SAN DIEGO _ Speaking to a group of fans Monday at Petco Park, Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler shared his frustration over the season that ended a day earlier.
Fowler addressed his disappointment with Wil Myers' offense and Eric Hosmer's defense, said "heads will roll, beginning with mine" if the team does not begin to have success in 2020 and apologized profusely for an "embarrassing" 2019.
He did it while sitting on a stool facing those invited to the team's annual Social Summit, setting off a social media frenzy that characterized the owner as going scorched earth.
In a phone interview later, Fowler said, "I wasn't spitting fire. ... I don't run and hide from stuff. It was a terrible year. To be 45-45 and end up winning 25 games after that, God forbid."
Almost everything Fowler said was already known and/or assumed, and he had already shared several of his thoughts with players.
"There was nothing I said today I didn't say to the players after Andy (Green) was fired," Fowler said. "And I was far more direct then."
Still, it was somewhat extraordinary that the man responsible for the day-to-day running of the franchise and one of the team's three primary owners was so candid in a public setting.
"Why wouldn't I be candid? We sucked," Fowler said later via telephone. "... It was a cathartic process to just sit down and say it was the worst 2{ months of ownership for me. It was embarrassing for me. We sucked. There were some days, quite honestly, I didn't want to get out of bed."
While social media posts grouped Austin Hedges with Myers when quoting Fowler as saying he "lost patience," Fowler said he did not comment directly on Hedges.
"I made the comment some players seem to have the ability to look at things as almost a third party observing it," Fowler said. "That was as close to a reference of Hedges as I got."
As for Myers, it was no secret the Padres were going to continue to try to move the outfielder and would likely be willing to eat half of the $60 million he is owed over the next three seasons.
It also is not shocking that Fowler views next season as crucial to the process and suggested jobs will be in jeopardy if the team does not contend for the postseason. Green was fired Sept. 21. The team has identified 2020 and '21 as the opening of what it expects to be a championship window, and the extent of success in those seasons will be viewed as a measuring point in General Manager A.J. Preller's building process that began in 2016.
"I said if we don't win in 2020, heads will roll," Fowler repeated via phone. "Mine will be the first one."
Per social media posts and Fowler's recollection, he apologized several times to fans.
"We had expectations that were higher than that," he said later. "And we played .500 baseball up to the All-Star Game, and we played (.347) after that. We might have been the worst team in baseball after the break. I haven't checked. It's embarrassing."
It was third worst. Close enough to be candid.
