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The 2025-26 offseason has not been kind to the San Diego Padres, and with the announcement on Wednesday of the death of Padres legend Randy Jones
, it seems to only get worse with each day.The start of the offseason came too early in San Diego. The Friar Faithful and the players
they root for were hoping the team would be playing well into October, but that was not the case as the Padres were bounced in the first round by the Chicago Cubs. San Diego did not have the best showing over the three-game series, and after the way the 2024 playoff run ended, it felt like another disappointing exit from the postseason.
The Padres’ offseason started with the surprise announcement that second-year manager Mike Shildt was going resign from his position, creating an unexpected vacancy after back-to-back 90-win seasons. The search for his replacement commenced immediately and resulted in the hiring of first-time manager, and former San Diego reliever, Craig Stammen. Padres fans hoped that with the managerial vacancy filled and the GM Meetings taking place in Las Vegas that same week, the business of the offseason could begin for San Diego. That proved not to be the case.
The Friar Faithful were surprised to receive and read a letter from Padres Chairman John Seidler that the Seidler family was going to “begin a process of evaluating our future with the Padres, including a potential sale of the franchise.” Some would, and did, say the news was not surprising and that it was inevitable after the death of former owner Peter Seidler two years ago. While that may be true, the timing of the announcement was surely unexpected by the majority.
And of course, as mentioned to start this article, the Padres announced the death of Jones on Wednesday. Tributes, memorials and dedications came pouring in from all corners of San Diego, the nation and the globe expressing condolences for the loss and sharing memories of chance meetings at the ballpark.
With so much happening in such a short amount of time, with the only positive news to this point in the offseason being the hiring of Stammen and the re-signing of left-hander Kyle Hart, it would be understandable if the Friar Faithful found themselves champing at the bit for the return of baseball games. However, while that may be therapeutic to fans and provide a distraction from the negative, how have the players been affected? They too have navigated through this point in the offseason and they too are affected by it all.
Each one of these situations could prove to be a distraction on its own, but with all of them taking place in the same offseason, it seems impossible that there will be no affect on the team. That being said, the most critical news to this point may be the potential sale of the franchise and how that will affect the team personnel, payroll, etc.
The Padres Reacts Survey this week is asking you, the Friar Faithful, how you think the team will be affected by a potential sale?
