily exercise in stubbornly refusing to believe he might just belong.

The skepticism is understandable: San Diego was Green’s first big-time gig, his playing career was relatively brief and the Padres — until now, once a real roster was constructed — showed few signs of playing winning baseball.

As the Padres breathe .500 air at the All-Star break for the first time since 2010, how has Green done? Extremely well, all considered. He’s been steady in uniquely unsteady times. He pushes a lot more of the right buttons than the wrong ones. He’s kept drama and distractions muted and to a minimum.


The clubhouse culture is healthier than at any time since Green arrived. A big part of that is the infectiousness of players like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Franmil Reyes, along with the guiding hands of Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer and Ian Kinsler. That hardly means he deserves zero credit, though.

When I asked Green to evaluate himself Sunday at Dodger Stadium shortly after the Padres won a four-game series in L.A. for the first time in a decade and a half, he laughed.

“Me? It’s the last thing I’m thinking about right now,” Green said. “I’ll analyze my decisions every single night, but I’m not consumed with that. I’m consumed with getting better and the things I can do better. There are games I’ve messed up in the first half for sure that I take a lot of ownership over.

“We’re not where we ultimately want to be. We’re on a path and I think people can see that right now.”


Then he paused. The guy not thinking about it suddenly thought about it.

“Things are trending in the right direction,” Green said.

It’s difficult if not impossible to be confident you’re getting completely straight or unedited answers when you ask people about their boss. As I quizzed Padres players in recent weeks, though, a picture of someone who might be misunderstood outside the clubhouse formed.

Those clipped, carefully measured and mostly dispassionate responses to questions fans hear during news conferences cause many to draw conclusions. A well-connected national writer told me, “Green might be the biggest enigma of the 30 managers in baseball.”


Managerial rankings this year by the Boston Globe, The Big Lead and Yardbarker put Green at Nos. 18, 19 and 21 respectively — ahead of established names like Ned Yost, Ron Gardenhire and Don Mattingly. That means those on the list rated him more highly than some might expect, but behind every other dugout boss in the NL West.

Mixed bag, still.

The Padres sit at .500 despite the 20th-best run differential in baseball — a sign that a team and its manager are maximizing what they produce. Toss in the youngest starting rotation in baseball and it’s a bit miraculous, in baseball terms.

“One of the things that sticks out with Andy is his in-game managing is off the charts,” utility infielder Greg Garcia said. “Every manager says, ‘I’m putting my guys in the best situation to succeed.’ Andy honestly does that like 99.9 percent of the time.


“You can tell. He studies matchups. It’s not just, ‘Hey, there’s a right-handed pitcher, let’s throw (left-handed hitting) Greg in there.’ He goes deep into it. He does a ton of studying and preparation and it shows.”

That dependence on numbers, analytics and defensive shifting opens up Green to criticism about approaching the game robotically rather than trusting gut and feel. One comment on social media captured the lingering perception: “Andy Green would sit Mike Trout for (Travis) Jankowski against righties for the L-R matchup.”

A measure of Green’s effectiveness when it matters most is the Padres’ record in one-run games. They’re 19-9, thanks in large part to Kirby Yates — but there are eight other innings in which Green can make adjustments to get them in position for the closer to enter.

Another stat to consider is that Green’s rate for winning replay reviews is at 52.9 percent this season, easily the best since joining the Padres.


What is Green’s stamp on this team and franchise? For one, it’s his steadying influence during one of the most tumultuous organizational shifts in the game. As veterans were shown the door and the farm system was rebuilt from the ground up, Green was handed plenty of sub-par talent and unique rules of engagement related to innings counts.

When an established player was asked whether respected pitching coach Darren Balsley should be credited with the work of the inexperienced staff and the rise of Yates, he said: “Maybe he’s letting Darren be Darren.”

The trust-building extends to other areas, players said.

“What he does a great job with, he trusts the leaders to manage the clubhouse,” Garcia said. “What goes on on a day-to-day basis, not between the lines. He lets Manny Machado, Hosmer, Ian Kinsler kind of take that over what we do in here. You can’t do that unless you have the right leaders. And we have the right leaders.”


Relief pitcher Craig Stammen and others said communication is not an issue with Green, who is approached for counsel on things beyond the game.

“From a part-time player standpoint, he’s been as good as anyone I’ve been around in letting you know, ‘Hey, you’re playing second tomorrow’ or ‘Tomorrow, you’re coming off the bench,’ ” Garcia said. “That really helps a guy like me, because I start to prepare the night before.”

Some early question marks related to managing the clubhouse largely have vanished. You didn’t get the sense Green knew how to handle one-time Padre Matt Kemp, a big paycheck, big vibe-killer and big liability with a glove on his hand in right field. Then again, does anyone know how to deal with Kemp? Whispers about relationships with certain coaches once swirled, but not anymore.

Criticisms continue about lineup construction, but who honestly thinks Green puts those together without plenty of input from the front office as the Padres juggle various objectives?


Fans can wonder if Green pulled Cal Quantrill too quickly and left Luis Perdomo in too long during a 7-5 loss to the Giants last week that completed a San Francisco sweep. They can grumble about the manager using a challenge to see if Hunter Renfroe scored before the final out in the fourth inning Sunday against the Dodgers on a play unlikely to be overturned, leaving the Padres without a challenge for later innings.

That’s baseball, though. If you believe the narrative on social media, Green deserves the blame for everything from bee swarms to Wil Myers losing a fly ball in the twilight.

Mostly, Green has led a team that continually finds a way to fight back from losing streaks. The most recent and stirring example was digging out three of four against baseball’s hottest team, the Dodgers, after being swept by the lowly Giants.

The Padres could have cratered. They didn’t.


So how has Green done, as we consider things that haven’t happened for this franchise since 2004 and ’10?

Pretty darn good.