Padres fire Josh Byrnes

[ThomasTomasz]

The new ownership group likes to think they are big spenders, but they haven't proved it. Byrnes should have had more time, and has a lot of plusses with some negatives, but he wasn't "their hire." How they expected to compete this year, which was being thrown around, was beyond me.

he San Diego Padres have decided to make a change toward the top of the organization, as executive vice president/general manager Josh Byrnes has been relieved of his duties, the club announced in a press release Sunday.

"This ownership group is committed to fielding a team that consistently competes for postseason play," Padres president and CEO Mike Dee said in a statement. "Thus far this season, the results on the field have been mixed at best and clearly have not lived up to expectations. After a lengthy evaluation of every facet of our baseball operations, we have decided to make this change today."

“The search for a new General Manager begins immediately,” Dee said. “We are looking for someone who can define, direct and lead this franchise's baseball philosophy for years to come."

Until the GM job is filled, senior vice president Omar Minaya and assistant GMs A.J. Hinch and Fred Uhlman Jr. are in charge.

Byrnes took over as GM of the Padres in October 2011 when then-GM Jed Hoyer left for the position of GM with the Cubs. Before that, Byrnes had beeen VP of baseball operations for the Padres for a year. He was previously the GM of the Diamondbacks, before being fired in 2010.

The Padres entered Sunday with a 32-43 record, 12.5 games out in the NL West. The Padres went exactly 76-86 in each of the previous two seasons.

Byrnes' two highest-profile moves during his tenure in San Diego were trades. He sent Anthony Rizzo to the Cubs in exchange for Andrew Cashner and also traded Mat Latos to the Reds for Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, Brad Boxberger and Edinson Volquez.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24594598/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes

 

[MVPete]

Team is absolutely fucking awful hitting, hard to watch. Like you said not sure how they weren't more realistic with their expectations. This franchise has always been pretty cheap and haven't really made any major moves since the ownership group changed.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Team is absolutely fucking awful hitting, hard to watch. Like you said not sure how they weren't more realistic with their expectations. This franchise has always been pretty cheap and haven't really made any major moves since the ownership group changed.

You could argue that he screwed up the money they spent on extensions and whiffing on Quentin and Johnson, but those were risks they had to make. Byrnes also came out well on some of the trades he's made, and I think has done the best with the resources he's had. Most of the moves they've made that are negative now, you couldn't argue with the logic at the time.

 

[Senser81]

I enjoy guys like Byrnes and Hoyer who have genius reputations yet consistently put out losing teams that struggle to hit .250. Reminds me of all the Hubie Brown guys in the NBA in the 1980s and 90s...none of them won anything and their teams had difficulty scoring 100 points in a game, yet they were always thought of as geniuses.