Padres News: Former, Current Players Anonymously Rip GM AJ Preller in Bombshell Report
As you should know by this point, it's been a disaster of a season for the San Diego Padres.
Heading into this season on the back of an NLCS appearance and boasting a star laden roster, the Friars were supposed to be one of the top contenders in the National League.
That has not happened.
Instead, the Padres sit at 73-78, 5.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, trailing four teams for that slot, and it looks like another disappointing season for a franchise full of them over their history is all but assured.
The brief hope of sustained success is gone, those dreams were just a mirage, and blame is starting to go around.
Padres general manager AJ Preller was anonymously criticized by multiple Friars players in a report from The Athletic's Dennis Lin, and his inability to take the reigns of the organization was a significant sticking point.
“In some senses here, I feel that the finger gets pointed at the next guy,” one player said. “Instead of, You’re the head of the organization. You need to take the reins of this, implement some sort of structure.”
A Padres player, via Dennis Lin of The Athletic
A key element of any job, sector notwithstanding is the ability to properly communicate and be a good "people person."
According to a former player, that's been another one of the longtime general manager's problems.
“You can argue he’s one of the best talent evaluators ever in the game,” a former Padres player said. “But just because you can evaluate talent doesn’t mean you know how to handle people.”
via Dennis Lin of The Athletic
And maybe most importantly is the lack of a consistent philosophy. Padres staff members criticized that in the report as well.
Several people interviewed for this story described a lack of a coherent message from the top of the organization. “There’s no consistency,” a former employee said. Another former Padres staffer added, “I think the philosophy is, get a bunch of athletes and we’re just going to out-athlete the other team and out-ability the other team.”
via Dennis Lin of The Athletic
As things stand, a season that started with so much promise is essentially done for, even if they haven't been mathematically eliminated as of Tuesday. And Preller and the organization need to take a long, hard at themselves if San Diego aims to succeed next season and going forward.
To read Lin and Ken Rosenthal's full bombshell report at The Athletic, you can click here.
