Earlier this month Sheel Seidler, widow of former San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, filed a lawsuit alleging his brothers, Matthew and Robert Seidler, breached their fiduciary duties as trustees of the Seidler Trust, which has controlled the club since Peter’s death in November 2023. Furthermore, she claimed that Peter intended for her to take over as the team’s control person.
According to The Athletic, Matthew Seidler has filed a response to the lawsuit, in which he claims Sheel Seidler demanded millions in payments. The lawsuit alleges she is “disappointed that Peter did not leave her a trust that generates significant net income for her, and that he elected to protect the trust’s remainder beneficiaries (their children) by limiting distributions of trust principal to Sheel.”
Matthew Seidler’s lawsuit also seems to suggest Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit cost the Padres a chance at star Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, who instead signed with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. From The Athletic:
“During a crucial time when Padres management was in late negotiation stages with a star pitcher, Sheel’s lawsuit recklessly suggested that Matt and his brothers were plotting to relocate the Padres elsewhere,” the filing read.
“We knew it was an issue,” Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said Tuesday when presented with the wording of Matt Seidler’s answer. “The timing of it appeared oddly strategic, and I wanted to allow the Padres to deal with it first on their own terms rather than try to figure it out on our own, which they did.”
At his introductory press conference, Sasaki said the Dodgers’ front office stability contributed to his decision. The kind of stability not present with the Padres. GM A.J. Preller is ostensibly feeling some heat because Peter Seidler’s investment in the roster has yet to yield a pennant, and the ownership situation is obviously dysfunctional. Family members are suing each other.
Sasaki’s free agency was unique. Because he is only 23, he was subject to MLB’s international bonus pools, which limited him to a minor-league contract and capped his signing bonus at $10 million or so. He ultimately signed with Los Angeles for $6.5 million. This was not a situation where the Padres or any other team could keep adding dollars to their offer until Sasaki said yes.
Also, the timing of Sasaki’s posting meant he had to sign between Jan. 15 (the open of the 2025 international signing period) and Jan. 23 (the close of his 45-day negotiating window). Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit was filed and became public on Jan. 6, not long before Sasaki had to make his decision. Wolfe even acknowledged the timing “appeared oddly strategic.”
Ultimately, only Sasaki knows how much the infighting among the Seidlers contributed to his decision to sign with the Dodgers rather than the Padres, if it contributed at all. The larger issue is that San Diego’s ownership situation is turbulent, and that’s putting it gently. Fixing a bad roster or a bad coaching staff or a bad front office is easy. Bad ownership? Not so much.
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