S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. California legislators are taking action to rename Cesar Chavez Day in the wake of recent revelations of sexual abuse by the civil rights icon. We hear how communities are processing the disturbing allegations and reevaluating his legacy as a result. Then what a marine investigation found caused an artillery malfunction last fall. Plus , ready or not , opening days. Almost. Here. We look into what baseball fans can expect from the Padres this season. That's all ahead on KPBS roundtable. Many of us are still trying to wrap our heads around the story of the week. The New York Times published an investigation revealing horrific allegations about Cesar Chavez , American labor leader and civil rights activist. Two women came forward with their stories of sexual abuse by Chavez that took place when they were children and Chavez co-organizer civil rights icon Dolores Huerta , also revealed she , too , was assaulted by him. And we're seeing reactions from California lawmakers. They're intending to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day , which is just weeks away. Changing it to Farm Workers Day here in San Diego , leaders are also looking to take action. City Council member Vivian Moreno has called for the city to remove his name from all city properties and holidays. And as the gravity of the allegations settles in , many are asking what's next ? I'm joined now by Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano. Gustavo , welcome to the show.
S2: Gracias for having me.
S1: Thank you very much for being here. These revelations about Chavez came out just a few days ago , put into perspective for us the significance of this moment and what you think it means.
S2: Chavez is a civil rights icon , especially for Latinos. A labor rights icon , a California icon. Uh , there's a there was at least a holiday marking his birthday on March 31st. So to have these revelations come out , it is absolutely like Titanic , especially involving the fact of , you know , sexual abuse , assault allegations and especially involving someone who was his number two. I have been trying to figure out in the annals of American history if there's been something like this of like just everything together. And I just cannot I cannot comprehend it. No one can comprehend it right now.
S1: Well , an uncomprehending it I mean , there's just so much to process here , I imagine. Earlier this week , you wrote about this eerie silence recently that you'd been hearing about this and a discomfort similar to waiting for a tsunami.
S2: A couple like maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago , I started getting invitations to speak at banquets versus a Chavez day , which I never do because usually the United Farm Workers or César Chavez Foundation or someone associated to Chavez , whether by birth or by , you know , by family or whatever , get those invites. And so I asked these orgs , I couldn't do it just because , um , of of scheduling constraints or , you know , things. And so then I asked , like , like , why was I getting the invite in the first place ? And they're like , oh , we can't get anyone from the farm workers. I'm like , oh , that's weird. Then about a week and a half ago , maybe two weeks , the San Antonio Express-News comes out with the story saying that they were the city was going to cancel its Chavez Day celebration. On advice from the United Farm Workers that started sending tongues , tongues wagging. And then , of course , on Monday , both the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the United Farm Workers , the two organizations who have made it their life's work to carry the legacy of Cesar Chavez forward. They came out with a statement saying , there's going to be disturbing allegations coming out involving sexual abuse of women and minors. And then , of course , you have The New York Times story. And like it was even worse than anyone could have possibly imagined. But so it goes from confusion to anger , to discuss to disappointment , to now what's next.
S1: And in a column earlier this week , I mean , you wrote about your own admiration for Chavez growing up , even after you learned , you know , about some of his faults around his leadership that maybe have heard about , and , you know , past years. But this concept of building up our heroes in our minds. How are you thinking about how we treat our heroes differently now than you did before ? Hearing about these allegations.
S2: As a journalist , we're taught to not have any heroes. If you are going to have heroes , don't meet your heroes and definitely don't worship your heroes. They will always disappoint you. They are flesh and blood. They are humans. Humans have faults. Some in this case , you know , sometimes. And then sometimes our heroes can turn out to be monsters. And by agitating our just having heroes in the first place , we're setting ourselves up for disappointment. And that leads us to cynicism. That leads us to put all of our our attention and passion into a few people , as opposed to all these other people who are doing that work , but are doing it far more quietly or without not as much notoriety. It's important. It's so I , I don't know , I mean , and that's the thing that we humans have , especially Americans. We have a tendency to lionize , to look for people , to lionize. I don't know if we'll ever learn that lesson , to not have those heroes , but I think at the very least , it's important to understand that great people can do horrible things , and sometimes bad people can also do good things. But both of those things are absolutely true. And we should not live in a puritanical society where we just want to erase. We want to erase people who have done good stuff and and at the same time , we want to make apologies , be apologies for bad people.
