This week in Lost in Transactions, several teams underwent significant shuffling. The Oakland Athetics and Cleveland Indians made some wholesale changes, while the Red Sox welcomed back Julio Lugo.

Petco Park opened five years ago, and today the Union-Tribune takes stock: Five years after the first Padres curveball was thrown at Petco Park, San Diego’s investment in the $474 million ballpark has delivered mixed results. On a recent afternoon, the good and the marginal returns were on display. Along J Street, where the ballpark […]

As Benjamin Disraeli once noted, “there is no education like adversity.”

The dynamics described in the previous post (i.e. diminishing franchise value freaking owners the hell out) are on display with this news item as well: Padres chairman John Moores will spin the front-office carousel yet again Thursday when the club expects to announce that Jeff Moorad will take over as CEO, with Sandy Alderson stepping […]

. . . this is simply an exercise in delusion: If San Diego’s offense were a restaurant, it would be getting one-star reviews from some observers. Scouts have generally been remarkably unimpressed by the Padres’ lineup. Then, there was the GM of another National League West team who said anonymously that the Friars “look like […]

It was a slow week as the clubs started trimming the excess fat off their spring training rosters while crossing their fingers that their players playing in the World Baseball Classic don’t get hurt.

The Padres have been spoiled, er, I mean lucky enough to have the the city of San Diego footing the bill for much of the cost of Petco Park. Now San Diego, like every other city, is strapped for cash, and has had to look for help to make the debt payments on the ballpark […]

The latest in the business of baseball.

The Padres are responding to the bad economy: The Padres’ much-maligned $9 beer vanished with an ear-ringing bang yesterday as the team cut, slashed and exploded prices on tickets, food and drink. “There will be no price increase on any concession item in 2009,” proclaimed Mark Grant, one of the team’s broadcasters. “And beer prices […]

Each year, Geoff Young blows his whole winter (and then some) putting together the single most comprehensive single-team book you’re ever going to find. It’s called Ducksnorts, and it has everything you ever wanted to know about the San Diego Padres. It’s so detailed that I’m putting even odds on Geoff being called as a […]