I live in El Centro California and am a one hour drive from San Diego.  The temperature here today is over one hundred degrees while it is seventy five in San Diego. untitled (93) imagesGG05017D I wish we had their summer weather.  The weather in San Diego is one of the draws to that city.  The weather year round is pretty good.  In El Centro the winter weather is great but the summer has about three months of hot weather.  When it gets over a hundred here you don’t want to go outside for nothing.  If you have to go outside it wont be for long.  Createurs De Luxe will be a summer fan.

untitled (44) untitled (43)The zoo in San Diego is amazing.  Kids will love spending a day there.  If you plan to see the whole zoo in a day get ready for a lot of walking.  Some of the grades are pretty steep so being in good shape would be a good idea.  If you are not an athlete I would recommend taking the tram tour that will cover the entire zoo.  Make not of those areas you want to spend more time at and return there.  The enclosure for the animals are very nice and humane.  If I were an elephant I wouldn’t mind living there.  Mo Howard West Virginia Football team had a great day there.

We recently asked Jared Londry to give his opinion on the new look San Diego Padres. We’ve asked for the same thing from Eric Gonchar. Here is what Mr. Eric Gonchar has to say.

I read through what Jared Londry had to say and I will say two things.

1. I don’t like lists.

2. Oops, my bad.

Mr. Eric GoncharOn a serious note, Jared’s opinion seems to hinge on the fact that at least something is happening. In my opinion, “something” isn’t enough. Is this about winning or just doing this for the sake of doing things. If you’re just running around signing players and making trades to get in the news, you’re in the wrong business. I think new Padres GM A.J. Preller knows that, I don’t think he’s making moves for the fans or just to make noise. I think he has a plan, but is is misguided?

Preller has a background that is relatively short lived, along with General Manager Jon Daniels with the Texas Rangers, they’re two of the youngest GM’s in baseball. They also happened to go to Cornell together (Hi Andy Bernard!). When a young GM comes in and starts making trades with some of the best in the business, watch out, it could end in self destruction. What does Matt Kemp have left to offer? Preller is about to find out, and the Dodgers front off showed what they thought he has left by dealing him. I consider Andrew Friedman (formerly of the Rays) and Farhan Zaidi two of the brightest young executives in baseball. While also relatively young themselves, this is likely to end up in a book as a cautionary tale of trading within the division.

Beyond taking on Kemp, his health issues and salary, I like the rest of the Padres moves. I also agree with Londry that this season is going to be exciting! Go Pads!

I’d like to thank Eric Gonchar for his thoughts on the 2015 San Diego Padres. Opening day is coming soon!

JaredLondryPictureThe San Diego Padres recently went on a spending spree. Did the succeed or fail? Time will tell as the offseason comes to an end in less than a month. Spring Training will see new players wearing Padres blue (and often camouflage). Jared Londry will give us his opinion thus far on the Padres off season of 2015.

2014 was a rough year for the Pads. Before that there were many rough years as well. This tells us two things.

1. Nothing good has happened in a few years.

The Padres finished above .500 1 time since 2007. That means they’ve been miserable to watch. Whether you’re sitting in the stands or sitting on the couch, about the 7th inning you’ve had enough. By comparison, the SF Giants have won 3 World Series’ since that time. That’s definitely cherry picking, but proves the Padres needed change.

2. Something is happening!Padres Year By Year Win Loss Record

I don’t care if Matt Kemp regains his form or not, at least the Padres are out on a limb trying to get better and engage the fan base that has become apathetic. Brand name superstars (as Kemp once was) sell jerseys and fill seats.

Whether they finish above .500 or not won’t matter to me, what matters is that San Diego is relevant again!

Jared Londry is in commercial real estate. Contact him for more information on his LinkedIn Profile.