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Post by AztecBill on Nov 4, 2011 10:42:59 GMT -8
Special Season Ticket Holder Message from GM Josh Byrnes
I am thrilled and honored by the opportunity to become GM of the Padres. I have worked for 18 years in Major League Baseball and have experienced many thrills (including 9 playoff appearances and 3 World Series). Before I started my career in baseball, I was a fan - and I am still a fan.
I love the game, the competition, the history, the day-by-day drama of a pennant race and the intensity of the post-season. I love the sights and sounds of the ballpark.
Growing up an Orioles fan during their great era led by Earl Weaver, the Oriole Way and the transition from Brooks Robinson to Eddie Murray to Cal Ripken were unforgettable parts of my childhood. My wife grew up in San Diego, following the Padres with the same devotion and excitement.
Having spent the last year in the Padres organization, I have a better understanding of our rich history and tradition. San Diego is a great baseball city and deserves a championship. I will do everything I can to reach that goal and I believe we are headed in the right direction.
In Cleveland, I was a member of the front office that ended a 41-year playoff drought. Then in Boston, I was part of the group that ended the 86-year championship drought. There is nothing that can surpass taking a franchise to new heights.
Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod started an important process in this organization. We now have a real commitment to Scouting and Player Development. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2011 season because I could return to my professional roots and help the organization scout and develop future Major Leaguers. Our farm system is now one of the best in Major League Baseball. Our goal is to keep it that way.
With a commitment to homegrown talent, we hope to create an identity and stability to our organization that produces sustained winning and players who are identified as Padres. A young talent base is the foundation for any organization. Ultimately, it is how to build a championship team.
We owe you, our fans, our total commitment and unwavering credibility. There are many challenges ahead and many instances that require difficult decisions. Our goal is clear: we want to be champions.
We will never take you for granted. Your support and passion energizes our efforts. I am proud, honored and humbled to be your General Manager. Thank you for your loyalty as we move forward and achieve our goals.
Sincerely,
Josh Byrnes
Winning a championship as a goal? For some reason I think someone here has that as a bench mark of some sort. I am sure this won't suffice in satisfying whatever he wanted.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2011 14:04:32 GMT -8
Talk is...as they say, Bill...cheap.
Byrnes may be a solid GM, time will tell on his tenure here. He's going to have to make very few personnel mistakes, given the installment payment owner he is working under.
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Post by sdbiased on Nov 4, 2011 14:36:41 GMT -8
Talk is...as they say, Bill...cheap. Byrnes may be a solid GM, time will tell on his tenure here. He's going to have to make very few personnel mistakes, given the installment payment owner he is working under. I am hoping Brynes realizes the mistakes he made in AZ and the good position Jed left the organization in to realize just how important drafting, devoloping, and scouting high school/international talent is, and to not trade it all away. |
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Post by The Aztec Panther on Nov 4, 2011 22:03:40 GMT -8
Winning championships should be the goal for EVERY professional franchise in every sport every year.
In baseball the goal should be to win the World Series THIS YEAR, not 3 or 4 years from now. The team should put together the very best roster it can to achieve that goal, otherwise it's all a sham and the same 4 or 5 teams will have the inside track yet again. That doesn't mean that those 4 or 5 teams will win the World Series (as we saw this year), but that does mean that they'll have an advantage.
Giving up on a season and putting out a half-assed roster (with the intent to, "Build," the franchise for the future) is no different than a boxer taking a dive with the hope of a return favor later on in the form of a title shot. It's giving up on the current fight/season. And any team that gives up on a chance to win the World Series this year doesn't deserve to have anyone show up for the games.
When you have the 2nd or 3rd lowest payroll in the league that is hardly a commitment to winning titles.
The Padres need to show a commitment now, not later. And when he talks about building homegrown talent I noted that he didn't talk about KEEPING that talent long term...
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Post by AztecBill on Nov 7, 2011 10:11:45 GMT -8
Talk is...as they say, Bill...cheap. Byrnes may be a solid GM, time will tell on his tenure here. He's going to have to make very few personnel mistakes, given the installment payment owner he is working under. That is pretty funny since you, I think it was you, were all up in arms since that hadn't stated that was the goal. Now they do, and you say talk is cheap. While I agree that talk is cheap, why isn't it cheap on the other end too? |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2011 13:11:57 GMT -8
Talk is...as they say, Bill...cheap. Byrnes may be a solid GM, time will tell on his tenure here. He's going to have to make very few personnel mistakes, given the installment payment owner he is working under. That is pretty funny since you, I think it was you, were all up in arms since that hadn't stated that was the goal. Now they do, and you say talk is cheap. While I agree that talk is cheap, why isn't it cheap on the other end too? I believe it was JYP that used to harp on the "We're going to compete" mantra of regimes past and present. Not me. I care about actions, not words. I'm willing to give Byrnes some time to see how his philosophy works, and how the team drafts, develops, and signs on his watch. Like I said though....with our light wallet ownership, he doesn't have much room for error. San Francisco arguably got better today...dealing something they have alot of (starting pitching) for a young outfielder who hit .300 with 18 HR and an .800 OPS last season. Melky Cabrera. We'll see what San Diego does this hot stove season. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2011 13:14:52 GMT -8
In the meantime, Bill...you can just keep talking about the season records of our minor league clubs while ignoring the topic most care about: What IMPACT MAJOR LEAGUE players is the farm system producing? Maybe we'll see more production in 2012.
