TORONTO _ A Padres owner says the club is cooperating with a Justice Department investigation of Major League Baseball's role in the acquisition of players from Latin America and Cuba.
"There were no specific targets among our baseball operations people," General Partner Peter Seidler said Friday. "Of course, we will respond fully to the inquiry."
A Washington Post report Thursday said the Justice Department had issued subpoenas to the Padres, Dodgers and Braves seeking records regarding their scouting and signing of players from Latin America.
The report said it was unclear why the Padres are a part of the investigation.
The story did mention general manager A.J. Preller and detail his past sanctions by MLB. Preller was privately suspended for violating international signing rules while an assistant GM with the Rangers and in 2016 was suspended for a month when it was determined the Padres provided incomplete medical records to the Red Sox in the trade that sent Drew Pomeranz to Boston in exchange for Anderson Espinoza.
The government is reportedly looking into how much MLB and its teams knew about the sometimes-corrupt circumstances surrounding the signing of players from Cuba and Latin America.
Seidler said he and Executive Chairman Ron Fowler agreed on the team's limited public comments about the inquiry and are united in their support of their baseball operations department.
"We believe in them," Seidler said. "We're proud of the work that they do. We believe they're solid across the board. That's all throughout organization _ baseball operations, international scouting, player development. We believe the best-in-class commitment is why we are positioned to be on the upswing and why we're positioned for a lot of years of winning baseball. A big part of that positioning is that we believe in doing things the right way."
The Padres signed six Cuban players between July 2016 and May 2017. Two, pitchers Michel Baez and Adrian Morejon, are ranked among the team's top 10 prospects by MLB.com.
