PEORIA, Ariz. — It’s another season of the San Diego Padres’ usual soap opera, replete with ownership chaos and payroll intrigue. But Erik Greupner, the team’s longtime chief executive, insists this version of All My Padres won’t affect the club on the field.
The Padres’ ownership experienced an offseason of turmoil as the Seidler family publicly fought over who should be the team’s control person. A lawsuit filed last month by the Sheel Seidler, the widow of the late owner Peter Seidler, over control of the franchise raised questions about the possibility of a sale and potential relocation. It also spotlighted the team’s high payroll and on-field issues.
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“I have been told multiple times that the team is not going to be sold,” Greupner said this week outside the team’s spring clubhouse at the Peoria Sports Complex. “The Seidler family has said it’s a generational asset. This team is not going to be relocated. The commitment is to keep running it the way we’ve been running it.”
The Seidler brothers—who control the family trust, which includes 23% of the Padres—continue to insist the team isn’t being sold or relocated. In reality, the Padres are bound to San Diego by contract until 2034, 30 years after Petco Park opened, or until the city’s bond debt is scheduled to be retired in 2032.
Just before spring training started, MLB owners voted unanimously to designate older brother John Seidler as the club’s control person, subject to a 30-day waiting period during which his name must be added to the family trust.
Greupner said John Seidler should be around camp before the end of the spring. “You’ll get a chance to hear from him and ask him questions before opening day,” Greupner said.
On the field, the Padres continue to spend on new and existing commitments. They have a player payroll for luxury-tax purposes of $253.9 million, up from last year’s $227.8 million. That’s second in the National League West behind the No. 1 Los Angeles Dodgers at a near-record $400 million, and sixth in Major League Baseball.
The division might now be the toughest in baseball, with a total spending tally of $1.05 billion on players among the five teams.
The Padres are substantiating their own spending because Petco is a destination ballpark, and the Padres broke all club records for local revenue and an attendance of 3.3 million this past season.
“Our payroll is going up significantly year after year,” Greupner said, although it is now not as high as the franchise record of $291.2 million in 2023, good for third in MLB. “We have been pursuing a long-term plan that was set years ago. We’re exactly where we expected to be from a payroll perspective going into this season.”
The Padres this year have been late to the game acquiring players, but general manager A.J. Preller worked the phones, recently adding pitcher Nick Pivetta for four years, $55 million with an opt-out option after two seasons. To sign Pivetta, Preller had to get creative; the Padres will be paying him a base salary of $1 million and $1.5 million of a $3 million signing bonus this season. He’ll earn $20.5 million—$19 million in base salary and the remainder of the $1.5 million bonus—next year, but his luxury tax hit each season is $13.8 million, according to figures amassed by Spotrac.
Holdover Michael King was eligible for fourth-year arbitration and signed a deal for $4 million for this year with a $15 million mutual option for next year.
“We’ve talked about it before,” Preller said in a recent media session. “Every offseason has a different pace. This year we’ve been patient.”
The Padres have four players on the roster making in excess of $20 million this season—Manny Machado at $31.8 million, Xander Bogaerts at $25.5 million, Fernando Tatis Jr. at $24.3 million and Joe Musgrove at $20 million. Musgrove is expected to be out for the season after undergoing Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow last October.
Still, that gives the Padres a pretty ample starting rotation of Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease, King and Pivetta. The fifth starter will come from a camp competition that includes recent free-agent signee Kyle Hart. The 32-year-old left-hander had a breakout 13-3 season in Korea last year with a 2.69 ERA in 26 starts, although he’s made only three MLB starts, in 2020 for Boston.
Preller, though, isn’t finished wheeling and dealing. “We like the group we have in camp,” he said, “but we’re always going to be looking at opportunities.”
Last year, Preller made the trade with the Chicago White Sox for Cease on March 13. Cease, who avoided arbitration and signed a one-year contract worth $13.75 million, is an upcoming free agent at the end of the season and has been a constant source of trade rumors.
But right now, the Padres are trying to build upon what they have rather than tear down to save money.
“I think A.J., and [manager] Mike [Shildt] have been given the resources to put together a championship team, especially with the recent additions we’ve made,” Greupner said. “I feel very good going into the season with the leadership we have. Our goal remains the same as a franchise: to win our first World Series championship.”
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