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Odds & Ends: Towers, Ricciardi, Trembley

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Saturday afternoon linkage…

  • Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune reflects fondly on Kevin Towers' 14-year tenure with the Padres.  "Whatever you might think of his baseball decisions," Sullivan writes, "no one in the game can work a room more charismatically."
  • Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News believes J.P. Ricciardi's biggest blunder — "and the one that most likely did him in" — was not trading Roy Halladay this summer.  Other infractions of the Ricciardi era include massive contracts tendered to Vernon Wells and B.J. Ryan, and the trading of Jayson Werth for Jason Frasor.
  • Tom Krasovic of Inside The Padres is beginning to hear names for the Padres' GM opening.  Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer is a new one.
  • Kevin Cowherd of the Baltimore Sun doesn't understand why the Orioles opted to pick up manager Dave Trembley's 2010 option.  "I don't understand," Cowherd writes, "how you stand pat with your manager after another horrible collapse that includes a 13-game losing streak and a possible 100-loss finish."

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: Sandberg, Yanks, Padres, Upton

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Some links to read before the final weekend of the regular season…

Brian Giles Wants To Keep Playing

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Chris Jenkins of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out that this could be the final weekend of Brian Giles' professional career. Giles says his body still feels good enough to play, but he realizes he'll have a limited role if he stays with the Padres, so he's open to other clubs.

"I still think I could be a good, productive major league player," Giles said. "If it's not in San Diego, then I have a feeling it's going to be somewhere else. I've got to believe there are teams willing to take a chance as long as you're healthy."

The 38-year-old raves about his time in San Diego, his hometown, but understands the Padres may move on. Giles posted a .191/.277/.271 line in 254 plate appearances this year and played suspect right field defense, posting a -14.5 UZR/150 in 500 innings. If Giles wants to play again he'll probably have to sign a minor league deal.

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.

Correia: The Forgotten Padre?

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While nearly all of the national attention on the Padres this year has focused on either A) Adrian Gonzalez or B) the astonishing lack of talent around Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Correia has quietly been one of the best pickups of last offseason, as Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out.

Correia signed a one-year, $750K minor-league deal with the Padres last winter. All he's done in 2009 is manage a 3.89 ERA, 138 strikeouts and 63 walks in 192 innings.

For a little contrast: Derek Lowe has pitched to a 4.55 ERA this season- in the first year of a four-year, $60MM contract.

Correia will be trying to reach 200 innings for the first time in his career Friday night. He's got a streak of 20 1/3 scoreless innings going, and in his last ten starts, has a 2.31 ERA.

All of which means he'll be much more expensive this winter. The Padres can offer arbitration and expect a significant raise will be forthcoming.

So what should San Diego do? Let a consistent pitcher who has finished particularly strong reach free agency as a non-tender? Or pay big bucks for a pitcher just a year removed from a 6.05 ERA?

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