Padres in real sad shape
Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008 4:06 PM
Amidst this winter's pursuit of free agents, which remains active for the elite players on the open market and dormant for the delusional ones, baseball has a grim story unfolding in San Diego.
The Padres are for sale after 14 years of solid growth under John Moores. This is the franchise that has long been described as bordered by an ocean to the west, Mexico to the south and the Dodgers to the north. That's sports business shorthand for "Good luck making this work."
Yet the Padres did make it work under Moores' ownership and the leadership of Larry Lucchino. They had twice barely scraped past the two million attendance mark until a 1996 division title started a 13-year run above that total. Years of discord with the city ended with an agreement for a much-needed downtown ballpark. They developed their own franchise legends in Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman. They made baseball relevant in a market where some thought that could never happen.
Now it is unraveling, more quickly than anyone could have predicted. One year after an 89-win season and two years after consecutive division titles, the Padres lost 99 games. Attendance is off 600,000 from Petco Park's first season. And the payroll is rumored to be halved from 2008.
Divorce is why Moores is forced to sell. And that's happened before. What Bowie Kuhn could not make happen for a decade -- force Charlie Finley to sell the A’s -- only happened when Mrs. Finley decided she wanted to be the ex-Mrs. Finley.
Divorce also means a buyer's market. It was for the Haas family when they took the A's for $8 million and no debt from Finley in 1980. It is said that MLB does not want a "distress sale" of the Padres. But that was exactly how the Haas family acquired the A's and theirs was universally held to be an outstanding ownership.
There were two such sales in 1994-95 as baseball dealt with its labor crisis -- an ailing Walter Haas had his family sell the A's. And a computer software magnate purchased from Tom Werner the dysfunctional San Diego franchise. The buyer was John Moores.
So we offer precedent for the sale of teams in bleak times. How high a price Moores can drive is to be determined. Whether buyers flock is uncertain. Will Sandy Alderson, one of baseball's best and brightest, try to assemble a group? Can the team repair fractured relations with Hoffman? And can they field a team that avoids 100 losses?
Sad questions to ask about a franchise that seemed so strong just two years ago.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. SO JUST WHEN I THOUGHT WE HAD IT RIGHT…Rafael Furcal is signing with the Dodgers not the Braves. Fury from the Braves is aimed at his agent Paul Kinzer, who works for Arn Tellem and the Wasserman Media Group. And while we offer no absolution to Kinzer, always remember that the player makes the final call. Why Furcal, after having his wish granted to return to Atlanta, pulled the plug is unknown. Did he have second thoughts about playing second base?
But I loved the indignation from Braves general manager Frank Wren and team president John Schuerholz, one of the game's greatest executives who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “the Atlanta Braves will no longer do business with that company -- ever. I told Arn Tellem that we can’t trust them to be honest and forthright. I told him that in all my years, I’ve never seen any (agency) act in such a despicable manner.”
I hope Schuerholz sticks to his statement. And those others in the executive suites of MLB teams would hold the Ari Golds of baseball to the same ethical standards.
2. SINCE WE LAST POSTED...Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon has spoken. He said the Mets, their television network and new ballpark are not impacted by the Bernard Madoff scandal. Fred Wilpon, Jeff’s father and the Mets’ principal owner, is a longtime friend of Madoff and reportedly Madoff’s Wall Street scam has cost Wilpon in the neighborhood of $300 million. In Thursday's New York Times, a graphic listed the businesses that invested with Madoff. Sterling Equities (the Wilpon business) had its exposure listed as "unknown.
3. MORE COMMUNICATION FROM JOHN HENRY...The Red Sox owner said Thursday night that the team will be outbid for Mark Teixeira. Is it another message to agent Scott Boras that the Red Sox will not bid against themselves? Or a message that a 10-year deal is not going to happen? Or a message that Henry has not forgotten what he termed "lying" by Boras in the Johnny Damon negotiations? Or is it a little of all of the above?
4. THIS IS OFTEN THE BUSIEST WEEK…of the offseason for free agents as many of those on the open market like to know before the holidays hit where they will be playing next season. Also many teams close up shop between Christmas and New Year's Day, thus they like to get their major moves squared away before then. But this year looks different. Outside of the big names, it appears many teams are waiting for the price to drop on the second-tier players. Look at Tampa Bay -- it needs a DH but it has yet to move on the most likely candidates: Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu and Milton Bradley.
5. ONE SECOND-TIER PLAYER DRAWING INTEREST…is Ty Wigginton, cast free by Houston. Latest word is San Francisco is taking a serious look.
