Long before Jose E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones had even made an offer to buy the Padres, they were doing their due diligence while perusing the club’s spring training facility in Peoria, Ariz.
Erik Greupner, the Padres president, set them up on the Traject pitching machine, which offers a computer simulation of Major League pitchers. Greupner punched up Mason Miller, the team’s 100-mph throwing closer, and Feliciano stepped into the batting cage.
Feliciano and Jones told the story on Monday at Petco Park as they were introduced at a media conference as the Padres new owners, the sixth in club history.
It took four pitches before Feliciano nubbed a changeup back to the machine for a bloop single. That pitch registered in the neighborhood of 90 mph. At that point, the couple decided to make an offer for the Padres that, in the second round of bidding this past May, established a record valuation of $3.9 billion.
“We were all in,” Jones recalled.
They won the bidding, and a week ago their offer was approved unanimously by the 30 Major League Baseball owners. The deal officially closed on Friday.
‘Absolutely committed’
On Monday, this felt like the real thing, said Jones, the singer-songwriter decked out in a fashionable orange cap. She penned and produced a new club jingle, unveiled in a video that opened the conference.
“We are here and we are absolutely committed to the Padres,” she said. “We are absolutely committed to this organization. We are overjoyed, and we understand, if you heard it in the video, we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win it all. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
They’ve taken over from the Seidler family at the right time. The Padres swept the Twins this weekend at home in a three-game series.
“Which means we’re undefeated,” Feliciano said.
For the season, the Padres are 71-60, winners of 11 of the last 14 games. They are on a roll. Fernando Tatis Jr. has taken his game to another level. The hitters are hitting, the starting pitching is adequate, and the bullpen and Miller are doing what they do best: shutting down the opposing team.
And they are leading the D-backs by two games for the final of three National League Wild Card berths with 31 games to go.
It’s a good time to be the owners of the Padres, who are hitting on all cylinders for the first time all year.
“Listen, I’m a longtime baseball fan,” said Feliciano, who is part owner of an equity firm and the English soccer club Chelsea F.C. “I won’t tell you the team I used to root for, but right now I root for the Padres. We need to win the World Series. It’s that simple.”
That’s never happened in the club’s 57-year history, and other Padres owners have died trying. Ray Kroc passed away in 1984 after a stroke and just before the team he helped build went to its first World Series, losing to the Tigers.
Peter Seidler had a vision of turning the Padres into a champion by over spending, but died of an infection after years of battling cancer before it happened. His club got as far as the 2022 NL Championship Series before losing.
What you try to do and what happens are often different things.
‘Map out’ the future
“How do I map out where I want to be and the impact I want to make?” Feliciano responded to a question about how much money he intends to spend on players. “So, part of the foundation for me is slowing down and understanding that most things worth having won’t come instantly or easily. Look at where we are with the Padres. Look at where we are as far as what had already been achieved. And we’re only three days in.”
Some housekeeping items here: Greupner said he will remain as team president, at least into the 2030s. A.J. Preller, the club’s general manager, was signed to a long-term contract by the Seidlers and that contract will be honored. At least for now.
Both Feliciano and Jones talked a lot about joining the Padres. They are now one big family, she said. Feliciano presented himself as a quiet man with a lot of confidence. Jones, a one-time performer who had dance hits on the Billboard charts, gives the Padres what they and most other ballclubs don’t have: Pizzazz and energy.
There has been some failure in their lives, Jones said.
“It’s a long journey and we don’t take it for granted,” she said. “Yes, there’s a lot of success in our story, but you build that resilience with the ups and downs. It allows you to wake up the next day and do it again. You never lose that hope. There’s always the possibility of the dream.”
With that, the couple donned their new Padres jerseys. Feliciano, No. 21 for the great Roberto Clemente. Both are natives of Puerto Rico. For Jones, it’s No. 00.
“We’re starting at zero,” she said. “The possibilities are limitless.”
