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Ron Fowler Steps Down As Padres’ Chairman; Peter Seidler Named Control Person

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2:25pm: Major League Baseball formally announced that Seidler has been approved as the new control person in San Diego.

2:00pm: Ron Fowler has stepped down as executive chairman of the Padres and sold a majority stake of the team to general partner Peter Seidler, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Seidler, who was already part of the organization’s ownership group, has already been approved by the other 29 owners as the Padres’ new control person, according to Acee.

The 77-year-old Fowler will remain involved with the Padres as a minority shareholder and as an advisor. More notably, he’ll still have a voice in next year’s collective bargaining talks, per the report. Fowler previously served as the chairman of MLB’s labor committee in the last wave of collective bargaining talks in 2015. He figures to again be an influential voice in a contentious set of negotiations after years of frustration from players, culminating in this spring’s three-month return-to-play staredown against ownership.

Fowler has been a relatively vocal owner in recent years, weighing in with thoughts on his club’s struggles on multiple occasions and also going into a perhaps unexpected level of detail on some free-agent pursuits — Eric Hosmer most notable among them. More recently, Fowler promised that “heads will roll, beginning with my own,” barring improvement from the club in the 2020 season.

The Padres, of course, did improve substantially in 2020 — not only posting a 37-23 record in this year’s truncated slate of games but riding a second-place finish to their first postseason berth since 2006. Fowler’s Padres toppled the Cardinals in the Wild Card round of this year’s expanded playoff format, but the absence of top starters Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet loomed large as they fell to the eventual World Series Champion Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

Fowler perhaps foreshadowed some change earlier this summer when he spoke about financial uncertainties regarding the 2021 season due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and questions about what level of attendance will be possible next year.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/17/20

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Padres have agreed to a deal with right-hander Parker Markel on a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, Steve Adams of MLBTR tweets. Markel was a 30th-round pick of the Rays in 2010 who has since spent time with a few other organizations. The 30-year-old made his major league debut in 2019 and combined for a 7.77 ERA/7.30 FIP with 9.82 K/9 and 6.95 BB/9 in 22 innings between the Mariners and Pirates. Markel has a much better track record at the higher levels of the minor, though, including a stingy 2.57 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9 over 101 2/3 frames in Triple-A ball.
  • The Indians have re-signed left-hander Anthony Gose and infielder Andruw Monasterio to minors deals, the team announced. Gose will be in spring training as a non-roster player. The former Tigers and Blue Jays outfielder transferred to the mound in 2017 and has since put up a 4.39 ERA with 10.0 K/9 in 65 2/3 minor league innings, owing in part to a blazing fastball, but Gose has walked more than eight batters per nine. Monasterio joined the Indians in their trade that sent catcher Yan Gomes to the Nationals in December 2018. While he’s still just 23, Monasterio got off to an inauspicious start with the Indians when he hit .217/.279/.253 with one home run in 279 Double-A plate appearances in 2019.

Mike Clevinger To Undergo Tommy John Surgery; 2-Year Deal Official

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The Padres announced that right-hander Mike Clevinger will undergo Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the entire 2021 season as a result.

This is stunning news, though it won’t bring an end to Clevinger’s run with the Padres. The team announced that the two-year deal it was working on with Clevinger last week is now official, so he will remain with the organization for his final pair of seasons of club control. Clevinger will earn $11.5MM on the pact, Joel Sherman of the New York Post was among those to report. Unsurprisingly, it’s a backloaded agreement that will see Clevinger take home a $2MM salary in 2021 and $6.5MM in 2022, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. He also received a $3MM signing bonus. Clevinger will earn $250K in incentives if he starts five games in ’22 and another $250K if he starts 10, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.

Now 29 years old, Clevinger has been one of the majors’ most effective starters since he broke out in Cleveland in 2017. But the Indians decided to part with Clevinger this past August when they sent him to the Padres in a mega-deal before the trade deadline. Clevinger then helped the Padres to their first playoff berth since 2006, throwing 19 innings of six-run ball with 9.0 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9, though he battled elbow issues in his brief debut with the club. He only threw one playoff inning, which came in a start against the Dodgers in the NLDS, before departing.