S1: I mean , with that , you know , Cesar Chavez is so enmeshed across California , across cities like San Diego , like Los Angeles , right ? His name adorns schools , parks , streets. I mean , what do you make of these efforts ? Because it does seem like things are in motion quite quickly to remove his name from from many of these spaces.
S2: That's what I find quite remarkable. I thought this was going to be a more drawn out conversation , but nope. It seems a consensus is just get rid of Chavez's name from the public sphere. Every community has that right to do so. I am not going to judge or you know , I can't judge other communities. I can say that I you know , I wish that other communities would take as much responsibility for their flawed former heroes as the Latino community seems to do. We've obviously had these discussions now ever since the Black Lives. You know , since the 2020 supposed racial reckoning over the murder of George Floyd , where communities wanted the statues of people like Thomas Jefferson and Robert E Lee and other problematic people from America's past taken down. And yet other people are saying like , no , like we we need to defend them. Or , you know , it's just a liberal conspiracy. So it's really interesting to see how the next weeks and months and really years are going to play out of this. But I cannot overemphasize how monumental a moment we are living through right now when it comes to history , when it comes to memory , and when it comes again to idolizing people.
S1: And back to the heroes. Right ? And I mean , another aspect of the story that makes it even more complicated is that it involves a second hero as well. And Dolores Huerta and her place to this. Your latest column reflects on all these images you've been seeing in your social media stream of , you know , people , you know , friends , you know , with Dolores Huerta. And you write , there's like a grief to these photos. Tell me about that.
S2: Brands and strangers just posting , posting photos of Dolores through her life. Look , she's lived in the public sphere for 60 some years. We've seen her transformed from a woman in her early 30s to now a matriarch about to turn 96 next month. We've seen her as a mother , as a sister , as an as a a all all of those different parts of a woman's life. And so what I saw is just people posting photos because she is omnipresent. She's everywhere. She's going to art galleries , she's going to rallies , she's going to talk to students , all of that stuff. And the way I saw it is like people are saying , like , I stand with the Lotus , we've been here. She is our she is , she is every woman that has suffered these just abuse physical , mental , historical , sexual abuse. She stands for all of that. And I was comforted. I think people are comforting themselves in this moment. There is a grief , but when we're grieving , we look for comfort. And by posting these photos , one way or another , you are it. I called it a communal family album where we could all gather together and , you know , and just commiserate about what has just happened , what the Lord has had to hold on to silently for so many decades , and what's to come.
S1: I mean , as you've talked about , there's a lot more to the story. Things are moving rapidly , but also just people are still processing their reactions to it. So , you know , I'll kind of pose the question that you posed in a recent column.
S2: At the very least , we're going to see municipalities take down their murals , take down their name. Things named after Cesar Chavez. Uh , sadly , I , I covered the Catholic. I still covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. But excuse me , been doing it for decades. And one of the things is there's never just one victim. There's never just one survivor of a predator. And I , you know , I know that people throw around the word alleged a lot. But again , when you have the two organizations whose mission has been to carry the legacy of Cesar Chavez saying , we find these allegations to be so credible that we're going to open up resources for any survivors of our patriarch.
S1: Gustavo , gracias. Thanks so much for joining us today. Gracias.
S2: Gracias.
S1: The allegations against Cesar Chavez have sent shockwaves throughout California's farm working communities. The person they revered as a hero was not who they thought he was. My next guest has spent the week gathering their stories. Her name is Farida Javier Romero. She's labor correspondent with KQED in San Francisco. And , Farida , welcome to roundtable.
S3: And thank you so much , Andrew. Happy to be here.
S1: Well , thank you for joining us today. I mean , to start , tell us why you wanted to focus your reporting on the feelings of California's farm workers.
