Jeff Moorad Quits D-Backs to Buy the Padres

Jeff Moorad, the CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks has quit that position to pursue the purchase of the San Diego Padres. It appears that he has the inside track. This could be a huge development for the Padres. Moorad grew up in Southern California and has wanted this for a long time. It is pretty easy to envision him maximizing the payroll and allowing the Padres to keep their best players like first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and right-handed starter Jake Peavy, who are becoming expensive. This is definitely a situation to watch.

From Yahoo.com:

PHOENIX (AP)—Jeff Moorad has resigned as Arizona Diamondbacks chief executive officer and says he has reached an agreement in principle to buy the San Diego Padres.

Moorad said Friday he heads a “small but significant” group of investors that has an exclusive right to complete the specifics of negotiations with Padres owner John Moores. Moorad said he hopes the transaction can be completed in the next three months.

Moorad said he has a long friendship with Moores and his wife, Becky, whose divorce precipitated the Padres’ potential sale.

Discussions on the potential purchase became extensive after Moores hired Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale of the club in late November, Moorad said.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Moorad said on a conference call, “but John and Becky and the folks at Goldman Sachs have been very attentive and focused as I intend to be over the next month or so. I’m hopeful that we can get to the finish line.”

The Moores reportedly own 90 percent of the Padres. Community property laws in California give Becky Moores a 50 percent share of that asset and she must agree to any sale.

Sleeper Alert: Khalil Greene

I posted my thoughts on shortstop Khalil Greene's trade to the St. Louis Cardinals from the San Diego Padres today on the RotoExperts.com fantasy baseball blog. It is my intention that anyone who reads this blog not miss any tidbits I might have to offer. I say this so you'll know that the many links to that site aren't purely marketing related. I get nothing for sending people to that blog or to the RotoExperts.com. I just happen to write for it and believe that it is well worth reading.

Anyway, I think Khalil Greene is a great addition for the Cardinals and he should dramatically improve his fantasy value this season. Here is a clip and a link if you are inclined to read the entire post:

Khalil has a career BABIP of .285 while the average BABIP is closer to .300. He has a career LD percentage of 19.5, which is not spectacular but certainly solid. His career FB percentage 45.8 should also indicate some solid production with a power hitter like Khalil. But Petco seems to have tanked his HR/FB to a disappointing 9.6 percent. Just for comparison’s sake, J.J. Hardy has a just a 37.9 FB percentage but a career 11.9 HR/FB percentage (14.1 percent in 2008). A “normal” HR/FB percentage is around 11 percent. Busch Stadium (still a slight pitchers’ park with its Park Factor of .943 runs) is going to seem like a Little League field to Khalil in 2009.