Ron Fowler talks about A.J. Preller with Hacksaw

Ron Fowler interviewed by Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton (MP3)

• Fowler says they took their time revamping the Padres.  They started with the Front Office.  They decided that the past approach that baseball operations took was incorrect.  The key was hiring the right GM.  They hired someone who would embrace the David vs. Goliath role.  A.J. Preller came in with swagger and a totally different approach than what they had done before. 
  
• "When we went after Upton, people said 'the only reason you did that was because the Dodgers are front loading a deal on Kemp'.  The reality is that previously we wouldn't have done anything, we'd have stopped with Kemp, but he used that to go out and get Upton and he just kept going and going.  It's fun to be around."
• Preller worked on these deals for much longer than people realize.  He had conversations with the owners as far back as September.  He has many different iterations of his plans.  He looks at all the options.  He knew after watching the team in the last 6 weeks of the season that the team just didn't have enough offense and he set out to fix it.
• Fowler thinks that it'll take a year or two but the Padres could be a 3 million attendance team.  "This market could turn around quickly because this market has demonstrated that it loves winners."