S3: Well , you know , I feel like those are the folks who are closest to the gains that the farmworker movement made in the 60s , 70s , 80s and beyond. And , you know , many of those people also , their kids became advocates for farm workers as well. And I feel like , you know , it's really important to , you know , a lot of reporters , you know , since these allegations came out , have been talking to other folks in California , you know , politicians and , um , historians to try to understand , you know , wrap our brains around these really shocking and jaw dropping accusations against Chavez. But I felt like it was really important for us to also hear from the farmworkers themselves. And I think they had a lot to say. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And one of them , you spoke with Maria Garcia Hernandez. She's a 52 year old farm worker in Tulare County. What did she share with you ? Yeah.
S3: So Maria is a longtime farm worker. She's been working in fields and , you know , different types of agricultural operations for more than 30 years. And she's a member of the United Farm Workers. So , you know , for her , the feelings were so conflicted because , you know , on the one hand , just total shock. You know , like so many people across California to try to , you know , reconcile this image that she had of Chavez as a champion for farm workers , as a champion for Latinos who , uh , you know , advanced civil rights for Latinos in this country , and then for farmworkers who fought for basic things like shade and water on the job wages , you know , basic protections with the new information that we have now that he abused underage girls and even his longtime collaborator Dolores Huerta , who's a labor icon on her own , so respected. And that just left Maria Garcia and so many people with so many unanswered questions going anywhere from , you know , how many people knew ? How could this happen ? How could we only find out now ? You know , 30 years after Cesar Chavez is , um , has has died. To broader questions like , how is this going to impact the farmworker labor movement now ? Um , and , you know , just broader efforts to try to , um , advance the rights of people in this country. And , of course , this comes at a time when the Trump administration , you know , has taken not only a very aggressive stance on immigration enforcement , as we know , but has also taken steps to roll back worker protections. And also at a time when , you know , we're learning about the Epstein files and so many , you know , men in power , uh , related to that , uh , our , our president , um , has been found legally liable for sexual abuse as well , but he continues to be president. And yet in California , we see this very swift , almost immediate reaction. You know , where people are considering , uh , changing the names of schools , uh , uh , streets. Uh , lawmakers. We here in Sacramento are moving to , uh , change , you know , the state holiday name in the honor of Cesar Chavez. So I think there's just a lot of soul searching happening now everywhere in the state.
S1: And another person you spoke with was Luis Gallegos , who grew up attending United Farm Worker pickets and marches.
S3: You know , like people who were inspired by this man and the movement he co-led with Dolores Huerta to , um , you know , find out that there was , I mean , according to these allegations , just horrific abuse happening within this movement that seeking justice , you know , and that tells farm workers and others that it's really important for them to not stay silent about abuse because , you know , that's the way you can confront it , bring it to light and to hear this now , I think lose was really shattered personally , just emotionally. It was a huge punch , you know , and I think she's also trying to , um , figure out how organizations like hers because she leads , uh , because of those childhood experiences that inspired her to become a farm worker advocate. She leads an organization in the in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley that , you know , tries to improve conditions for , for immigrants and farm workers. And so she , you know , talked about the need for people to recommit to the values of justice so that the movement doesn't end , because there's a lot of concern. I would say that this could negatively impact. It could hurt , um , you know , efforts , uh , in this , in this space.
S1: And let's hear a little bit of what Lewis had to say.
S4: Uh , what has been revealed is very painful and deeply disturbing. And , uh , silence has never protected our farmworker communities. And we know that no movement for justice can ask people to stay silent about abuse. Not then and not now.
S1: So really touching on those feelings of pain that that you alluded to , I mean , what were some other through lines that you picked up on from speaking with people this week ? Yeah.
