As Padres Ownership Shifts to John Seidler, How Will the Team Spend?

There’s been a changing of the guard in the Padres’ ownership, but will the club continue to spend aggressively in its pursuit to unseat the rival Dodgers?

John Seidler is set to become the team’s new designated control executive, succeeding his late, younger brother, Peter, who died in November 2023. Since then, the club has been overseen on an interim basis by Eric Kutsenda, a founding partner of Seidler Equity. 

A defining note of Peter Seidler’s ownership was the Padres’ push to boost payroll and challenge the Dodgers, winners of 11 of the last 12 National League West division titles and the 2024 World Series champions. In 2023, Peter Seidler’s final season, San Diego’s payroll reached $282.8 million, the third highest in MLB and more than twice the level of 2019—the last full season before he took control of the club in late 2020. 

After his death, however, the club’s spending dropped precipitously to $184.9 million in 2024, MLB’s 15th highest. During this transition period, the team also traded away Juan Soto, who played one season with the Yankees before signing a record-setting $765 million deal with the Mets. Despite the cuts, the Padres reached the NL Division Series, falling to the Dodgers in five games.

Familiar Themes

The Tigers went through a similar ownership and philosophical shift after former owner Mike Ilitch died in 2017, with that club’s spending in the early 2020s under son and current chair Christopher Ilitch generally trailing what it was a decade earlier. In a more constrained economic model, the franchise had a surprising renaissance in 2024, reaching the American League Division Series. 

In a statement, however, the Padres suggested the approaches of the two Seidlers would be very similar.

“Peter never viewed the Padres as ‘his’ team. Instead, he saw the team as an asset of the community of which he was a faithful steward,” the team said. “John shares Peter’s vision and will continue to strengthen and nurture this great franchise.”

The Padres, meanwhile, are among the teams making an active pitch to sign Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, who is set to join Major League Baseball after starring in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Due to his age, Sasaki would play at a bargain rate.