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Kevin Towers

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Towers, Marlins

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A few links on the second to last day of the regular season…

  • Even though they'll finish with the worst record in baseball, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo indicated that it's not a lock the team will draft Bryce Harper first overall next year, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Says Rizzo: "I haven't seen him yet. He certainly hasn't separated himself like [pitcher] Stephen Strasburg did last year."
  • CBSSports.com reports that Kevin Towers said he wasn't given a specific reason for his termination, but KT did say that he's "been around long enough to know why."
  • Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel says that Florida's final 2009 payroll was just under $35.6MM. Hanley Ramirez ($5.5MM) and Dan Uggla ($5.35MM) were the only Marlins to make more than $3.5MM this year.
  • Matthew Carruth at FanGraphs weighs in with his opinion of the Towers and J.P. Ricciardi firings.

Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Indians Manager, Johnson, Padres GM, Crawford, Mauer

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Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com has a new Full Count video up this afternoon, so let's see what he's got for us…

  • The Indians plan to conduct 8-10 phone interviews for their managerial vacancy, then bring in 3-5 finalists by the third week of October, presumably for formal interviews. Bobby Valentine will be "on the short list," and will almost certainly get an interview. Buck Showalter will not be a candidate.
  • Cleveland is proceeding with the search as if Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell will not be a candidate, however that could change quickly if Farrell expresses interest in the job. At that point, the three parties involved would need to discuss a way around the clause in the Farrell's contract that prohibits him from seeking a managerial job elsewhere.
  • Signing Josh Johnson long-term is the Marlins' top priority this offseason. In order to get a deal done, Florida will need to "exceed significantly" the four year, $38MM deal the Royals gave Zack Greinke, who was at a similar service time level last offseason.
  • If a deal doesn't get done, Johnson will almost certainly not sign an extension next offseason, when he'd be just one year away from free agency. At that point, the Fish would need to trade him.
  • Who will replace Kevin Towers as Padres GM? Paul DePodesta, a special assistant to Towers and former GM of the Dodgers, is not interested in the job. Pat Gillick doesn't figure to be a candidate either.
  • The leading candidate might be Diamondbacks' exec Jerry DiPoto, but the Padres would need approval from the commissioner's office to get him. CEO Jeff Moorad left the D-Backs just last December, and the league frowns upon executives raiding their former teams for front office talent.
  • However, DiPoto has already interviewed for openings with the Nationals and Mariners, so it would be difficult for the D-Backs to make much of a fuss.
  • Carl Crawford is "well intentioned" when he says he wants to sign a long-term extension with Tampa Bay. The problem is that the team probably won't offer him enough to keep him from becoming a free agent at the end of 2010.
  • The bigger question is Joe Mauer, who can also hit free agency next winter. Mauer told The NY Times earlier this week that he is not interested in becoming the highest paid player in the game, even though he probably deserves to be. He is represented by Ron Shapiro, the same agent that kept Cal Ripken Jr. in Baltimore and Kirby Puckett in Minnesota. Shapiro clearly understands the value of a player staying with one team his entire career.
  • Shapiro, father of Indians GM Mark Shapiro, would be "sticking it to his son" a bit by keeping Mauer in the AL Central. That's my phrase, not Rosenthal's.

Odds & Ends: Towers, Ricciardi, Jenks, Barajas

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Some links on a surprisingly busy Saturday morning…

  • Here's a link to this morning's post containing comments from Padres CEO Jeff Moorad about the firing of Kevin Towers. It was quickly buried by the news of J.P. Ricciardi being let go, so you may have missed it.
  • FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says that Towers "should be relieved to be out of an organization in which he constantly faced ownership interference, payroll reductions and other forms of nonsense."
  • Stoeten at Drunk Jays Fans provides some fan reaction to the Ricciardi move. Moral of the story: it was a move that had to be made, but what took so long?
  • MLB.com's Scott Merkin says that we could once again hear Bobby Jenks' name mentioned in trade rumors this offseason. The team has a capable replacement in Matt Thornton, and Jenks figures to get a raise on his $5.6MM salary through arbitration.
  • Rod Barajas has interest in returning to Toronto next season, and indicated that he wasn't sure if the rift between players and manager Cito Gaston would influence his decision, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.

Moorad Comments On Kevin Towers Firing

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Kevin Towers, the longest-tenured general manager in baseball, was let go by the Padres last night. He was at the helm for 498 of Trevor Hoffman's saves and 740 of Tony Gwynn's hits, but the team went 1,107-1,160 under his watch. There is still one more year left on his contract, which Cot's says makes him "one of the top five or six highest-paid GMs."

Tim Sullivan of The San Diego Union Tribune spoke to team CEO Jeff Moorad about the situation, who was very complimentary of Towers, as you'd expect.

“The organization is indebted to Kevin for not only the 14 years he served as general manager, but for the fact that the club is well-positioned to go forward into the future,” Moorad told the Union-Tribune in an exclusive interview before Friday night's game at Petco Park. “I think we need to build a better baseball operations department, better skilled at the areas we're committed to going forward.