S3: I mean , like like we're all I think , you know , as Californians , I mean , here in the Bay area , so many things are named after Cesar Chavez , right ? Like , I have kids , there's kids books about him. There's parades , there's celebrations , there's libraries named after him and our university , so many buildings. And so I think a lot of people are wrestling with questions about what do we make of this ? How do we what do we do ? And of course , there's big questions on how does the United Farm Workers itself , the union that Dolores Huerta co-founded. How are they gonna , you know , how are they going to deal with this ? And on the bigger picture , how is this going to impact the the labor , the labor movement , not just in California but in other states ? I've spoken with people who are former organizers at the UFW in California in the 1990s , and they're elsewhere in the country and Washington state , for example. And they're also wondering how this is going to play out for them and whether this is going to be used to delegitimize or if it's going to take credibility , you know , from those from those efforts to improve farm workers lives. So I think they're just hoping that that it doesn't that it brings about some change , increase consciousness to prevent this kind of abuses. Um , and then on the bigger picture , just as a woman in California , you wonder about the extent of this abuse then , and what we're seeing now in our society and hoping that this , you know , helps us deal with it.
S1: I mean , this story really touches on so many different issues , right ? And I imagine you're just kind of scratching the surface this week , but we really appreciate you sharing some of your reporting , some of your thoughts with us today. I've been speaking with for Rita Zavala Romero. She's labor correspondent for KQED in San Francisco. Frida , thanks again for sharing more about your reporting with us today.
S3: You're welcome.
S1: Up next , how a 1 in 1,000,000 anomaly led to an artillery explosion over the I-5 last fall. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. A new Marine Corps report found that a rare fuse malfunction likely caused an artillery shell to explode near Interstate five. That mishap took place last fall during celebrations to honor the 205th year anniversary of the Marine Corps. Here with more is Andrew Dyer. He covers the military and Veterans Affairs for KPBS. Andrew , welcome back to roundtable.
S5: Hey , thanks for having me.
S1: Thanks for making time for us. Okay , so just before , like , diving into this report , take us back to last October when this , you know , these drills were taking place. Remind us what happened.
S5: Well , there was a big Marine Corps birthday celebration going on. They were going to have the vice president , JD Vance , here. Pete Hegseth was here , a bunch of other , uh , folks from that world , um , to talk to the Marines. And , yeah , they're going to have a big demonstration of , like , an amphibious landing. And , um , you know , that that week ahead of the event , there was some rumors online that they were going to shoot a missile from a ship over the freeway. And that wasn't true , but it turned out that they were planning to shoot howitzer artillery from the beach over the five into the firing range , which , um , you know , and the feds and the Marines said. You know , there's no reason to close the freeway. And then , of course , that morning. Gavin Newsom elected to close the.
S1: Freeway , right ? Yes.
S5: And , um , during the volley of artillery fire , one of the shells exploded. Over the freeway. And shrapnel kind of rained down and hit a CHP vehicle that was part of JD Vance motorcade. So , um , it kind of blew up in a little bit. I mean , literally in their in their faces. And , um , you know , it was just one of those events that it was extremely disruptive if you were traveling that day. Yeah. But , um , you know , they opened the freeway and then , you know , life went on.
S1: And then so now the Marine Corps went back. They kind of did a report. They investigated this. Tell us what it found. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So , you know , these these howitzer shells that they shot were high explosive shells. Um , they operate with a fuse. You know , like you're familiar with a fuse. But , um , they really could not figure out what caused the fuse to malfunction. And the investigator found that there is no , like , record of this type of , uh , malfunction happening before. A few years ago , one of these shells hit a bird in midair , and that caused it to explode prematurely. But this is like an extremely rare malfunction in with this particular weapon. And they really couldn't say what caused the food. They looked at everything. They , you know , they looked at the chain of custody of the munitions from taking it from the storeroom to the beach. The Marines that were , you know , operating the guns. Um , there was a few things that they found that the guns were , you know , placed pretty close together , which is unusual. So the hypothesis was kind of that maybe because they fired at the same time. The the the shells projectiles as they're in the air created some kind of electrostatic , electromagnetic , something or other that made the fuse malfunction. But , you know , they don't have the equipment or expertise to test that particular possibility. But that's the kind of the best guess of why it malfunctioned. But yeah , they called it a one in , 1 in 1,000,000 , um , uh , malfunction. And it just so happened to be , uh , there's all these other external factors that made it much kind of , I guess , from the outside , worse than it really , really was. Right.
