Rumors about Mike Dee’s dismissal from the Padres continue

The Padres “departed” Mike Dee from their organization last week with a one sentence press release. I never felt so alive and I’m still riding the high.

The only issue was that no one could figure out why Dee was fired when just a few months earlier, as a response to the #FireMikeDee movement, lead Padres investor Peter Seidler gave Dee an “A” grade and a vote of confidence. He expected Dee to serve out his very long contract with the team. Something dramatic must have happened to change his mind and it wasn’t the going theory that Dee’s dismissal was “the accumulation of internal issues”, which probably still would be warranted but wasn’t the real reason.

The rumors leaking from the organization now say that there was less vague reasoning behind his firing and the Padres are preparing themselves to defend their side in court if need be.

The Darren Smith / Scott and BR Crossover on Mighty 1090 is one of my favorite segments. Yesterday’s in particular was golden, if not for the interruptions from Linda Welby and BR. Smack dab in the middle of juicy Mike Dee talk, these two interrupt with talk about cookies and trips to Europe. It’s infuriating but listen and you’ll get some good information.

Here’s what we learned from rumors that Scott Kaplan and Darren Smith discuss:

• “This could get really ugly between the Padres and Mike Dee.”
• “None of the rumors associated with Mike Dee are good.”
• “It was more like ‘Get out now!’”
• “Everybody around there was shell-shocked.”
• “What is it that he did that had him fired so abruptly that has the Padres not just paying him out? When I say it could get ugly, if you’re Mike and you feel like you’ve been unjustly terminated and you’re expecting to get the compensation that you were due contractually, now you have to go fight to get that money. If Mike decides to go fight to get that money, at that point we might find out exactly what happened.”
• “Should this ever go to court, then, yeah, this would become public.”
• “The Padres clearly feel very comfortable in their decision and that they were right and by not paying Mike, they are within their legal right and it is, like you’re saying, they are essentially challenging him ‘Hey if you want to sue us, come sue us’, but know this they know that he won’t if what they fired him for is really for cause.”
• “Mike was beside himself, shocked, could not believe it, never saw it coming and doesn’t feel like he did anything wrong.”
• “Do the Padres now need to clean house of all of Mike’s people?”
• “I think he’s [Preller] is safe.”

It seems like most people in the media have a pretty good understanding of what happened.

John Gennaro said on his daily podcast today:

Am I going to be the one to tell you all the rumors are, about Mike Dee, that are swirling around the San Diego media circus right now? No. I’m not. I’m sorry. Use your imagination and it’s probably worse than that. It’s bad. It’s bad! What I’ve been telling people is that if someone finds a shred of evidence that any of these rumors are true then it will become a national story and a complete joke for the San Diego Padres.

One or both of the rumors probably have a basis in reality, but the media can’t get anyone to go on record to corroborate the rumors for them to print or go to air with.

Scott Miller told Darren Smith today:

I find it very intriguing and fascinating the roar of the silence going on here. Talking to people behind the scenes, off the record even, promising them “look I’m not quoting you” - yeah, there aren’t many people talking about this thing. I know Mike Dee was signed for another two years. Obviously anytime you fire the president of your club that’s a stunning and momentous decision. The fact that you do it with another couple years on the deal, speaks to the urgency that Padres ownership felt on this thing.

When Miller asked if Dee’s firing was related to AJ Preller’s 30 game suspension:

I pressed multiple people on that question, the answer keeps coming back ‘no’, but then on the other hand somebody also told me ‘let’s just say that Major League Baseball was very happy with the Padres’ decision.

The information is out there, it’s just a matter of reporting it or leaking it without getting sued. My understanding is that we will eventually know more about this story.