The San Diego Padres have new owners, and their initial press conference was...different, to be sure.
The San Diego Padres’ new owners held a press conference disguised as a pep rally party — or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, it wasn’t your grandfather’s typical Seidler show, as Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones wore their enthusiasm on their sleeves as they pumped up their commitment to winning.
“We are all in; it’s not lip service,” said Jones, whose high-energy approach was especially noticeable, in a report from AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.“We are absolutely committed to this organization and we are absolutely overjoyed.”
Jones actually has an entrance song, which sort of made it look like she wandered into the wrong kind of presser. Feliciano showed his commitment while wearing a No. 21 jersey to honor Roberto Clemente, who’s apprarently one of his baseball heroes,
“Today is a dream come true,” Feliciano said in his opening statement. “It’s an amazing day for us. We’re very grateful. Very honored to be here with you. And to celebrate today as now the newest members of the Padres family.”
We’ve read the statement before, but it was interesting to see Feliciano pay tribute to the late Peter Seidler, who laid the groundwork for all this by believing in the team and the market so much that he was willing to spend with wild abandon to put the Padres on the map.
“We are taking on this legacy at a great time,” Feliciano said. “But I think there’s always more that you can do. You can always leave the world a slightly better place than you found it. That’s our aim.”
Feliciano was also willing to restate that goal more specifically and put a target on his back in the process, as he’ll most certainly be held to his words.
“We need to win the World Series,” Feliciano said. “It’s that simple.”
Jones then showed off her entertainment chops by going into cheerleader mode, as she worked the crowd to reinforce Feliciano’s statement.
“You heard it,” Jones said, breaking out into a smile and raising her arms in the air as her voice grew louder, per Cassavell. “We’re gonna win, we’re gonna win -- win it all.”
She paused for a second, then softened a bit.
“We hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
The new owners also emphasized their commitment to the community, which is usually typical fare. But they’ve talked a lot about diversity, and Jones reiterated that part of their commitment as she talked about conducting what she called a “listening tour” to meet with various groups.
“It’s hard to imagine what we can do, without knowing what has already been done,” Jones said. “That’s why I want to be able to see where and how and what has been done within the area, within the region, where are there areas of needs?”
The biggest area of need right now is with the payroll, which is bloated and weighed down with a couple of choice bad contracts. Which raised the biggest question of all: Will Feliciano and Jones open their checkbooks when the time comes?