S1: Right. I want to talk more about that. But , I mean , I think living in San Diego , we do get reminders of the military's presence here. Maybe you'll see , I don't know , soldiers training in the streets. We hear jets taking off frequently.
S5: You know , they have to train these artillery , you know , battalions , you know , they have to remain proficient with these weapons , but they don't shoot from Red beach. They don't shoot from west of Interstate five. Um , now , the report does go into this , and they they found that , you know , this beach location was an authorized place to to fire these howitzers. Um , the arrangement , even though they were very close together , was not outside of regulations. And , um , but what they also found that the Marines haven't shot artillery from the that beach , uh , since 1956 or 1957 , which predates Interstate five and that they've never shot artillery over Interstate five , um , with traffic until the Friday before the event , when they did some rehearsals and they , they shot them over the interstate on that Friday. But , um.
S1: It's pretty unprecedented as far as.
S5: Yes , highly unusual. This was all because , you know , this event was directed from the white House. The white House House comms team was kind of the ones running the show. The Marines , you know , they do what their commander in chief says. So you know , the commander in chief and the white House , they want to they want to show they give them a show. They want howitzers shooting from the beach because it makes a good photo op. Then they're going to give them what they what they're what they're told. That's what Marines do. They do. They follow orders.
S1: So , you know , this took place during these public events that you've been talking about. Um , you know , it was honoring the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps. You've talked a little bit about those events , but I'm just put it in perspective.
S5: We're a powerful nation. And he sees that as being demonstrated by , you know , our military prowess. I mean , we can see it in Iran right now. So , um , it just it kind of feeds into that and the just , you know , kind of taking this risk , even though it's a 1 in 1,000,000 risk , you're willing to take that risk and say , hey , we don't need to close the freeway. Um , it's extremely just ironic that this 1 in 1,000,000 malfunction happened to happen when they did this right over that freeway , when a political rival , Gavin Newsom , had made a bunch of hay about closing the freeway. And then it turned out to be a pretty good idea , given the the fact that that shrapnel could have , you know , Injured a person had had another 1 in 1,000,000. Thing happened at the on the ground. At that moment.
S1: We have less than a minute left. But you know , before we let you go , the last time we had gone was to kind of talk about what's been happening with the military strikes in Iran. And I'm just wondering , you know , since that time , what are you noticing about that conflict in Iran and the impact it's having on San Diego's military ? And we have about 30s.
S5: Well , the the 11th MEU deployed out of San Diego this week on the USS boxer.
S1: Um , that's a marine.
S5: Marine expeditionary unit. It's about 2000 , 2200 Marines. Um , they're reportedly heading over to the Middle East. And Navy hasn't confirmed this , but lots of places are reporting that. Citing unnamed sources , The New York Times says they're actually going to replace another MEU that is currently over there , the 31st , which is supposed to rotate back to Japan. Um , that's being reported elsewhere. We haven't confirmed it , but , um , these new deployments are not uncommon out of San Diego. This is what Marines do. But the context of the Iran conflict. Of course , paints it a little differently. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. No , I appreciate that update. I've been speaking with KPBS military and Veterans Affairs reporter Andrew Dyer. Andrew , thanks so much , as always.
S5: Thank you.
S1: Coming up , believe it or not , Padres Opening Day is less than a week away. We get a season preview from Padres radio voice Jesse Adler. This is KPBS roundtable. Stay tuned. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Though it may feel more like summer outside , it's actually the first day of spring. And for baseball fans , that means one thing The season is nearly here. The San Diego Padres returned to Petco Park Thursday for an earlier than usual Opening day , when they'll take on the Detroit Tigers. We wanted to give Padre fans a little season preview here , and who better to do that than the radio voice of the San Diego Padres , Jesse Hagler ? You can hear him on 97.3 The Fan. Jesse , welcome to the show.
S6: Andrew , thanks for having me.
S1: Oh , thanks for taking the time. When I think about opening day , I just picture that , you know , first game day program , opening it up to learn more about the team.
