MLB owners approve Padres being controlled by John Seidler, late Peter Seidler’s brother

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MLB owners approve Padres being controlled by John Seidler, late Peter Seidler's brother

San Diego Padres chairman Peter Seidler died in 2023, His widow and brothers have been fighting for control of the team. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

The fight over control of the San Diego Padres appears to have been resolved, at least among Major League Baseball team owners.

MLB owners unanimously approved John Seidler to take over as the Padres’ control person on Thursday. The transfer of power will take place once Seidler is made the trustee of the late Peter Seidler’s trust, a process expected to take approximately 30 days to complete.

However, pending litigation could affect that process. Sheel Seidler, widow of Peter Seidler, filed a lawsuit against her late husband’s brothers for control of the Padres in January.

Citing “irreconcilable conflicts of interest” with Bob and Matt Seidler, the younger brothers of Peter and John, Sheel Seidler alleged that the brothers committed “breaches of fiduciary duty and fraud” as trustees of the Seidler Trust that controls the franchise. She also accused the brothers of pursuing efforts to sell and relocate the team, which Matt Seidler said was false in a statement to the Padres’ ownership partners and fans.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred also disputed the notions of a sale and/or relocation when speaking to reporters after the vote was announced at the MLB owners meetings.

“There has not been a single word or a whisper about relocation in the context of the San Diego Padres,” Manfred said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. “San Diego is a great market with a great facility. That’s just not a realistic concern.”

The ownership dispute became public as the Padres continued their offseason plans, which included pursuing Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki. The 23-year-old right-hander signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers approximately two weeks later.

Peter Seidler died in November 2023 after a months-long illness at the age of 63. He became the chairman and largest stakeholder in the Padres in 2020 after being part of the group that purchased the team in 2012.

The Padres announced in December that John would take over as the team’s control person, pending Major League Baseball approval, The Athletic reported.

In other news from the meetings, Manfred announced that MLB team owners appointed A’s owner John Fisher to their executive committee, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin. Fisher is a highly controversial figure among MLB fans for moving the A’s from Oakland to Sacramento, in anticipation of an eventual relocation to Las Vegas.

The executive committee oversees league business, such as the sale of a franchise, and economic issues including revenue sharing between clubs. Many might note that makes Fisher now having a role on the committee a curious development.



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