Thursday, March 26, 2009

San Diego Padres Sign Eulogio De La Cruz

Thursday March 26, 2009

Yesterday the San Diego Padres made a real nice pickup.

They traded the proverbial PTBNL or Cash Considerations for a power throwing RHP named Eulogio De La Cruz.

Eulogio De La Cruz was mainly a starter in the minors and he throws 96-98 with occasional 100 mph pitches.

De La Cruz was signed as a free agent at 16 yrs old out of the Dominican Republic and spent the 1st 6 years of his professional career in the Detroit Tigers organization before heading to Florida in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade.

With the isotopes in Albuquerque in 2008 he was 13-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 25 starts in THE hardest minor league ballpark to pitch in.

He had 6 appearances with the Marlins last season, all in relief, and was hit hard. His 18.00 ERA in 9 innings does not look good, but his stuff is exceptional and he should benefit from pitching in the BEST pitchers park in major league baseball.

In my opinion he will be a great addition to the Padres bullpen and possibly the back end of the starting rotation if Baek, Correia and the rest of the guys in camp cannot get the job done.

Its Official. The Padres have a new ownership group.

Thursday March 26, 2009

Its official.

In a 3:00 PM PDT news conference broadcast live on Padres.com , John Moores and the San Diego Padres announced the finalization of the sale of the Padres to an investment group headed by Jeff Moorad.

While John Moores will continue to act as the majority partner at MLB meetings and be on the boards of many MLB committees, Moorad will act as Vice Chairman and CEO of the Padres and will be in charge of the day to day operations of the team and all player personnel decisions.

The investment group of 12 includes Troy Aikman, Wayne Seltzer of Rancho Santa Fe, John McAvoy, J.D. Stein of Indianapolis, Bob Piccinini - who owns Save Mart super markets, Tom Davin - CEO of Panda restaurant group, Rick Berry - a money manager from northern California and Al Baldwin of San Diego.

Currently, the investment group headed by Moorad holds a 35% share ownership in the Padres with the rights to purchase up to 100% over the next 5 years.

Moorad was previously the CEO and minority partner in the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2004 through 2008.