S6: It's opening day. Everything is possible. And that's true for every team. Even if you know you're the Rockies and you lost 119 games last year , or you're the Padres and you won 90 games last year and you went to the playoffs , you know , all things do feel possible on Opening Day. And I think that's what makes it feel like such a special day. No matter how good or bad your team was last year. No matter how good or bad you think your team is going to be this year. All things feel possible on opening Day , and that's what makes it kind of feel like a holiday. You suspend reality for that one day. Nothing else matter. The expectations don't matter. The prognostications don't matter. You just go. You enjoy it. It's. It's usually sold out no matter where you are. And it just really does feel like something more than just one of the 162 regular season games the team is going to play.
S1: So before next week's excitement of Opening Day , right now you're speaking to us from Padres spring training in Arizona , and I'm wondering what spring training is like for you as a broadcaster.
S6: But the dirty little secret is broadcasting these spring training games is very different than broadcasting a regular season game. You know , the starting players only usually take a couple three at bats for most of the spring , and then generally it's a bunch of minor leaguers coming in. And , you know , if they're the Padres minor leaguers , I certainly know something about them. So that's not a big deal. But if we're playing the Royals or the White Sox or the Rockies , I might not know much about those guys. So it turns into an exercise in googling them as quickly as possible and trying to figure out some bit of information to to give the listeners about them. So it's kind of a different beast altogether. And then you add in the fact that the stakes are so low in these games from a results standpoint. So what happens in terms of like the end of the afternoon and whether the Padres win or lost doesn't really matter what. Of course , in the regular season it matters very much. So , you know , doing these games is very , very different than doing a regular season game. So it's not quite getting ready for the regular season because the way my broadcast partner Tony Gwynn Jr and I will handle these broadcasts is actually very different than the way we'll handle it next week against the Tigers on opening day.
S1: Got it. Yeah I can see that. I mean , last season ended with the Padres losing in the wild card round to the Chicago Cubs.
S6: They won 90 games for the second consecutive year. That had never happened before in Padre history. You know , this team is now a team that feels like a regular playoff caliber team. And I think if you're a fan , that's kind of what you want out of the organization that you cheer for. Certainly those expectations exist again here in 2026. It was a bitter end to the season. Make no mistake , the expectations last year were to go beyond the wild card. Had to go on the road for that series to Chicago , as you mentioned , fell in the third and decisive game at Wrigley Field. All three games were tight. All three games were low scoring all three games. It kind of felt like it could have gone the other way. The Cubs in that final game made a series of tremendous defensive plays that sort of felt like the difference in the game , and therefore the difference in the series. It was great baseball , really , at the end of the day , and you hate to say that when you lose , but sometimes it goes that way , and not a fun way to end the season , certainly. But I tell you what , I think for me , and probably for the players who were a part of that , it already feels like ancient history by the time you get to this point in spring training. You know , as they like to say , the windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror for a reason. Everybody's looking forward , not backward.
S1: Looking ahead to this season , then. You know , a lot of familiar faces returning to the team Fernando Tatis Jr. Of course Manny Machado , many others.
S6: You know , I think the bench is probably going to be the strongest that we've seen at any point in the last couple of years. And of course I say bench now , but these are guys that could , over the course of the season , end up playing critical roles. And let's not forget about guys , you know , that were maybe added midway last year or later in the season last year that are now going to be in it for the long haul. Think about Freddy for mean. Behind the dish is the catcher Ramon Laureano , in left field. Nick Castellanos is a newcomer that could play a big role , and then Michael King is back on a new contract. He was potentially leaving. Joe Musgrove at some point is going to return from his Tommy John surgery. Joe hasn't pitched since the playoffs against the Braves back in 2024. So while those guys aren't new in the strictest definition of that word , you know they really weren't a part of it in a huge way last year. Slash , you weren't necessarily sure that King was going to be back this year. So in a way those guys feel like additions. So look , the roster is always kind of changing year to year , sometimes week to week or even day to day. But it's a very , very strong core with those big name guys you mentioned at the beginning and kind of filling in the gaps around it. But look , the reality is right now with that core group of guys they have and let's call it Machado , Tatis and Merrill on the position player side , you're always going to be sort of working around the edges of that core , at least for the next couple of years , to try and build a roster that can compete for a World Series title.