Little did the Padres know that Clevinger’s most recent outing on Oct. 6 would be his last until at least the start of the 2022 season. Until now, it seemed safe to assume Clevinger would rejoin Dinelson Lamet and Zach Davies near the top of the Padres’ rotation next year. In light of this news, though, it’s unclear how the Padres will fill out their starting five beyond Lamet, Davies and Chris Paddack. There are some in-house possibilities in MacKenzie Gore, Luis Patino, Adrian Morejon, Joey Lucchesi and Ryan Weathers. Otherwise, the Padres could turn to the free-agent market or look to acquire help via trade. Either way, losing Clevinger for all of next year looks like a devastating blow for the up-and-coming San Diego franchise.

NL Notes: Nationals, Wood, Hoffman, Padres, Cubs

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Alex Wood was a target for the Nationals at the 2019 trade deadline, as Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports that the Nats “nearly acquired” the southpaw, who was then a member of the Reds.  The timing is interesting, as back injuries prevented Wood from making his 2019 debut until July 28, just three days prior to the deadline.  While Wood ended up making seven starts for Cincinnati that season, it’s fair to assume that the Nationals may been considering him as a reliever (or a swingman) given the dire state of Washington’s bullpen at the time.

Needless to say, the Nats don’t regret how things turned out for them at the 2019 deadline, as July 31 acquisition Daniel Hudson played a critical role in Washington capturing the World Series.  But with Wood now a free agent and the Nationals looking for some veteran pitching depth, GM Mike Rizzo could very well revisit the idea of adding the left-hander to the D.C. roster.  Wood was again hampered by injuries in 2020, tossing only 12 2/3 innings for the Dodgers during the regular season and posting a 6.39 ERA.  However, his campaign ended on the high note of a World Series ring and a 1.35 ERA (one run in 6 2/3 relief innings) in four postseason outings.

More from around the senior circuit…

  • The Padres announced that longtime third base coach Glenn Hoffman is retiring from coaching for a new position as a senior advisor in San Diego’s baseball operations department.  Hoffman has been a mainstay in the Padres’ third base box for the last 15 seasons, coming on the heels of seven seasons as the Dodgers’ third base coach (and a stint as the Dodgers’ interim manager in 1998, as Hoffman led the team to a 47-41 record).  As per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, bench coach Bobby Dickerson seems to be the favorite to take over third base coaching duties.
  • The Cubs will be looking for more pitching depth this winter, though Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that four rotation spots may be settled, to some extent.  Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks are obviously entrenched atop the starting five, and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein sounds comfortable on Alec Mills and Adbert Alzolay taking up the next pair of rotation spots.  There have been questions about Alzolay’s ability to stick in the rotation, but the Cubs were apparently impressed enough with the improvement of his slider to regard him as a starter.  Youngsters Tyson Miller, Brailyn Marquez, and Justin Steele will get a shot at the fifth starter’s role, but Chicago is also looking outside the organization at the middle-to-bottom tier of free agent pitchers, depending on what the Cubs decide to do with the rest of their roster.  Epstein has left open the possibility of bringing Jon Lester back on a short-term deal, but the Cubs are comfortable letting him test the market.

Padres, Mike Clevinger Working Toward Two-Year Deal

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The Padres are working toward a two-year contract with right-hander Mike Clevinger, reports Fansided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). A two-year pact would buy out Clevinger’s remaining two years of arbitration, creating cost certainty for the Friars and granting some extra financial security for the pitcher himself. It would not, however, provide the Padres with any additional club control over Clevinger, who is currently on track to reach free agency after the 2022 campaign.

It’s sensible for both the Padres and Clevinger, who’ll turn 30 next month, to proactively look to avoid the arbitration process entirely. Arbitration figures to be messier than ever this offseason in the wake of the league’s broad-reaching revenue losses, so it behooves San Diego to get some cost certainty — particularly if doing so allows them to backload Clevinger’s salary. For Clevinger himself, he’ll avoid a potentially contentious process and lock in not only his 2021 salary but his 2022 contract on the heels of a season that ended with elbow concerns.

