FanHouse Sandy Alderson

Thursday, a new era quietly, yet officially, began for the San Diego Padres franchise. Sandy Alderson officially stepped down from his post as Padres' CEO, and Jeff Moorad is now in charge of the day-to-day operations for the NL West squad. Moorad heads up a group who now owns 40 percent of the Padres, and his title is CEO and vice chairman of the board.

Despite the transition, Padres fans shouldn't be getting up their hopes for the short term. There are no plans to increase the payroll, and John Moores -- the one who wanted payroll trimmed in the first place -- is still in charge.

After an extensive search the Pac-10 has named WTA CEO Larry Scott its new commissioner. The 44-year-old Scott will take over on July 1 when current commissioner Tom Hansen steps down. He is credited with transforming the WTA thanks to an $88 million contract with Sony Ericsson and several lucrative television agreements. It doesn't hurt there's a Harvard degree to go along with his name and resume.

The Pac-10 arrived at Scott after it was revealed they were in pursuit of Sandy Alderson, current CEO of the San Diego Padres. This, after having been rebuffed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's Senior Vice President of basketball and business strategies.

San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson has emerged as a leading candidate for the vacating gig to be Pac-10 Commissioner, Sports Business Journal is reporting. Current commissioner Tom Hansen will retire in July.

The Pac-10's search has been surprisingly slow and filled with odd names of more-favored candidates passing on the opportunity like the NCAA's Greg Shaheen and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Like the recent election, there's a broad feeling that the Pac-10 needs an energizing "change" candidate. Is Alderson really that guy?

Isn't it laughable how everyone has an opinion now? For years, baseball people were hush about steroids, protecting their dirty little secret as if the masses were morons when, in fact, a lot of these men are the uneducated rockheads. One such creature is Ozzie Guillen, manager of Barack Obama's Chicago White Sox, who went mob boss on us in 2006 when pitcher Jason Grimsley served as a steroids informant in a federal investigation.

"Shoot the (bleep),'' said Guillen, who viewed Grimsley as a snitch. "The only thing I can say is that a former player should shut up and go. Shut up and move on. We don't need these guys. Baseball is better without him.''

The news yesterday that the San Diego Padres had withdrawn their offer to closer and all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman wasn't exactly a huge surprise.

With San Diego having what basically equates to a fire sale in hopes of cutting costs for next season, anybody who makes over $5 million a season should probably start packing their bags. Especially when you're a 41-year-old pitcher who's losing his effectiveness.

Still, Trevor wasn't very happy with the way the Padres handled the whole situation. When they offered Hoffman a one-year deal for only $4 million -- Trevor made $8 million in 2008 -- he basically knew then that it was the organization's way of saying it was time to move on, but that doesn't mean they had to toy with him.

Things just went from bad to worse for Milton Bradley and the Padres: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports is reporting that the knee injury suffered by the mercurial outfielder while arguing with umpire Mike Winters on Sunday resulted in a torn ACL. He will miss the rest of the season, as well as the playoffs assuming the Padres hold on.

The injury will require surgery, which means that he'll spend much of the winter rehabilitating. He'll be a free agent at the end of the season, and needless to say, visiting prospective employers wearing a knee brace and using crutches certainly won't do his bank account any favors.

Bradley remains adamant that Winters sparked the incident, and Padres CEO Sandy Alderson, a respected voice among baseball's front offices, is also convinced that Winters acted improper:

Alderson used to work in the commissioner's office, where one of his duties was overseeing umpires.

"We're not going to sit by and see an umpire bait a player," Alderson said. He added that if the commissioner's office concludes the situation was handled appropriately, "I'll be shocked."

True or not, it doesn't really matter for the Padres, who lost one of their hottest hitters right when they needed him most. Bradley is without a doubt responsible for his fate -- he could've let his coaches take up his battle for him -- but Winters isn't coming out of this incident completely clean, either.

Previously on FanHouse:
Coach: The Umpire Provoked Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley Does the Most Milton Bradley Thing of All-Time