“I admire (Towers') skills very much and respect his relationships that exist around the game. But I think over the next period of time, our focus is on more of a strategic approach to drafting and development that has a chance to compete in the division year-in and year-out.”

Although he did not mention specific candidates, Moorad said his search for a replacement has not been internal and indicated that it could take weeks, rather than days. Sullivan lists Diamondbacks VP Jerry DiPoto and the "semi-retired" Pat Gillick as possible replacements.

Padres To Fire Kevin Towers

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The San Diego Padres will part ways with general manager Kevin Towers, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter). Brock tweets that, while no official announcement has been made yet, the Padres will let the longest-tenured GM in the majors go.

The ownership transition in San Diego, from John Moores to Jeff Moorad, likely spelled the end for Towers. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer speculated earlier today that Moorad wanted to bring in "his own guy" for the position.

Towers has been San Diego's GM since 1995, and saw the team win four division titles during the stint. The Padres made one World Series during Towers' tenure, losing to the Yankees in 1998.

It remains to be seen if Towers is the only casualty in San Diego, or if more of the staff will follow him out of town.

Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants

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A few links to start the evening….

  • Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
  • Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
  • Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
  • As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
  • Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."

Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants

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A few links to start the evening….

  • Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
  • Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
  • Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
  • As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
  • Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."

Odds & Ends: Pirates, Mariners, Cubs

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Because we know you aren't ready to go to bed just yet…

  • With the Pirates looking to end their streak of losing seasons, Manager John Russell described the team's offseason plan this way: "To say what specific area, we'll see what the board holds," Russell said. "I don't know — is it a left fielder? Is it a second baseman? Is it a pitcher? I don't know. We'll just have to look into it and see what's available. Offensively, we've struggled. It would be nice to find a bat that can be productive."  
  • According to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, all the Mariners' coaches should be back next season.
  • Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune has his wish list of power hitters for the Cubs. Astonishingly, it includes Gary Sheffield. 
  • According to Corey Brock of MLB.com, GM Kevin Towers has not been told yet by Padres' management if he will be returning in 2010.
  • Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that Brewers' GM Doug Melvin is expected to ask Ken Macha to return as manager on Friday.
  • Apparently, however, Seth McClung does not expect to return to Milwaukee in 2010, and has Twittered his discontent.

Odds & Ends: Griffey, Harden, Guzman

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Let's have a look at a few evening links….

  • John McGrath of the Tacoma News Tribune notes that the uncertainty regarding Ken Griffey Jr.'s future with the Mariners could make for an uncomfortable PR situation, given Griffey's popularity in Seattle. We've already heard that Griffey would be open to returning and that the Mariners would not reject the idea. McGrath rightly points out though that it would be a mistake to bring the 39-year-old back as the same middle-of-the-order DH he was this year, since he has hit just .214/.323/.395. If the Mariners do retain Griffey, McGrath says it has to be a pinch hitter and part-time player.
  • After earlier reports that the Cubs might not be interested in retaining Rich Harden, we get a follow-up from Keith Law at ESPN.com wondering what type of deal Harden might get. Law compares Harden to Brad Penny, suggesting that, like Penny, the Cubs righty may not be able to secure a multi-year deal because of health concerns.
  • Bill Ladson of MLB.com blogs that Cristian Guzman is still unsure about playing second base for the Nationals in 2010. GM Mike Rizzo and interim manager Jim Riggleman requested the move, feeling that Guzman "no longer has the range to play shortstop."
  • The White Sox should consider keeping Jermaine Dye, according to Matt Meyers of ESPN.com. Although he acknowledges that the outfielder's declining slugging percentage and subpar fielding make for a scary combination, Meyers contends that Dye is a better fit in Chicago than anywhere else, since he could replace the departed Jim Thome as the team's full-time DH. Dye would like to return and Ozzie wants him back too, but the Sox aren't about to pick up the $12MM option just because it's the best fit for Dye.
  • Corey Brock at MLB.com talks to San Diego Padres' GM Kevin Towers about the focus on speed for the Padres. Towers believes there is such a thing as a "PETCO Park player," and that athleticism is a crucial characteristic for playing in the spacious ballpark. Given this approach, it'll be interesting to see who the Padres might target from this offseason's free agent pool.
  • Baseball America's Ben Badler tweets that the Pittsburgh Pirates' win this afternoon once again clinched the No. 1 pick for the Washington Nationals in next June's draft. The Pirates and Baltimore Orioles are still in the mix for No. 2.

Padres Will Solve Pitching Problem From Within

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Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that the Padres will promote right-hander Chad Gaudin before Monday's game for a start on Tuesday against the Rockies.

According to Brock, Padres GM Kevin Towers said Sunday that he will not seek to acquire pitching help in a trade.

The Padres have been hit hard by injuries to their rotation, placing three starters on the disabled list in the last month. Cha Seung Baek and Walter Silva have strained forearms, and Shawn Hill was moved to the DL after leaving a game with inflammation in his elbow.

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