Clevinger earned $4.1MM in 2020, and using MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s 37-percent projection method, he’d land at a $4.8MM salary in 2021. That’s obviously a rather modest bump, and the uncertainties surrounding this year’s arbitration process in general inherently create a fairly broad range of variance. Still, a two-year deal figures to check in south of $20MM, given that Clevinger’s second- and third-time arbitration salaries would have only been a fraction of his open-market value, as is typically the case with arb numbers.

The 2020 season saw Clevinger again pitch at a very high level, as he worked 41 2/3 frames of 3.02 ERA ball with a 40-to-14 K/BB ratio. He struggled with his control a bit early on but righted the ship with the Padres, issuing just three walks in 19 regular-season innings following the blockbuster trade that shipped him from Cleveland to San Diego. Clevinger came under fire early in the season not only breaking Covid-19 protocols but traveling with the Indians after doing so. Cleveland learned of his infraction after the fact and subsequently optioned him to their alternate training site; Clevinger was traded not long after, although the organization denied that his rule violations played a role in driving the move.

Whatever the motivation, the Padres stand to benefit in the years to come. Clevinger joins Dinelson Lamet as a front-of-the-rotation arm at Petco Park, and the Padres have a wealth of other pitching talent on hand as well. Chris Paddack struggled in 2020 but was dominant as a rookie a year prior. Zach Davies enjoyed a breakout year this season following a trade from the Brewers. Top prospect Luis Patino made his big league debut in 2020, and the even more ballyhooed MacKenzie Gore should do so in 2021. Lefty Adrian Morejon gives San Diego yet another intriguing, high-upside option.

All told, it’s a both enviable and inexpensive crop of arms that give the Padres considerable long-term depth and upside. The Padres have some high-priced players on the position side of things — Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers — and will likely explore a long-term deal for Fernando Tatis Jr. at some point. Nailing down Clevinger’s price helps the front office and ownership alike get a better sense of the budget for that and other moves over the next two years.

Padres, Indians Complete Mike Clevinger Trade

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The Indians and Padres have completed their massive Aug. 31 trade in which Cleveland sent right-hander Mike Clevinger to San Diego. Per announcements from both teams, the Padres have acquired right-hander Matt Waldron.

Waldron, who turned 24 in September, joined the Indians when they chose him in the 18th round of the 2019 draft. He made a good impression during his first minor league season, in which he amassed 45 2/3 innings of 2.96 ERA pitching with 11.2 K/9 against a measly 0.8 BB/9 between the rookie and Low-A levels. Of course, Waldron wasn’t able to build on those numbers this year because the pandemic wiped out the minor league season.

However Waldron pans out, the Padres probably don’t regret making the deal. Even though he missed time with injuries after the team picked him up, Clevinger helped the Friars to the playoffs with 19 innings of six-run ball in September. Clevinger has two more years of affordable control left, so he’ll remain a key cog for the Padres going forward.

The Indians, meanwhile, saw three of the six players they acquired for Clevinger and outfielder Greg Allen don their uniform in 2020. Righty Cal Quantrill was highly effective over a small sample of work; outfielder/first baseman Josh Naylor went on a tear during their two-game playoff loss to the Yankees after a subpar regular campaign; and catcher Austin Hedges’ struggles at the plate continued.

Quick Hits: Mets, Lindor, Angels, Hill, Padres, Pirates

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The Mets could go after Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor in a trade during the offseason, but the return might prove prohibitive for New York. As David Lennon of Newsday tweets, the Indians could ask for an Andres Gimenez–Jeff McNeil tandem in trade talks. That would be a lot for the Mets, who saw Gimenez perform well as a rookie in 2020 and who have gotten tremendous production from the versatile McNeil dating back to his 2018 debut. McNeil has batted an outstanding .319/.383/.501 in 1,024 major league plate appearances, so it seems highly unlikely the Mets will part with him and Gimenez for one year of control over Lindor.

