I Love the Direction of "My" Padres

I may be a San Diego Wannabe, but I am not a GM Wannabe; so I do not get into all the rumored deals or "KT should have done..." debates.  But I did worry that John Moores, our owner, was taking the money from his new ballpark and devolpments, and hiding.  I don't worry anymore.

I am convinced the direction which Moores has taken "my" franchise is the best possible route given our market size and potential revenue relative to the rest of the league.  Moores' hiring of Sandy Alderson was brilliant and signaled a turning point to find the best value, the real definition of "Moneyball", and use the increased revenues Petco does provide to keep more of our developed talent than Alderson was able to do in Oakland.

Even the Red Sox and Yankees have discovered that over-spending on Free Agents and trading away their farm systems is the wrong road to travel down.  The Padres do have increased revenue due to the new park, but will never sniff the outer reaches of the really big television markets.  So "we" have to do things with a lot less margin for error than the big boys.  And we have one of the big boys in our own division.

According to some recent articles in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres plan is to build up their farm system as fast and with as much depth as they can.  When Alderson took over our farm system was rated as one of the worst in all of baseball.  Kevin Towers was forced into trading most of it away to stay competitive and they stayed away from signing some draftees because of their contract demands.  This was a recipe for disaster.

Alderson's plan is to fill in with one year veteran FA's instead of over-spending for longterm FA contracts.  This provides 3 benefits: 1) The one year FA is ultra-motivated to produce.  2) When they are signed away the next season we get bonus high draft picks to build up our minor leagues. 3) We save our FA money to spend on extending our own players and to sign the best draftees.  The most recent Baseball America rankings has the Padres with the 13th best system which is a huge leap over just a few years ago.

I think it is a brillant plan as long as we are able to extend most of our core players like Alderson did with Jake Peavy and we pay the higher bonuses necessary to sign the better draftees.  I know there will be some exceptions and we will lose some, but if we keep most of our best players I will be delighted.

Alderson did say in one of the UT articles that the situation in San Diego is much better than the one he was in at Oakland.  He said that our increased revenues allows us to do what I am hoping--to keep most of our players rather than trading them away when they are about to enter Free Agency.

I also love our unique ballpark, Petco.  I think it gives us a definate advantage in our market.  We couln't afford the gigantic longterm FA deals to the top power hitters anyway.  And Kevin Towers has been great at finding the right veterans to fill our voids, with few exceptions. 

Plus, I love baseball when it is close and where every pitch and every play is magnified.  Where fundamentals are essential to winning. 

The new plan seems to be working!!! We have won two of the last three division titles and our farm system has improved immensly. 

I've heard all the whining that Moores should open his pockets and sign a "Big Bat" and another "Ace".  I heard yelling and screaming over us not signing Zito, Schmidt, and even Andrew Jones.  We can't afford to make those kind of mistakes.  I'm glad many of our loudest fans do not run "my" Padres.

Thank you John Moores, Sandy Alderson, and Kevin Towers.

Go Padres!!!