A New Sheriff in Town

Things have been a little quiet for the most part on the Padres front. They are terrible in Spring Training (5-17), the U.S. was eliminated from the WBC (eventually won by Japan again in an extremely entertaining game), and the Padres starting rotation is still terrible (more on that in a moment).

However, off in the distant, far off on the horizon there lies a speck of light worth mentioning. Jeff Moorad is officially the new Padres CEO. This marks the first major step in the transfer of power from John Moores to Jeff Moorad. What this also means is that Sandy Alderson is officially out as the Padres CEO. I remember when Alderson came to San Diego and the excitement that I had for such a move. Afterall, Alderson had helped create the moneyball Oakland A's and they were ALWAYS in the playoffs. Of course, Alderson now leaves after the Padres suffered their worst season in nearly a decade, their worst season since Petco Park opened and a minor league system ranked dead last by Baseball America.

So, who is Jeff Moorad?

A graduate of UCLA with a law degree from Villanova, Jeff Moorad has 25 years of professional sports experience. He began as a player's agent with Steinberg and Moorad and later the Moorad Sports Management. He has represented players such as Will Clark, Steve Young, Shawn Green and Manny Ramirez. In 2005 he purchased an ownership share of the Arizona Diamondbacks which he must now sale before the the Padres deal can go through.

Much of the turmoil that the Padres faced coming off their 99 loss season was attributed to the uncertainty over the ownership of the Padres. With John and Becky Moores entangled in divorce preceedings, questions have surrounded the Padres for nearly a year. Today, if nothing else, it is clear who is now in charge of the San Diego Padres.

Now, about that pitching staff...it's bad. I'll do a full post on it but needless to say, the Padres are 10 days from opening day with no idea who their 4th and 5th starters are and only two arms in the bullpen that they have any confidence in (Cla Meredith and Heath Bell). At least the food is cheap this year at Petco.