So, the Seidler’s are looking to sell the Padres, or at least bring on new investors.
Well, now this all makes a little more sense.
The Stammen hire, the delay in AJ’s contract, and the complete lack of interest from the Seidlers in being a competitive and inspiring leadership group.
I mean, if you saw the email Seidler sent out after the Cubs loss you know full well this was going to be a bumpy ride. If you paid attention to every single thing that happened after Papa Pete passed you knew this was going to be a bumpy ride. Nothing about this transition of ownership was going to go well and we all knew it. But, what could we do?
Nothing. We can’t do anything now either. Unless one of you has a billion dollars. (Does one of you have a billion dollars?)
And, listen this is nothing John Seidler did. I mean, you can totally call the guy greedy or a shitty owner or whatever ya want really. I mean, he can’t be both at the same time, but you get what I’m saying. He very well might be greedy. He very well may be looking to make a nice chunk of change. You can be pissed. You can be sad that he’s seemingly destroying Papa Pete’s dream. But, if he doesn’t really want it why be mad? Why get upset that the owner doesn’t want to run the team? I mean, knowing he wants to sell should be all the information you need on the guy. Personally, I can’t blame a guy who was given a team and didn’t quite know what he was in for. I can sit here all day and say I’d love to be handed an MLB franchise, but doesn’t mean I know the first damn thing about running it. And, furthermore to those saying he’s shitting on Pete’s grave – how? It’s not like he sold the team immediately after Peter’s death. Would you have rather he did? Or given it to Sheel? Who knows how or what she would have done. There’s way too much going on here for us to truly understand being on the outside of it. One day Mommy or Daddy will tell you why it didn’t work out.
These situations are always tricky. The switching of ownerships situations, I mean. Whether it’s someone dies or a divorce happens or a line of succession is had, these things never really go smoothly. It either takes years to be figured out or they sell the team and it’s still a mess for awhile.
But, we as a fanbase are now going through ANOTHER ownership change, or at least a new regime to join the Seidlers. And, what can we expect? What can we hope for?
I don’t know.
It doesn’t matter really. We had Papa Pete spend money out of his ears for years and it only got us one step closer to the World Series. So, what if another billionaire shows up ready to throw money on the field? What happens then? The same thing?
The real question I see in all of this is who will care about the team. Not the franchise – the team. That’s all I wanna know. I could give two shits if GOING to Petco is a good experience or not, or if they do more beer gardens, or dog nights, or promos. Sure, that’s all fun, but you know what’s more fun? WINNING.
I’ve been to a few Oakland Athletics games before and they had almost nothing happening and I had a blast cause the A’s won and I was there to watch a Baseball game and eat a hot dog. I just went to Wrigley where the fan “experience” was more of a surrounding area thing than in the stadium. Honestly, thought there’d be more to do there, but there wasn’t. And the Cubs lost. So, it was a weird time that ultimately was only cool cause it was my first time there. (and Ha-Seong Kim hit a bomb for the Braves)
Petco’s experience is unrivaled. Top five stadiums I’ve been to. I do love it there. It’s fun and for the most part every one is having a good time win or lose. But, whoever this new ownership group is I really only care if they figure out the on-the-field shit. That’s it. Why is this team not winning a World Series?
Throw money at that problem. And, that doesn’t mean throw money at another Xander Bogaerts.
And, listen after a few days of hearing Craig Stammen talk to fans with all the intensity of the kid who just took my order at Jersey Mike’s, I really am fine with him. The players seem excited, it’s clear this was Manny’s idea and that he’ll be the real manager, and if they’re all down for that then sure – let Stammen be the guy who does card tricks in the dugout.
He seems harmless and like my Baseball career summed up – ya never know he may just run into a homerun once in a blue moon.
So what is the issue? Honestly, how do I know? As David Jay of Madfriars like to point out – fans don’t really know much! We don’t! I know as much about running a franchise as John Seidler. We have our opinions and feelings and since we pretty much are the reason the team gets to keep making money we yell those opinions to whoever will listen and write them down for people to have already stopped reading.
I guess my hope is that whoever this new ownership group or owner is, they will bring with them some accountability and forward thinking. I’d love for the team to clean house in the front office. I’d love to see someone replace Preller and split his titles back in to two. I’d love to have an owner who doesn’t put million dollar bandaids on billion dollar gashes. If we are gonna have a fresh face on the top of the pyramid why not have a few on the way down as well?
I don’t know if that’ll fix it, but what could it hurt? Listen, we all fell in love with AJ cause he made all those insane trades like a decade ago. It was nice to see the Padres finally getting actual Baseball players on the team again. But, a World Series title – or even an appearance – it has not delivered.
And, I want to be honest – I’m having mixed emotions here. I don’t want to go through the sale process. Seems like a terrible idea at the worst possible time for a team trying to stay in its window. But, I also don’t want an ownership group in charge that doesn’t want to be there. I also don’t want more excuses. I just want wins. I want to have a competent group in charge. I want a group who cares about Baseball, the knowledge of the game, the glory of the game, and the nuances of Franchise Mode.
I just want the $16 I pay for a beer to mean something more.