Even Mike Dee would fire Mike Dee

There's been an awakening. Have you felt it? An ever growing movement to fire Padres President Mike Dee.  If you check his mentions on Twitter.com you'll see the negative impact he's had on the fanbase.  Personally, he and the culture he implemented through his staff at Petco Park have been draining me of my Padres fandom for years.  Dee is a fan vampire (fanpire?) because his constant sucking has robbed me of my enjoyment and faith in the team.

There's plenty of reasons why Mike Dee might be fired, but none of them have stuck, yet.  He's made of Teflon, this guy.  But the best reason I can think of is that I'm convinced that even Mike Dee would fire Mike Dee if that were possible.  If Mike Dee of 2013, fresh off his Dolphin failures in the NFL, were called upon to consult the Padres, the first move he'd make would be to fire himself and then probably replace himself with himself.  He wouldn't need a reason.  He hasn't provided a reason for most of the unpopular moves he's made in his tenure because ownership has given him carte blanche.

However, the one time where he was actually specific about his reasons for dismissing an employee was with former Padres GM Josh Byrnes.  Byrnes was General Manager of the Padres for about 2.5 years, the same amount of time that Dee has reigned.

Dee told the Mighty 1090's Darren Smith, that the team's poor performance was a contributing factor for dropping Byrnes but the bigger factor was the long range view of the franchise. Dee didn't feel the team was on the right track to play in the postseason for years to come.  Just like the present day.  U-T columnist Kevin Acee said last week "There's not a person in this organization who thinks anything before 2018 is realistic for them to top even .500 baseball."  He goes on to say that even if A.J. Preller does well in the next few drafts that the Padres window may not open until 2023!

Dee also criticized Byrnes because there wasn't a system in place to have talent ready to fill in for injured players.  We have not seen a pipeline of talent built under Dee's regime.  Not even close.  They haven't even put capable players on the field, never mind players to replace the starters.

Dee said "We feel we could and should compete with the best teams in the National League and throughout baseball."  Which directly goes against the ownerships', talk less and do more manifesto. Byrnes was told he was accountable for the Padres' results and so is Dee.  The Padres are, as Chairman Ron Fowler put it, "miserable failures".  They've been cellar dwellers all season.  Mike Dee should be held accountable.

Another criticism of Byrnes was that he didn't have a blueprint for success.  Dee's plan and belief has been that the Padres can and will compete while they build.  This is the case where if you fail at one then you fail at both.  They have not even had a remote chance in Dee's tenure of competing for a divisional title or playoff spot, that can't be denied.  But they also haven't used the opportunity to tank in order to rebuild properly, because it goes against Dee's blueprint.  Look at the Padres "standing pat" at last year's trade deadline as an example.

Finally, Dee also accused Byrnes of overselling the team to ownership, a charge that Byrnes denied vehemently.   "I'm actually sort of offended by that one, because if there's anything I do and I've always done is I don't oversell."  Dee responded "If Josh's comments indicate that we weren't going to be competitive for a postseason berth, I think that speaks volumes about why he's no longer here."   Do you think Dee might have oversold ownership and fans prior to the 2015 season when he spent many more millions of dollars and reaped the same losing results?  Me too.  Furthermore, do you think he told ownership that the team would be struggling to hold their head above .400 this year?  I think that speaks volumes and is a reason he should no longer be here.

If Mike Dee was right and Josh Bynres earned his firing, then by Transitive Properties of Equality so has Mike Dee.  This is the rare occasion where I would agree with a Mike Dee decision, if he were to fire himself.