Amid Dodgers uncertainty, Padres new owners

SAN DIEGO — José E. Feliciano, the new controlling proprietor of the San Diego Padres, lives in Los Angeles. You know, that place at the end of the Padres’ incessant “Beat L.A.” chants.

No worries, Padres followers. Feliciano is — make that was — a longtime New York Yankees fan.

“The good thing is,” he told me after an introductory news convention Monday, “rooting against the Dodgers comes naturally to me.”

It was only 18 months in the past that Padres followers questioned whether or not the great instances would possibly come to an end, with the widow of beloved proprietor Peter Seidler suing his brothers for control of the crew. For their half, the brothers said that they had “no plans to sell the Padres.”

That sounds a lot like what Dodgers president Stan Kasten said Friday, amid a federal investigation into alleged financial improprieties among insurance coverage firms managed by Dodgers proprietor Mark Walter.

“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said. “They’re not going to be sold.”

What is true today may not be true tomorrow. What is true today, as potential bidders for the Dodgers lurk and coalesce amid L.A.’s flip at uncertainty, is that the Padres have an energetic and effervescent couple as their new principal owners.

Feliciano, a founder of Clearlake Capital in Santa Monica, took the mound at Petco Park on Monday afternoon, understanding of a stretch and wanting toward an invisible runner at second base before delivering a pitch. In spring training, he said, he stepped into the batting cage to attempt to hit simulated pitches from Padres All-Star nearer Mason Miller.

His spouse Kwanza Jones, an artist and entrepreneur, led her husband into the news convention amid the sounds of a tune she co-wrote, she said, impressed in half by a catch made by Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

“My only musical talent is my name,” Feliciano said. “I humbly ask you to please add my middle initial so I never get confused with the singer.”

As the couple appears for a home in San Diego, Jones appealed to followers to share what they love about their neighborhoods. Later, the couple took selfies along the first-base line.

Their enthusiasm bubbled forth as the news convention proceeded, as their sense of whether or not the Padres would possibly finally win a World Series received more and more optimistic.

Feliciano, three minutes into the news convention: “We cannot promise we are going to win.”

Jones, two minutes later, riffing off her lyrics, her voice rising: “We gonna win! We gonna win! We gonna win — win it all!” And then a pause, to decrease her voice: “We hope it’s sooner rather than later.”

Feliciano, two minutes later: “We need to win a World Series. It’s that simple. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Jones, one minute later: “Multiples.”

Feliciano, one minute later: “The impossible becomes possible when somebody does it. So let’s do it.”

This isn’t Feliciano’s first foray into skilled sports activities. Clearlake Capital is almost all proprietor of Chelsea, the storied soccer membership.

“I’m missing the first game of the Premier League right now,” Feliciano said.

He said he couldn’t remark on reviews Walter is wanting to promote his stake in Chelsea. Two weeks in the past, Walter announced an settlement to promote controlling curiosity in the Lakers at a $12.5-billion valuation, the money from which may help repay loans under scrutiny. The Dodgers may command a comparable valuation, industry sources not approved to talk about the issue publicly told The Times, ought to Walter determine to promote.

As half of a search for money, Puck reported last week, Walter had talked with Charter Communications about whether or not the company would have an interest in paying a lump sum now to get out of its SportsInternet LA contract — a money-losing deal for Charter, but the first source of the Dodgers’ financial benefit over the other 29 groups in the major leagues.

The talks “went nowhere,” Puck reported. Kasten declined to deal with the matter, as did a Charter spokesman.

In 2011, with the Dodgers headed toward chapter, former proprietor Frank McCourt discovered what he believed can be his financial lifeline in a tv rights deal with Fox Sports.

In a withering letter to McCourt, then-commissioner Bud Selig rejected the deal, criticizing McCourt for proposing a financial construction that would have foreclosed the Dodgers from pursuing more profitable choices “because of your desperate need for immediate cash.”

That precedent may inform how Rob Manfred, the current commissioner, would consider any proposed restructuring of the Dodgers’ tv deal. Under the owners’ current collective bargaining proposal, to which Walter agreed, the Dodgers’ annual tv riches — more than $500 million per 12 months by the end of the deal in 2038 — can be absolutely contributed toward income sharing among all 30 groups.

I requested Feliciano whether or not the Dodgers’ uncertainty would possibly make this a significantly opportune time to buy the Padres.

“You’ve got to look at these things on a generational, multi-decade basis, honestly,” he told me. “It’s like trying to time a great investment in the market. You can’t.

“What I can tell you is that this is the good time — the best time — for us. I think it also coincides with Peter’s legacy: The team is in a great place, the city is in a great place.”

The Dodgers’ income benefit stays vital, not just because of their SportsInternet LA deal but because they fill the biggest stadium in the majors nearly every evening and make use of Shohei Ohtani.

In San Diego, however, where ticket gross sales signify the biggest source of crew income, the Padres promote more tickets than any major league crew in addition to the Dodgers. Petco Park already is a year-round live performance venue and event middle, and the Padres may rekindle plans to develop a large car parking zone close to the ballpark.

And, if owners emerge from collective bargaining with a wage cap or other restraint on the Dodgers’ spending, that can be a win for San Diego.

On the sphere, the Padres entered play Monday with 21 victories in their past 28 video games. The Padres acquired Robbie Ray and Casey Mize at the commerce deadline to bolster a patchwork rotation, and they retained Miller and Adrian Morejon reasonably than break up a mighty bullpen. Tatis leads the National League with 12 home runs since the All-Star break; outfielder Jackson Merrill has 11.

“As we have seen the last few weeks, we are very competitive. I feel we are one of those teams — us and the Phillies, probably — that nobody wants to play,” Feliciano said.

“We want to keep it that way.”

The Phillies entered play Monday on a nine-game successful streak, in place for one of the National League wild playing cards. The Padres also are in place for an NL wild card, protecting alive the likelihood that the Dodgers and Padres may meet in the NL Championship Series.

If that occurs, it gained’t matter how many video games the Dodgers completed forward of the Padres during the common season.

“We’d just need to win four,” Feliciano said.

Beat L.A., certainly.