  • Former Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill, whom they parted with in late October, continues to look like a serious candidate for the Angels’ general manager job. Hill will have an in-person meeting soon with Angels owner Arte Moreno, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
  • Padres left-hander Matt Strahm recently underwent successful surgery on his partially torn right patellar tendon, Robert Murray of Fansided reports. The 28-year-old Strahm logged a 2.61 ERA/4.93 FIP with a career-worst 6.53 K/9 against 1.74 BB/9 over 20 2/3 innings in 2020.
  • John Baker looks like the front-runner to take over as the Pirates’ farm director, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette reports. The former major league catcher has been working in the Cubs’ front office since 2015.

Padres, Royals Complete Trevor Rosenthal Trade

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The Padres and Royals have completed their August trade that saw reliever Trevor Rosenthal head to San Diego for a player to be named later. The Royals have acquired right-hander Dylan Coleman in exchange, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.

Now 21, Coleman was a 2018 fourth-round pick of the Padres who has done well at the lower levels, minus a rough High-A debut a year ago. Coleman has pitched to a 3.18 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 56 2/3 innings during his minor league career.

The 30-year-old Rosenthal, a former lights-out Cardinals closer who has battled injuries of late, enjoyed a rebound campaign between the Padres and Royals in 2020. He didn’t allow a single earned run over 10 frames as a Padre and ended the year with a 1.90 ERA/2.22 FIP and 14.45 K/9 against 3.04 BB/9 in 23 2/3 frames. Rosenthal is now one of the most desirable relievers on the open market.

A’s, Padres Complete Jorge Mateo Trade

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The Athletics and Padres have completed their late-June trade that sent infielder Jorge Mateo to San Diego, Oakland announced. The A’s will receive outfielder Julio Perez in return.

The 19-year-old Perez debuted in the minors in 2018 and then blossomed in rookie ball the next season, when he batted .268/.349/.512 with 11 home runs and 11 stolen bases across 238 plate appearances. FanGraphs then ranked Perez as the No. 22 prospect in a deep Padres system.

Mateo, 25, was a high-end prospect in his younger days, but he hasn’t been that productive in the minors or the majors over the past couple of seasons. He made his MLB debut in 2020 and batted .154/.185/,269 without a home run in 28 PA.

Padres To Decline Mitch Moreland’s Option

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The Padres are planning to decline their $3MM club option on Mitch Moreland, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The veteran first baseman will instead receive a $500K buyout and hit free agency. The Padres have confirmed the move.

San Diego gave up a pair of well-regarded prospects, outfielder Jeisson Rosario and infielder Hudson Potts, to acquire Moreland from the Red Sox before the August 31 trade deadline. Both Rosario and Potts would’ve had to be added to the 40-man roster or else be exposed to the Rule 5 draft this offseason. Freeing up roster space to protect each player figures to be easier for Boston than it would’ve been for the Padres, who have quite a few top prospects who’ll need roster space in the coming months. Nevertheless, losing Rosario and Potts looks like a hefty price to pay for one month of Moreland’s services.

Unfortunately, Moreland underwhelmed after the trade. While he got off to a scorching start in Boston, the 35-year-old put up subpar numbers in San Diego. A down 73 plate appearances surely hasn’t completely soured the Padres’ front office on Moreland’s ability, though. Overall, the left-handed hitter put up a fantastic .265/.342/.551 line between the two clubs.

As Chris Cotillo of MassLive points out (on Twitter), the uncertainty regarding the status of the designated hitter likely played a part in today’s decision. Eric Hosmer would likely have gotten the lion’s share of time at first base even if he had continued to perform at the unspectacular levels he’d managed between 2018-19. The 31-year-old Hosmer looked reinvigorated at the plate in 2020, cementing himself as an everyday player.

With the designated hitter available to NL teams in 2020, Hosmer and Moreland each had opportunity for playing time last season. Like all the other rule changes necessitated by the pandemic-impacted season, the universal DH was only approved for last season. While there’s long been an expectation the universal DH could become permanent under the terms of the next collective bargaining agreement, there’s no guarantee it’ll be in place for 2021.

Moreland will now join a first base market that doesn’t have many clear everyday options. He’ll probably attract a fair bit of interest, particularly if the NL does adopt the DH in the coming months. It’s a bit of a red flag the Padres resorted to declining his option, though. Presumably, the front office looked for a potential trade partner over the past five days and didn’t find a team willing to give up assets to bring Moreland aboard at a low price.

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