Two seasons ago, buzz and momentum from the big-name signings of CF Matt Kemp, LF Justin Upton and P James Shields "moved the needle" for the Padres, but the question now remains as to how the team will "sell tickets next season," according to Bryce Miller of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The Padres this season "were able to muscle fans with All-Star Game ticketing carrots." Miller: "But ... 2017? And 2018?" The Padres "will spend somewhere in the neighborhood" of $80-85M on prospects, "between international signings and the amateur draft, after spending" less than $10M last season. That is a "tangible sign of investment and effort and building a house, brick by brick." Convincing a fan base "famished for a winner, however, to stick around for the ride is the nacho-selling challenge." Padres President & CEO Mike Dee said of engaging fans next season, “We’ll have to work harder, for sure. You try to put a team on the field with some young talent that plays hard, make Petco as inviting as you can and round out the experience in some of those ways" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/17). Dee: "A lot of our investment right now and for the foreseeable future is going to be put into the baseball side of the operation. Not that it hasn’t been over the last two years. We’ve dramatically increased payroll, but what we’re doing now with the investment in the international market, the large pool number -- some $13 million -- that we spent on the draft, the lion’s share of our investment is going to go into baseball and making sure we continue to populate our system with a lot of talent that can be developed" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/18).