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Post by AztecBill on Nov 7, 2011 14:14:04 GMT -8
In the meantime, Bill...you can just keep talking about the season records of our minor league clubs while ignoring the topic most care about: What IMPACT MAJOR LEAGUE players is the farm system producing? Maybe we'll see more production in 2012. We have covered that. We are still a year or so away from the group that is really showing progress in the minors. It takes a few years to work through the system. A team can become much better at drafting and signing and the results won't show in the big league for up to 4 or 5 years. In the meantime we are still promoting decent players at a far higher rate than years past. One a year would be far higher. So far those players have all been pitchers. |
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Post by aztec619 on Nov 7, 2011 16:47:48 GMT -8
In the meantime, Bill...you can just keep talking about the season records of our minor league clubs while ignoring the topic most care about: What IMPACT MAJOR LEAGUE players is the farm system producing? Maybe we'll see more production in 2012. We have covered that. We are still a year or so away from the group that is really showing progress in the minors. It takes a few years to work through the system. A team can become much better at drafting and signing and the results won't show in the big league for up to 4 or 5 years. In the meantime we are still promoting decent players at a far higher rate than years past. One a year would be far higher. So far those players have all been pitchers. And let's say these players become good and will want higher salaries. Will we then trade them to the Yanks/Sox/whoever will pay them for younger and cheaper player to begin the cycle again? I still love the game of baseball and our Pads but it really is frustrating to watch our former players perform on other teams. This is what really sucks about baseball. We build with our younger players and then when it's time to pay them and keep them here we trade or let them go away. They need to put some type of salary cap |
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Post by The Aztec Panther on Nov 7, 2011 20:38:25 GMT -8
I still love the game of baseball and our Pads but it really is frustrating to watch our former players perform on other teams. This is what really sucks about baseball. We build with our younger players and then when it's time to pay them and keep them here we trade or let them go away. They need to put some type of salary cap In the system as it is now the Padres and a handful of other teams are basically farm teams for the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, etc. That's unacceptable. It's a completely uneven playing field. How is that business model supposed to work? How can MLB survive when the few benefit from the work of the majority of the league? |
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Post by 83aztec on Nov 17, 2011 14:59:52 GMT -8
I still love the game of baseball and our Pads but it really is frustrating to watch our former players perform on other teams. This is what really sucks about baseball. We build with our younger players and then when it's time to pay them and keep them here we trade or let them go away. They need to put some type of salary cap In the system as it is now the Padres and a handful of other teams are basically farm teams for the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, etc. That's unacceptable. It's a completely uneven playing field. How is that business model supposed to work? How can MLB survive when the few benefit from the work of the majority of the league? Always been that way. Always had the haves and have nots in baseball. Padres just need to keep producing players. Tampa Bay our way to the WS |
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Post by The Aztec Panther on Nov 18, 2011 7:03:32 GMT -8
In the system as it is now the Padres and a handful of other teams are basically farm teams for the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, etc. That's unacceptable. It's a completely uneven playing field. How is that business model supposed to work? How can MLB survive when the few benefit from the work of the majority of the league? Always been that way. Always had the haves and have nots in baseball. Which worked when Baseball was the #1 sport in the country. As Football took over and created parity it has shown that a sports league can have set up where all teams have similar resources. A salary cap and greater revenue sharing would solve all of baseballs competitive problems. But the large market teams will never let that happen. They like having a Major League farm system. Having one good year out of every 4 or 5 isn't acceptable. The team should be able to compete with anyone not based on money but based on how good the management is. What's the point in being a fan of a team when they won't keep your favorite players? We won't see another Tony Gwynn or Trevor Hoffman ever again. Adrian was let go because the team is cheap. (They could have paid him $20 million a year and still had one of the lowest salaries in the league without cutting anyone else - hell, they could have added $10 million in salary outside of Gonzalez' salary and still had a salary in the bottom 25% of the league.) To hell with baseball under these conditions. I won't spend money or time on a league where my team gets only 1/4 the income that the big boys do. And I certainly won't spend my time and money on a team that spends less than they can afford to spend. The Padres are cheap. They're the 1970's Oakland A's reborn. They won't keep anyone who is any good once they can command a decent salary. Without continuity on the field the Padres will be perennial also-rans at best, and an awful team at worst. |
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