Sunday Brunch: Padres Already Made Most Important Move of Off-Season

The Padres in the NL West have to operate better and smarter than the other teams in the division. The Padres will have some financial flexibility, but they don’t have Guggenheim flexibility. That’s why this week, the Padres may have made their most important off-season acquisition, and it has nothing to do with a bat.

The Padres hired away Logan White from the Los Angeles Dodgers to be Senior Advisor to the GM/Pro Scouting Director. White’s fingerprints are all over why the Dodgers are where they are right now. Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley were all picks that White had a hand in. Yasiel Puig, Hyun-jin Ryu and Hiroki Kuroda were all signings that White helped get done for the Dodgers.

White had actually interviewed for the Padres GM job, but his friend, A.J. Preller got it. Here’s what Preller says White will be involved in per MLB.com:

"“He’ll [White] be involved in pro deals, trades, acquisitions, the Rule 5, our big league club, our prospects and anything involving our big league club,” Preller said late Monday. “That will be his main focus.”"

Here’s what White said to MLB.com:

"“I couldn’t pass it up,” White said on Wednesday. “Andrew was such a class act through all of this. As I told him, with the timing, in a different time and a different place, I think that we would have worked great together. And I have so much respect for [Dodgers president and CEO] Stan Kasten. I would not have left the Dodgers for any other job."

White was a huge addition for the front office. This team is moving in the right direction. Now it’s time to see what kinds of moves they make.