Never boring time in San Diego when it comes to Professional sports. The Chargers still can not beat the Patriots or Jets or Steelers on the road. So what’s new ? Laughs. Oh, we have huge news on baseball which it seems the Padres make more news during the winter off-season than in regular season. So let’s get to the chase and not bore you with introductory.

As many of you know or heard of the rumors, that Padres GM Jed Hoyer and Assistant GM Jason McLeod will be leaving and heading to the Windy City to join up with another former Padres employee Theo Epstein. To be quite frank, this does not surprise me at all since I had a clue there would be a carousel of front office people moving about in the major leagues this year once bean-town had the baseball collapse. This analogy makes me cringe wondering what people would do when the economic one occurs while Occupy Wall Street gains momentum. So let’s stick to baseball and the impact this major shuffling of GM’s.

As we all know based on the forums, blogs and newspapers that former Padres GM Kevin Towers was the face of the organization for many years and did so much considering the circumstances of a tight budget. But in truth, Towers failed to build a successful farm system for the amount of years spent as Padres GM, 15 yrs. Towers was known to snatch unknown pitchers and assembled one of the best bullpens in baseball through waiver-wires or trades. Though, the last two major blunders that Towers did with the Padres proved costly. The 1st overall draft pick of Matt Bush which placed the organization four years behind as today Bush is in the minor league system with Tampa Bay Rays. The other major blunder was not resigning CF Mike Cameron and trading away 3b prospect David Freese to St Louis for CF Jim “aging” Edmunds. There was no way you can replace Cameron with Edmunds, totally unacceptable, but the trade did go through and Edmunds lasted one month on the Padres roster before signing on with the Cubs as a free agent. What did Freese do? In 2010, became the Cardinals starting 3rd baseman and in 2011 NL Championship series was the MVP. Ummm, at the same time Padres 3B Chase Headley has regressed and Freese was rated behind Headley when in the Padres farm system. Case in point, Towers traded away a good farm system player and a position player at that.

The people who should be praised for the start of the Padres promising farm system is Sandy Alderson, Grady Fusion and Paul Depodesta. They were the ones who placed a system and process into the organization and brought in accountability to the front office. Today’s Padres, were assembled by Alderson’s entourage through the draft (Headley, Hundley, Hunter, Bass, LeBlanc, Luebke, Latos, Hefner, Darnell, Forsythe, Blanks, Venable, and Tekotte). But no one has given the praise to Alderson’s regime, people should do so.

In 2009 offseason, the Padres hired Jed Hoyer, whom brought in Jason McLeod with him as well from Boston. What Hoyer did was put forth a more impressive drafting system and in the short two years has accomplished a lot through the drafts. The Padres farm system is stacked at the lower levels and overall have an impressive farm system. But the general public do not see this as results, just like a novice investor who continues to believe fortune 500 companies will outperform gold and silver mining companies. I believe if Hoyer and McLeod were to stay for atleast 5 years, they would have this Padres organization very stacked and well positioned for the future. But as we all know, nothing is forever and we can see this by observing the economic conditions throughout the Cities and States infrastructure whom are losing funding.

So what is the affect me factor per se on the Padres organization when Hoyer and McLeod leave for the Windy City? Plain and simple, there will always be an impact and if people tell you otherwise, that’s hot air. Let me give you a few examples…

1. When Towers was fired, Kevin became an assistant to the Yankees and his first input to Cashman was to grab Padres OF Chad Huffman off from waivers.
2. When Alderson was fired and Paul Depodesta joined Sandy with the Mets. The Mets acquired Padres former 1st round draft pick Allan Dykstra and also picked up 1b Mike Baxter on waivers from the Padres.
3. Hoyer and McLeod of the Cubs grabs ??????

 
Now, you see where I am going with this point. Three National League Opponents have vital insider information on the Padres entire Farm System. The NL West Champions Arizona Diamonds, The NL East New York Mets, and NL Central Chicago Cubs. Now, do you believe that the Hoyer and McLeod move to the Cubs will have no impact ? This business is based on competition and knowledge of your opponents. In this case, Padres are severely exposed and this is very unique considering the front office instability for the last few years in San Diego. Also, can the duo of Brynes and Hinch take the farm system to another level which Hoyer and McLeod did ? I, as a season ticket holder am not convinced of Brynes and Hinch. It’s one thing to be in a highly successful organization like the Red Sox, and the D’Backs had only two good years during those times of Brynes and Hinch. As for Padres Owner Jeff Moorad, this year is very important one as he can not afford to lose this upcoming season. There has been too much changing of the guards in the front office and season ticket holders are observing quietly during this off season.

Let’s see if there is a trade between the Cubs and Padres, just like last year with Adrian going to the Boston. The rooks and bishops have been placed on the chessboard. It’s curious to see what unfolds during the annual winter trading meetings. I expect one or two major trades to be executed, the question is who will be the trading partners. As I closed out this post, here is a blues female artist named Sharon Lewis performing the song “In Too Deep” which exemplifies the Padres opponents (D’Back, Mets and Cubs) with insider information.