Padres Town Hall Meeting

It is time to soothe the fans and their unrest, so Padres management met with a group of season ticket holders on Wednesday Night. According to the San Diego Union Tribune some 350 turned out to ask some tough questions.

I was not there, but I can imagine the hostility. Many season ticket holders who bought back in 2014-201 5 were hoping for success. Now those players are gone. Also gone is the All-Star game, the other incentive. Management is now scared the fan base will abandon them in 2017.  Hence the “town hall” meeting.

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Over many posts we at FanSided have discussed the Padres many moves and new outlook. We have covered it all. The Draft, the International Signings, the Trades and even the MONEY. Maybe Chairman Ron Fowler should have passed out fliers advertising our site.

Again I was not there, but from the questions posted in the Union Tribune article, the Fan Base was not happy about losing their favorite players and facing a long losing 2017 season.

During the meeting Ron Fowler also exposed the “ugly” Matt Kemp situation. Quotes like “I’ll be damned if we’re going to pay high-priced talent to sit on their butts and not perform,”  and this one: “We made a conscious decision to ship them out because we want people that are prepared to improve,”

The Union Tribune also quoted Fowler as saying “If you’re making a lot of money and you think you’re already there, you’re not going to get better”  and “… They had a bad attitude. You saw Kemp’s letter. Talk about a bunch of b.s.”

As speculated by me in the last post, Upper Management (Ron Fowler) wanted Matt Kemp GONE and yesterday was not soon enough. Thus AJ made the “salary dump” that I incorrectly predicted would NOT happen. I did not know the hatred of James Shields’ large salary carried over to Matt Kemp. It was Mr Fowler who spoke loudly how awful Shields was before AJ shipped him off.

If the Fan Base is like me, the Matt Kemp deal was the hard one to swallow. The Atlanta Braves, in the middle of MAJOR re-building, took on SALARY in acquiring Kemp. Their cost was “about” a net of $5.6 million a year 2017-2019. (Remember they were saddled with Hector Olivera‘s contract). What does that tell you about how good the deal was to Atlanta? ALL the Padres got was salary relief,

Did I like Kemp’s comments? NO.. Hell NO !! Do I think he was unhappy with the Padre management? Heck YES. (There were rumors a couple of months ago, he wanted out.) Do I think AJ’s hands were tied to make the deal? You Bet!

I am not privy to inner clubhouse goings on with Matt Kemp. However If I had been at the “town hall” meeting I would have asked Mr Fowler: “Did you know that on the field Kemp was on pace to hit 32HR’s and have 96 RBI’s this year? And at this moment he ranked 8th in both HR and RBI in the National League? Was that “sitting on his butt”?

How about last year when Matt hit 23 HR -100 RBI’s  and lead the National League in “go ahead RBI’s”.  Is this a player you just dump?  I am SHOCKED that no team in the American League wanted him for DH at the cost of 5.6 million a year. Many players are making much, much more and producing less. Answer me that Mr Fowler.   …. I do not understand…..

Next: Padres Summer Trade Season

I think management should be worried about “some” drop off in season ticket sales. However despite the current hatred, I do not think the drop in ticket sales will be a catastrophe. The Padres have in the past pulled in 2 Million fans during some really down years. We have some very loyal fans that even pay money so see them play.

Many like me, despite the Kemp deal, are loyal to a fault. It looks like the Cubs fans are going to get their shot. Hopefully we could too in 2018-2019. Time heals all wounds.