"Put Me In, Coach, I'm Ready to Play, Today..."

An Open Letter to Mr. John Moores, owner of the San Diego Padres:

Please, Mr. Moores, sign Trevor Hoffman. I’m begging you, don’t put us through this. I’m really sorry you and the missus are divorcing. It’s tough; I know, I’ve been there. And it’s usually toughest on the ones with the biggest stake and no voice. So while I’m sympathetic, please, stop making it our problem.

We survived previous fire sales, we made it through the Tom Werner ownership which brought us Roseanne Barr’s destruction of the National Anthem (and her dignity). We got past the departures of Tim Flannery, Dave Magadan, Merv Rettenmund, Bruce Bochy. We even came out okay after numerous nuisance lawsuits delayed Petco Park to the point where Tony Gwinn didn’t get to play there as a Padre. By the way, very nice of you to host his Aztec Invitational there before opening for the inaugural season. Very classy of you. Thanks.

Don’t make us wave good-bye to Trevor. I know there are lots of loud fans who think he’s washed up. But there are more and louder fans who disagree and want him here. The guy’s got intangible assets. I believe in business parlance that’s called “goodwill.” Trevor’s got goodwill oozing from every pore. If all that was market priced, even George Steinbrenner couldn’t afford him. Plus, the guy sets a new record every time he steps on the field. How can you let that go? How can you make us let that go?

So I hope you like those seats at Petco Park, because if you let Trevor Hoffman put on another team’s uniform, you’re going to be seeing a lot more (empty) seats.