San Diego Padres: Ron Fowler does it again

With the past in mind, members of the San Diego Padres clearly do not trust Ron Fowler, and many would say for good reason.

Perhaps the Padres should choose another spokesperson to chat with Dan Sileo on the Mighty 1090. In a déjà vu interview, Ron Fowler, executive chairman of the team, verbally abused another starting pitcher substituting Jered Weaver for James Shields.

Last season, after a brutal loss to the Mariners, Fowler famously proclaimed, “To have a starter like (James) Shields perform as poorly as he did yesterday is an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to him.” Undoubtedly, Shields called his agent immediately, telling him to get him out of town.

The veteran pitcher ended up with the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Erik Johnson, who went 0-4 with a 9.15 ERA, and Fernando Tatis Jr., who is currently playing for Fort Wayne. Had Fowler shared his opinions with other members of the front office rather than the masses, the Padres may have received a better return for Shields later in the year.

Weaver himself had already made his opinions known on his pitching performance in an 11-0 loss to the Texas Rangers in the last game of the homestand. He gave up two more home runs in three innings, bringing his total so far to 14.

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No one, especially Ron Fowler, should be surprised at the result. Last year Weaver, an All-Star pitcher in the past for the Angels, gave up 37 home runs. His fastball sits around 84 mph, about the speed of many major league pitchers’ change-ups. He has been brutally honest about his failings.

“Obviously, long ball’s been killing me, and anytime you fall behind with the stuff I’m throwing up there, you have to be perfect,” he told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune after a loss to Arizona. “I feel bad that I haven’t been able to hold up my end of the bargain the last couple of starts.”

He went on to say that he’ll find himself “on the couch” soon if he can’t turn it around. Weaver has said all that needed to be said himself. Ron Fowler did not need to weigh in with his critique.

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Instead, Fowler would do well to keep his disparagement confined to the front office. As executive chair, he explicitly or, at the very least, implicitly signed off on the construction of the team including the addition of Weaver.