Sale of Padres Delayed

The official changing of the guard was to happen today.  Jeff Moorad’s final payment to John Moores was supposed to clear escrow, and owners were supposed to vote in Moorad as the new owner of the San Diego Padres.  That’s what was going to happen until it was all delayed by what Bud Selig characterized as “economic issues.”

While Moorad is characterizing this as a minor delay, Selig said, “there are a lot of issues.  This is about economics, not personalities,” according to Jeff Shaikin of the LA Times.

It’s not clear what “a lot of issues” means.  It could be problems with the source of Moorad’s funding, it could totals, or it could be something completely innocuous.  Any guess would be pure speculation at this pint. I will venture a guess that the deal does get completed soon.

Many fans are concerned that MLB is just delaying the ownership transfer, but the fact is a sale like this, in the wake of the Dodgers and Mets’ ownership fiascos, will be highly scrutinized.  And that’s a good thing.  This sale needs to be clean.  The Padres can’t afford any scandal, financial crisis, or any other problem that other teams may be able to bounce back from.  In San Diego, I’m not sure baseball could survive a slip-up on this sale.

Let’s sit back and wait.  This could all be just a matter of crossing some t’s and dotting some i’s.  But if it’s not, wouldn’t you rather it be discovered before the sale goes through?