The San Diego Padres have just been sold, and players offered their take on the move and their new owners.
No one knows quite what to make of the sale of the San Diego Padres to soccer billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, but leave it to third baseman Manny Machado to recognize the “it’s all about the money” aspect of the sale, with the price being reported at $3.9 billion.
“Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?” Machado said in a quote that was picked up by multiple outlets.
He also talked to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, and Machado got more specific in that conversation.
“I don’t want to hear anybody talk about us being a small market no more,” Machado said on Friday.
He’s somewhat right about that. There are those who think the San Diego market is unique because a high percentage of the local population is affluent, but the rush to buy sports franchises is real. In some sports they’re close to a license to print money, but Machado was also more diplomatic about the links between Feliciano and the Seidler family.
“I think they kind of want to follow Peter’s legacy,” Machado said. “If you’re bidding that high, it kind of tells you everything about what you want for the organization.”
Part of that could be wishful thinking on Machado’s part, because no one really knows what Feliciano and Jones want for the Padres. Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. chose to focus on the number, which is smart given how little viable information we have about the specifics yet.
“It’s a pretty healthy number. A really healthy number,” said right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who received a 14-year, $340 million extension from Seidler. “Obviously, it’s a little bit sad because everybody knew what Peter built over here, and we all know that (selling the team) was definitely not his goal long-term. But this world works at a different pace, so we just got to get used to it.
“We just got to wait and see, and see the mentality (Feliciano and Jones) bring.”
A lot of that mentality is probably related to the Padres’ early performance this season. They stumbled out of the gate, but they’re now red hot, and there are those who think the sales process was accelerated to get the transaction done as early as possible to give payroll relief with the Padres initially projected to be a .500 team.
“You see there’s owners that want to win and want to put a great product on the field because they’ve seen the benefits of it,” said second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who is a member of the Players Association’s executive subcommittee. “I think today is a perfect example of what the benefit is.”
It was Machado who brought things full circle in his final comment, though. He had a strong relationship with the Seidler brothers, and he wants the same with Feliciano and Jones.
“It’s just the same thing as when I signed here (seven) years ago and built relationships with Ron, built relationships with Peter,” Machado said. “Just looking forward to a long relationship and what’s best for the ballclub … and how can we get to where we want to get to, which is to bring a championship to the city of San Diego. And that’s a big stepping stone, 3.9 billion. So yeah, I’m excited.”