In offseason news that is probably surprising to no one who follows the hitting coach foibles of the San Diego Padres, news leaked via Darren Smith on Twitter and Kevin Acee via the SDUT that hitting coach/former Friar Matt Stairs and infield coach Josh Johnson will not be retained for 2019. The team has not made a formal announcement at the time of this writing.
Though the stats might be the bottom line on the release of Matt Stairs (.297 team on-base percentage worst in the bigs, 1523 team strikeouts second worst next to only Yoan Moncada the White Sox) there was reason to believe the Padres had finally settled on a hitting coach for the meantime.