Padres Ownership Drama Might Have Cost Them Roki Sasaki
The courtship of prized free agent starting pitcher Roki Sasaki dominated most of the Major League Baseball offseason. Two-thirds of the league submitted a pitch to Sasaki and his agent. He met with eight teams, and three made the final cut.
Two of those three were the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. Another was the San Diego Padres. And the Padres were confident enough in their chances of landing Sasaki that they arranged to deal for millions in extra international bonus pool money.
A few days later, Sasaki announced on Instagram he'd picked LA, with a news conference a few days after that. So what went wrong for the Padres?
Per a new report, it sure sounds like Sasaki and his agent heard about and read about the behind-the-scenes drama currently unfolding among Paders ownership and chose institutional stability instead.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Dodgers Benefit From Padres' Instability
For background, Sheel Siedler, the widow of late Padres owner Peter Seidler, recently filed suit against two of Seidler's brothers over control of the organization.
READ: San Diego Padres Owners Now Fighting Over Control Of The Team
The lawsuit was filed right smack-dab in the middle of the Sasaki recruitment process, and it sounds like the uncertainty and infighting played a role in the Padres losing out.
Matt Seidler, one of the target's of Sheel's lawsuit, just submitted a new filing responding to the alleged claims, and illustrating the damage that the lawsuit caused.
"During a crucial time when Padres management was in late negotiation stages with a star pitcher, Sheel’s lawsuit recklessly suggested that Matt and his brothers were plotting to relocate the Padres elsewhere," the filing explains.
That star pitcher was, of course, Roki Sasaki.
The Athletic spoke to Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, who essentially confirmed that it was problematic for them.
"We knew it was an issue," Wolfe said. "The timing of it appeared oddly strategic, and I wanted to allow the Padres to deal with it first on their own terms rather than try to figure it out on our own, which they did."
That's not going to make Padres fans happy.
With any lawsuit of this nature, it's impossible to know who's right and who's wrong, though most outside observers have stressed that had Peter wanted Sheel in charge of the team, he'd have expressly said so prior to his passing. Instead, he essentially left Matt and another one of his brothers in charge. There's also been conflicting reports of her interest and support in the team, prior to this public fight. She's claimed to be at several games per homestand, while a new article from the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted sources in and around the organization that said she was rarely at Petco Park.
That said, some Padres players have expressed support for Sheel's case, including star center fielder Jackson Merrill.
Regardless, while Wolfe and Sasaki will never confirm or deny how much of a role the lawsuit played in him choosing LA, it's hard not to immediately conclude that the instability was a significant issue. Especially since he cited the Dodgers' "stability" in the front office as a key factor.
Maybe Sasaki would have chosen LA anyway, but for Padres fans and their front office, it's now going to be a case of what might have been.