Buried in Ken Rosenthal's article a few days ago was a quick snippet about the Padres. We all know that Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler unloaded on the team last week, criticizing the players and calling the team embarrassing and "miserable failures". Rosenthal thinks that more scrutiny will be put upon president Mike Dee, GM A.J. Preller and now even Fowler himself.
I wrote last week that the strong remarks by Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler likely would increase the scrutiny on team president Mike Dee and GM A.J. Preller.
In theory, Fowler could come under scrutiny, too.
While Fowler is the point man of the ownership group, a source with knowledge of the Pads' ownership structure said that there is a "high probability" that another member of the group -- Peter Seidler, the nephew of former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley -- could assert control.
There is no indication that Seidler is planning any such move -- and, as I reported in my Full Count video on Saturday, Fowler has become a respected and influential figure within the sport as the head of the owners' negotiating committee in the CBA discussions.
It's been rumored that Ron Fowler only signed on as Executive Chairman for a 5 year period and would step down when Peter Seidler was ready to replace him. If that's the case then Fowler's time is almost up and we may see Rosenthal's suggested scenario play out as soon as next season. This may also be the reason for Fowler's impatience with the team. He knows he'll only be at the helm for a short time and doesn't want to be among the miserable failures that he employs.