The Padres hold an NL West-worst 21-33 record, and Exec Chair Ron Fowler yesterday labeled this year's club as “miserable failures” and singled out the latest effort from P James Shields, the franchise's richest free agent signee at $75M, as "an embarrassment," according to Jeff Sanders of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Appearing on the team's flagship radio station, XEPRS-AM, Fowler said, "I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost in my life. This baseball experience has been very frustrating, very embarrassing." Shields (2-7) on Tuesday gave up eight hits and 10 runs in a 16-4 loss to the Mariners, and Fowler said, "To have a starter like Shields perform as poorly as he did, is an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to him.” Meanwhile, Fowler "seemed to absolve" manager Andy Green’s two months in the organization in yesterday’s assessment. He said, "It's on the player(s), but the organization has to accept responsibility for probably having the wrong players. We don't have a team out there right now that is competing effectively. ... But in terms of the manager and coaching staff, we've got as good a group or a better group than I've seen." Sanders notes in the long view, the Padres have "placed an emphasis on adding foundation-building talent through next week’s amateur draft and the upcoming international free agency period, both of which figure to weigh heavily in the evaluation" of Exec VP & GM A.J. Preller’s role. Preller: "Ron is passionate and wants to win as much as anybody, and we want to do it for him. I don't blame him for being frustrated with the team not playing well" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/2).
TIPPING POINT: ESPN's Karl Ravech said Fowler "echoes the sentiment of a lot of people" regarding the Padres' production. ESPN's John Kruk said, “It didn't sound like it was the 1-7 road trip. It may have sounded like the last couple of years how poorly they've performed, especially a couple of years ago when A.J. Preller made all the moves in the offseason. The Padres were going to win the division and they’re going to get in the postseason ... and it didn't happen." Kruk noted there is "no stability on the roster," and at "some point, they have to fix something there that says, ‘You know what, we're going to go with either really young or we're going to go really old and try to win in one year.’ They've done it the wrong way" ("Baseball Tonight," ESPN, 6/1). YAHOO SPORTS' Tim Brown wrote this is what "excessive turnover in the front office looks like." This is what "floating organizational philosophies look like." This is what "years of iffy decisions look like." Fowler is "allowed to be mad," though it would be "fair to point out that nothing he said ... was particularly constructive." It is "terrible to be bad, and somehow worse when the All-Star Game comes to town." But he should "know the problem goes back further than three years, and the problem is bigger than a few rough starts over two months" by Shields (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/1).
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE: In San Diego, Kevin Acee notes Fowler is "generally a pragmatist." As such, he likely will "temper his impetuousness with patience and continue believing in the plan" Preller has "set forth for this summer of restoration and the coming years of construction." Fowler and team co-Owner Tom Seidler "took over a mess" in '12, and they approved the Preller moves prior to the '15 season that "made a bigger mess of things." They have "long figured they’re at least two more years -- and maybe three or four years -- from actually contending." Acee: "It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean Fowler is happy about it" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/2).
