June 18, 2009 -- Before he changed sides in Major League Baseball’s executive suites, new Padres CEO Jeff Moorad represented a number of prominent athletes during 20 years as a sports agent. The VIP roster he shared with partner Leigh Steinberg included football’s Troy Aikman and baseball’s Matt Williams, Eric Karros and Ivan Rodriguez.
So it was somewhat amusing when Rob Lankford, serving this year as president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership board, mentioned only one past client—Manny Ramirez—during Moorad’s introduction to the group as the new Padres owner.
The crowd chuckled softly, if not a bit nervously. It was Moorad after all who landed Ramirez the $160 million contract in 2000 with the Boston Red Sox. And it was Ramirez who, while still under that contract, forced the Red Sox to essentially give him to the Los Angeles Dodgers last year. And Ramirez, of course, is the one now serving a 50 game suspension for violating MLB’s substance policy.
Moorad turned the comment by Lankford, one of downtown’s most successful developers, into a laugh. “You had to mention Manny,” he joked. “Right away I start in the hole. That’s OK. I’m used to it.”
Moorad, who is buying the team from John Moores, stayed in a teasing mood during the early part of his presentation. After the 23rd person came up to him before the luncheon to say they had built his ballpark, he said, “I realized I was with a group that gets things done.”
Later, when talking about the quality of the team on the field, Moorad said several members of the audience had volunteered to play center field. That wouldn’t be necessary, he said, noting the team had just spent high draft choices on two outfielders and now was fortunate to have Tony Gwynn Jr. playing the position while his father worked in the announcers’ booth.
As for practical matters, Moorad said the team’s payroll would eventually settle in the $70 million to $80 million range (it is now about $45 million) and he was a fan of long term contracts for young players, reminding them when as an agent, “don’t mess around with your first fortune.”
(Tim McClain is a veteran business reporter and former editor of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine.)
