by Jeff Creps on January 29, 2010
Padres brass gathers at a Petco Park town hall meeting (Photo by Steve Adler)
On a chilly Thursday night, the Padres opened up the gates of Petco Park to fans for an Open House and Town Hall style meeting. Although the number of guests was expected to be around 1,000, more than 3,00o fans showed up for free hot dogs, the opportunity to meet players and a chance to roam the grass in centerfield.
Much of the Padres brass was in attendance. Owner and CEO Jeff Moorad led the evening flanked by GM Jed Hoyer, COO Tom Garfinkel and manager Bud Black.
Their message for the night was consistent and confident: we are here to win.
“We know you are counting on us,” Moorad said from the first base line podium. “Let me reassure you, this ownership has a plan and a passion for winning.”
Even with the recent struggles of the Padres franchise the fans were clear that they expect a winner. When the forum was opened to fan questions the topics ranged from a potential All Star Game at Petco, to a possible trade involving Adrian Gonzalez.
Hoyer responded: “We will never do anything that doesn’t make the team better.” Continue Reading →
John Conniff from MadFriars.com has a different take on the Kevin Towers firing. He will join us later to discuss the story:
The firing of popular Padres General Manager Kevin Towers produced an outcry from the local and national media with the consensus that new owner Jeff Moorad erred in firing the long time general manager in favor of installing his “own guy”.
However, after the knee-jerk responses fade, Moorad, who made a fortune running a sports agency, may have more valid reasons for the change than ego.
In the process of taking control of the team from John Moores, he is not a Daddy Warbucks style owner in the same vein of Detroit’s Mike Illitch, but the leader of a consortium with a finite budget that is expected provide a return on investment.
Towers was not evaluated as a general manager, but rather as the head of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson’s old job, which these days is considerably more than the running a team, but involves, which has been the popular buzzword the past few days, a “strategic vision.”
Continue Reading →