The AP is reporting that Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Jeff Moorad resigned last night with the *express* purpose of trying to acquire an ownership interest in the San Diego Padres.
Are you ready?
PANIC!!!
The only reason the Padres were so intent on dealing Jake Peavy was because of a serious cashflow problem. A new ownership stake could solve that problem, and fast. Additionally, the Padres have already made significant cuts to their payroll. Keeping Peavy – who is signed for another few years on a very reasonable deal – is not at all out of the question if the Padres get a new owner.
More and an update after the jump.
Ok, now for some completely unfounded speculation: isn’t Moorad a former agent? He’s putting together a group to buy the Padres. I take those two things to mean that this group isn’t going to have a ton of cash – hell, they might not even be able to get the capital to do a deal right now (no one else can seem to…). Maybe they like the Padres as an investment. If so, they would have just the same interest in trading Peavy for cheap, serviceable players as the current ownership.
UPDATE: Looks like my guess was right.
When asked if it could be assumed his involvement would mean Peavy would be removed from the trade market, Moorad replied, “You should assume nothing of the sort. John and Becky (Moores) remain the primary owners of the Padres. I have no influence at all, nor will I have any influence on any of their personnel decisions.” San Diego Union-Tribune.
Moorad is later quoted as saying he’s interested in a stake in the Padres because he’s “bullish” on baseball in Southern California. That means he looks at it as an investment.