Padres CEO Erik Greupner provides first offseason comments from management

PEORIA, Ariz. — There wasn’t much new, but it was notable.

And quotable.

Someone in Padres management spoke publicly on Tuesday for what was essentially the first time this offseason.

So almost on its own that made CEO Erik Greupner’s statements significant, coming as they did at the end of an offseason rife with questions about the direction of the franchise.

This was the usual address — a sort of “State of the Padres” — that occurs at the beginning of every spring training. Normally, Greupner is accompanied by the team’s chairman. But John Seidler, approved earlier this month as the Padres’ new control person, will not officially assume his role until March, so Greupner was left to provide the team’s voice.

He touched on player payroll, offering assurances the team will not be put up for sale, the long-term deal signed by television play-by-play man Don Orsillo and more.

Much of what Greupner said has been reported. But virtually nothing had been offered on the record by someone in Padres management outside of a team-controlled setting such as FanFest.

Tuesday’s new fodder involved television.

The Padres did not specify the length of Orsillo’s new contract, but sources confirmed the deal runs through at least the end of the decade.

“He has really become the beloved voice of the Padres,” Greupner said. “… Our hope and expectation is that he’s going to continue to be the voice of the Padres until he’s no longer a broadcaster. We’d like to see him end his career here in San Diego.”

Greupner also said the Padres are close to announcing a deal to have some Saturday games broadcast “over the air” on local television, an arrangement that will increase their reach and bring in a small amount of additional revenue. (The bulk of the team’s games are currently available via a streaming subscription and as part of a cable TV package.)

The bottom line from Greupner was that the roster remains in flux but is also pretty much set, and the Padres are fine with that.

“We feel like both A.J. and Mike have been given the resources that they need to put together a playoff-caliber and championship-caliber team,” Greupner said in reference to manager Mike Shildt and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. “I know they agree, especially with some of the recent additions that we’ve made.”

He was primarily alluding to the signings of starting pitchers Kyle Hart and Nick Pivetta and outfielders Jason Heyward and Connor Joe.

Together with catcher Elias Díaz, who was added on Jan. 28, those five account for every major league free agent signed by the Padres this offseason and amount to a total 2025 investment of $8.5 million. (The Padres also recently signed veterans Gavin Sheets and Yuli Gurriel to minor league deals that would pay them a combined $2.85 million if they make the team.)

The lack of activity the first three months of the offseason led to criticism among some fans and media that the Padres were no longer committed to winning in the way they were when Peter Seidler was alive.

The reality is that their payroll sits at just shy of $197 million, which ranks 10th among Major League Baseball’s 30 teams, and Greupner affirmed Tuesday that the “goal is to be at or around the payroll level that we’re at right now.”

The current projected payout is $26 million higher than last season’s final number, though that is largely due to numerous players already under team control being due higher salaries in 2025.

“Our payroll has gone up significantly year over year, and we have been pursuing a long-term plan that was set years ago — several years ago — and we’re continuing to execute against that plan,” Greupner said. “We’re exactly where we had expected to be from a payroll perspective going into this year. … That is sufficient, from a resource perspective, to go out and win a World Series championship. And that’s a commitment that we’ve made for several years now to our fan base — that we would consistently put a team on the field that could compete for the playoffs and win a World Series championship. I know that was important to Peter and remains important to us as an organization, that we put a team on the field year in and year out that can compete for a World Series championship.”

The perception of the lack of spending over the winter was compounded by the turmoil the franchise found itself in when Sheel Seidler, the widow of Peter Seidler, sued two of her husband’s brothers for what was effectively control of the franchise. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 6, accuses Matt and Robert Seidler of fraud in their roles as trustees of Peter Seidler’s trust and asks for moves made by them to be reversed, including Matt Seidler’s appointment of John Seidler as Padres control person. The brothers (and others) have disputed Sheel Seidler’s claims.

Padres sources have long contended that their spending was dictated by a largely preset budget based on revenues and that the ownership situation did not affect their plans.

“We’ve said for years that we increased payroll and spending to give our fans and our city an opportunity to do something we’ve never done before but that, ultimately, we knew long term the sustainability of that payroll was going to be determined by the fan support and the level of revenue we’ve been able to generate in our market,” Greupner said Tuesday. “We remain one of the smallest media markets in baseball. Yet despite that, our fans have been amazing, and they’ve supported this team, and we owe them an incredible debt of gratitude.”

The Padres have set franchise attendance records the past two seasons. Their average announced attendance of 41,118 ranked third in the major leagues behind the Dodgers (48,657) and Phillies (41,527). But they also play in the 18th-biggest market by population size and fourth-smallest media market as determined by Nielsen.

“We’re at a level right now with our payroll where we’re putting everything that we have, that we can generate in our market into this team,” Greupner said. “And for that to be a top-10 payroll is pretty amazing considering the size of our market when it comes to the media market. And I think it’s just a testament to how amazing our fans are and the way that they’ve been showing up and supporting this team.”

He praised the baseball operations group for its ability to structure contracts creatively as the Padres face a cash crunch.

“A.J. and his team, (including assistant general manager) Josh Stein, are particularly good at doing that,” he said. “So anything that you’ve seen around in structuring deals or the way that we’ve engineered the deals that have been put in place have been with a long-term view of remaining competitive as a franchise and also being as competitive as we can this year.”

The Padres could still make a move that will lower payroll, such as trading starting pitcher Dylan Cease or closer Robert Suarez. Teams have already indicated they might be more willing to meet the Padres’ asking price for one of their pitchers, sources said in recent days. But those same sources indicated the Padres seem inclined to keep their pitching staff intact.

Greupner did speak on one topic Matt Seidler had addressed in a letter to fans. The CEO was slightly more forceful, though, in his answer about rumors of a possible sale brewing as a result of the enmity among the team’s primary owners.

“I have been told multiple times that the team is not for sale and will not be sold,” Greupner said. “The Seidler family has viewed this team as a generational asset. Peter spoke about that. The rest of his family has continued to speak about that. This team is not going to be relocated. This team is not going to be sold. The commitment remains to keep this team in the current ownership that it’s in right now, continue to run it the way we’ve been running it.”

John Seidler will take over for temporary chairman Eric Kutsenda, a minority team owner and Peter Seidler’s longtime friend and business partner who stepped in to fill the breach after Peter Seidler’s death in November 2023.

John Seidler’s approval as control person was contingent on his becoming trustee of Peter Seidler’s trust, as Major League Baseball prefers the control person and trustee to be the same person when a trust controls the largest stake in a team. The plan is for John Seidler to make his first public comments after that process is complete, some time in March.

“We’re incredibly excited to have John step into that position,” Greupner said. “He’s been part of the ownership group since 2012. I’ve known him for 13 years. I’ve spent a lot of time with him at Padres games and in Padres ownership meetings, and he’s got a love for San Diego. He’s got a love for this franchise and a love for baseball, and he’s excited to step into that role and continue what his brother, Peter, was leading for so many years for the ownership group that he’s a part of and ultimately deliver that World Series championship to San Diego.”