I miss Padres games at The Murph for several reasons.  Tailgating was a LOT more fun, seating was more comfortable and spacious, we used to have day games, and I was happy when the padres were actually decent.  I’m from San Diego, so I always accepted the mediocrity that came with our sized market until I was promised more.

The first year in Petco Park was the most exciting.  We didn’t make the playoffs, but we were “competitive”.  In 2005 we backed in to the playoffs by winning the worst division in baseball and having a worse record than the wild-card teams.  In 2006, we finished hot and lost in the first round.  In 2007, they promised to spend the Klesko/Nevin contract dollars on some free agents in order to make our team more “competitive”.

Fast forward to 2008.  We signed another free agent(Jim Edmonds) who is well past his prime and hasn’t played a full season since 2004.  We signed a broken down pitcher(Mark Prior) who hasn’t pitched a full season since 2003.  Our right fielder(Brian Giles) is 38 and isn’t expected to be ready until May or June.  Our left fielder(Scott Hairston) is moving up from our well-known bench warming crew.  We re-signed Shawn Estes who pitched 5 innings last year and took the rest of the season off for surgery and rehabilitation.  However, don’t count out Jeff Davanon…exactly.  I do like our second baseman(Tad Iguchi) even though he had an off year last year and I don’t think we would’ve signed him otherwise.  I like what KT did, despite having his hands tied by the “small market” propaganda.

Is this what you expected when the Padres ownership said we’ll make the Padres “competitive” if you approve  $458 Million for our ballpark?

BUNKING THEIR $$ ARGUMENTS

I will happily acknowledge that Petco Park contributed to the rapid redevelopment of Downtown San Diego, but the FACT of the matter is that downtown had been redeveloping since 1979 when they started Horton Plaza and it would be on a similar growth pattern regardless of whether or not we put a ballpark there.

Additionally I hear that San Diego is a “Small Market”.  B@llsh!t!

Here’s a list of America’s 10 Largest Cities by Population

1.NY

2.LA

3.Chicago

4.Houston

5.Philidelphia

6.Phoenix

7.San Antonio

8.San Diego

9.Dallas

10.San Jose

11.Detroit

2006 Top 10 MLB Payrolls

1.  $194,663,079 New York Yankees

2.  $120,099,824 Boston Red Sox

3.  $103,472,000 Los Angeles Angels

4.  $102,750,667 Chicago White Sox

5.  $101,084,963 New York Mets

6.  $98,447,187 Los Angeles Dodgers

7.  $94,424,499 Chicago Cubs

8.  $92,551,503 Houston Astros

9.  $90,156,876 Atlanta Braves

10. $90,056,419 San Francisco Giants

I don’t see the Padres on that list of information, but here’s some good information as well…

In exchange for getting San Diegans to shoulder most of the $458 million cost of the ballpark, Moores agreed to make the Padres competitive and ensure about $300 million of private investment in the neighborhood. Since then, Moores has emerged as a powerful player in the city’s 5-year-old downtown construction boom.

John Moores bought the Padres for $94M in 1995.

Forbes magazine valued the club at $367M in April, 2007.

The results of its extreme makeover are everywhere:

•In the last three years, about a dozen hi-rises, with more than 3,600 apartments or condos, have been completed.

•After a decade-old office glut, construction is under way on downtown’s first new office tower since 1991, a 23-story granite and glass high-rise.

•Moores is building a five-tower, 2-million-square foot complex of shops and housing, set to open by 2011, that will sit next to the city’s planned 10-story  main library.

•San Diego’s redevelopment agency estimates there is $3 billion of construction underway or on the drawing board downtown, including $1.4 billion near the ballpark.

Since 1999, he has bought more than 21 acres of land near the ballpark. He developed or sold more than half the land. He’s holding onto 9 acres intended for shops and housing when the market ripens further.

Do you still think this is a small market team?

-Adam

Attributions: ESPN Fantasy Baseball Cafe