Moorad wants a more strategic GM for the Padres, not a "gunslinger" like Towers
by jbox on Oct 2, 2009 11:13 PM PDT
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Union Tribune: Towers ousted as GM, Moorad seeks 'strategic approach'
"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."
The article says that Moorad told Towers 3 weeks ago that the club would start a GM search and that the meeting was "emotional".
Don't worry though it's not like Towers is being kicked out:
“He's been told that he can office here, he can stay here for as long as he's comfortable being around.
I'm still having a hard time stomaching the fact that the Padres are turning into the Arizona Diamondbacks. I think I'm going to be sick.
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Compete like the DBacks
have done since he took over as CEO there?
Sorry, but I am pretty sure the only reason for this move is to get someone in place he can control like he did Byrnes.
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by TheThirdGonzalez on Oct 2, 2009 11:30 PM PDT reply actions
I like more focus on the draft
but i still don’t like this…
Any predictions on who the replacement is?
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
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Dont f___ us Moorad
This new GM better be a fing genius.
Thanks KT for some amazingly memorable seasons.
This blog has devolved into UT like, uncerebral blabber
The meeting was "emotional"?
I imagine Towers starting to tear up while Moorad slides over a box of Kleenex, saying something along the lines of “there’s no crying in baseball”.
I just can’t believe he’s known about this for 3 WEEKS! I’ve gotta listen to that interview with him again, to see if he was dropping hints.
I have mixed emotions.
Towers had some strengths. Some of those trades he made; he must be a hypnotist. And at times he could work the waiver wire. He’s forgotten now that everyone’s so enamored with Everth Cabrera, but Luis Rodriguez was a solid left-side infielder the past couple of seasons. Check out his OBP. And, of course, we all know how Towers can pull relief pitchers out of his ass.
And those aren’t just strengths. There is n one better in baseball at this kind of “gunslinging.”
Oh, my god. I feel like I need a shower after borrowing one of Jeff Moorad’s phrases.
But Towers’ weaknesses kept the Padres in need of his trading and dumpster-diving talents. I’m talking about his drafts, his player development and the fact that he was constantly getting hard-ons for over-the-hill players who simply could no longer perform. Giving Brian Giles $9 million last off-season was a typical Kevin Towers move. So was bringing in the tub of Cliff Floyd.
Perhaps his biggest weakness was never realizing — at least not until this year when he saw the new dimension that Cabrera’s speed was bringing to the team until September — that Petco Park is not conducive to teams built around slow-footed, former power hitters
I know everyone is going to disagree with this next comment, but even those teams that had four consecutive years of winning records were boring to watch.
The Padres are definitely going to miss Towers’ trading ability. And we will miss him at the winter meetings — or at least we’ll miss the news reports of what he’s up to. But if Moorad comes through with the right replacement like he came through with all that money in signing this year’s draftees, the Padres are going to be in good shape.
And they’re still gonna be playiing in Petco, which means the agents of next year’s Kevin Correias and Edward Mujicas — and even those of next year’s Chad Gaudins — will be calling Towers’ replacement asking for a chance for their clients to resurrect their careers.
So long, Kevin. I didn’t like all the teams you put together, but it sure was fun watching you fleece your peers.
by dontkickthebaby on Oct 3, 2009 6:23 AM PDT reply actions 4 recs
Great post.
It’s hard to be level-headed about this because we all loved KT, but I guess we shouldn’t worry about the sky falling until the sky actually starts falling.
I think I speak for everyone on GLB when I say that Padres fans probably have a better understanding than most baseball fans of the very delicate balance that can turn a bad team into a good one and vice versa. We’ve seen these small changes over the past 5-7 years that have swung the team back and forth between good and awful. I think this is what makes us all so anxious about this move. We’ve got a team that seems to be working very well at the moment, and a move like this seems liable to topple the house of cards we’ve built.
BUT you’re absolutely right in looking at the positive side of things. Even if this ends up being a great move for the club, it doesn’t mean that KT wasn’t a great GM. We’ve just got to believe that the next GM will pick us up in the areas that KT couldn’t.
Best of luck, KT.
by theodore donald kerabatsos on Oct 3, 2009 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions
Perfect end to this season
There would be no other way to top off this completely incompetent forgettable year than by making one unbelievably stupid move and letting KT go is exactly that move. So this really isn’t a surprise because its right in line with all of the other garbage we’ve seen this year. I genuinely hope KT wins a WS somewhere else – he deserves it after all of the horrendous crap he has put up with and worked with in this organization.
Well done, Mysterious Arizona Based Ownership Group. Well done.
Thank you for waving at me.
by Winfield's Ghost on Oct 3, 2009 8:45 AM PDT reply actions 3 recs
I understand this move...
But I really hate it.
Where KT is strong he has some of the best GM skills in baseball (trades, waiver wire, bullpen, rotation), but where he is weak he is one of the worst (drafting, signing free agents and handing out no trade clauses).
Lets face it, this team is not going to be signing any big name free agents any time soon and Moorad can make it a club policy to not hand issue no trade clauses. I also don’t think KT has been in charge of the draft since Fuson was brought onboard and I think this year has proven that the team has not drafted as poorly as we all have thought (Latos, Blanks, Venable, Durango, Hundley, Stauffer, Ramos, Burke ect…). If the team wants to focus on player development and the draft then hire a new director of player development and hand over the reins of player development and the draft over to him.
I love the idea of building from within and having an angles/twins type farm system to build from but one of biggest components to running a team like this is being able to trade away your top players when they get too expensive and getting the maximum value for them to fill any holes you may have on your team. KT is a master of the trade and there is really not a better GM in baseball at this aspect of it, the Padres are letting go such a great weapon in their team-building arsenal. I think this move is really going to comeback to bite them in the ass.
Also I’m going to cringe every time this off-season the padres announce a trade with KT’s new team (who ever it may be).
by Grey Suit on Oct 3, 2009 8:45 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I hate
the D-B*tches. I don’t want to be like them
DODGERS, RED SOX, YANKEES, BRONCOS, PATRIOTS and RAIDERS all suck. Especially the Dodgers.
by LJbumfool on Oct 3, 2009 9:57 AM PDT reply actions
kt
i honestly have been expecting the hatchet to fall for buddy black for sometime now. why this? im guessing $$$$$
By the way, if this happened a year or two ago...
when Brian Cashman was getting dumped on for missing the playoffs, I firmly believe KT would be the Yankees GM right now.
by theodore donald kerabatsos on Oct 3, 2009 10:54 AM PDT reply actions
it's about time...
this move was way overdo…what exactly were the great moves that kevin towers made lately, jason bay for brian giles?
Woody Williams for Ray Lankford, too. Still, that’s only two.
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Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
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