The Seidler Family reached an agreement last month to sell a majority stake in the San Diego Padres to a new ownership group headed by billionaire José Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones for an MLB record $3.9 billion. To put the sale in perspective, the price was almost 60% higher than the $2.4 billion Steve Cohen spent for the New York Mets six years prior, in the biggest media market in the nation.
The club was purchased by Peter Seidler for $600 million in 2012. Forbes valued the club at $2 billion last year and $1.8 billion the two years prior. Let’s just say that $3.9 billion is a significant premium over those figures.
What can Feliciano and Jones get for $3.9 billion? With around 42,000 spectators every game, this ballpark has the second-highest attendance in Major League Baseball. The Padres only trailed their fierce northern rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who attracted just over four million fans, with 3.4 million last season.
However, according to Spotrac, the bill of sale also includes a top ten payroll of $213 million. With a record of 37-34, the Padres are half a game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and eight games behind the Dodgers. The Padres are among the many unimpressive clubs this season.The tenth-best winning percentage in MLB is 521. Additionally, the team’s most expensive assets are just not performing well, even if they could and should be.
Perhaps their best of the worst is Xander Bogaerts, who has an eleven-year contract. With an OPS+ of 83 due to his $25.5 million salary, he is 17% below the typical major leaguer.
Manny Machado, who has seven years remaining on his $350 million contract and is on the verge of being inducted into the Hall of Fame, is either having a bad year or is starting to deteriorate. He is currently slashing.177/.255/.358.
In his 14-year, $340 million contract, Fernando Tatís Jr. hasn’t even reached the halfway point. He didn’t hit his first home run until May 30th, and since then, he has only hit one more (albeit a walk-off with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Reds last week). He has an OPS+ of 96 (still 4% below average) because he is hitting the ball hard and getting on base.
The Padres signed outfielder Jackson Merrill to a nine-year, $135 million contract following an outstanding rookie campaign. San Diego paid him a $10 million signing bonus and are responsible for the remaining amount, even though the deal only qualifies as roughly $2.1 million this season. This year, he has participated in 68 games and is slashing.71 OPS+ at 205/.272/.340.
Before the 2024 season, San Diego gave infielder Jake Cronenworth a seven-year, $80 million contract by buying out two arbitration and five arbitration years. Due to concussion symptoms from a fastball to the jaw in April, which he played through for three weeks before informing the team physicians, he is currently on the seven-day injured list. He was slashing.152/.273/.212 at the end of the game. He went.129/.270/.161 after removing a ball from his face. He has generated -0.4 bWAR for the year, and there is no schedule for his comeback.
Pitcher Nick Pivetta got a $55 million, four-year contract last year. Before being placed on the 60-day disabled list due to an elbow flexor injury, he pitched in four games this season.
The penultimate season of hometown hero pitcher Joe Musgrove’s five-year, $100 million contract is under underway. After having Tommy John surgery, he was sidelined for the whole year of 2025 and has had several obstacles during his recuperation. With him, the squad continues to wait and see.
The sale will proceed smoothly if 22 of the remaining 29 owners approve it at the MLB owners’ meeting later this month. After that, Feliciano and Jones will take over an elderly and underperforming team (the average age of the active roster is above 30), but they promise to improve. They will now be in charge of a charming ballpark in San Diego’s downtown, which is the sole venue in the city without any other big professional sports clubs.They will also take on the role of stewards for a fervent fan base that has been waiting for a pennant and another World Series trip for 28 years. The husband and wife pair has a lot to win and a lot to lose with their $3.9 billion investment.