S1: You mentioned starting pitcher Joe Musgrove. Yeah , there is news that he will be starting the season on the injured list.
S6: I don't know that we get any more news about that in the next couple of days. We certainly might. I don't want to close the door on any new information. We haven't had the chance to talk to him in the last couple of days , but , you know , he got to pitch in one exhibition game out here in Arizona. He hasn't thrown since. The reality is , when you're coming back from the Tommy John surgery , you know it's not a straight line return for most guys. There are going to be ups and downs. One of the cliche things I like to throw out there on the broadcasts is , you know , there's a reason you play Chutes and Ladders as a kid. It kind of teaches you that things don't always go in a straight line. You're not just walking upstairs on the path to success , you're going to fall down sometimes. And that's certainly true when you're coming back from a very serious medical procedure like a ligament replacement , which is what Joe is dealing with. So we'll kind of wait and see what it looks like. As you said , it looks like he'll begin the year on the injured list. Whether that means he's able to come back early in the season , or maybe after a couple of months. That's still unclear to me right now. But I think as of right now , the expectation is certainly Joe Musgrove will contribute to the Padres at some point in 2026.
S1: Well , I'm sure Padre fans hope sooner rather than later for that one. The Padres have a new manager this year. That's Craig Stanton , and though he is a first time manager , he's not exactly new to the team. You've covered him when he pitched for the team just a few years ago.
S6: That's that's such a perfect question. And the answer is he's not. I mean , it's incredible. Obviously he's got different responsibilities. And so he goes about his day differently. But in terms of talking to Craig Stanton , in terms of watching Craig Stanton interact with people , he's exactly the same guy. And that's not surprising at all. Craig Stanton and this is going to sound cliche , I imagine is just the most stand up human being you'll ever find in the game of baseball. He's a consistent person. He sort of is who he is. You know , there's no two face about him. There's no pretending to be something. He's very , very comfortable in his own skin. And the guy that Craig Salmon was in the clubhouse as a pitcher is exactly who the guy , Craig Salmon , is in the manager's office now for the Padres. And I think that's something that's going to serve him exceptionally well. As I like to remind people , we call them managers in baseball , not coaches , and there's a lot of reasons for that. But maybe the biggest reason is they're not out there to just coach the team. They're out there to manage the personalities , to manage the clubhouse , to sort of massage everybody through that long grind of 162 games in about 185 days over what can be a very long , hot , arduous summer in which things can sometimes go awry. You're playing a lot of games in a lot of days. It can be very tough on personalities and everything like that , and the manager's job is to try and steer that ship and keep everybody kind of as sane as possible , as difficult as that might be. And I think he's got the exact right personality , the exact right leadership skills to be able to do that. We saw that when he was a member of the roster , and now I think we're going to see that with him as a manager.
S1: Another major storyline around the Padres to start the season is just , you know , the fact that the team is for sale.
S6: And I guess it's the multi-billion dollar question , right ? And I mean , from everything we understand , that process is very much ongoing. And it certainly sounds like it's something that can or might even will happen during the season this year. Look , the Padres have said it's business as usual , and it certainly has felt that way. I mean , being out here in spring training , it is very , very easy to forget that that process is ongoing. It doesn't feel any different this year than it did last year or the year before , which is , of course , a huge positive. I think the hope would be right that if the ownership transition does take place at some point during the season , that there could be an opportunity for A.J. Preller to go out there and maybe acquire some players who perhaps from a financial standpoint would not have been acquire a bull maybe previously. You know , that's sort of your best case scenario from a baseball standpoint , is that the Padres would be able to take on some money with the new ownership that they're not in a position to do right now as they're going through that sale process. But obviously , we kind of wait and see how everything comes. Um , you know , certainly you read what you read about the reports of who's involved. These are all people who seem very , very interested in not only spending the money to acquire the team , but then spending the money to keep the Padres as competitive as they are. The great thing about this organization right now is that they've sort of become the center of the culture in San Diego in so many ways , and the big part of the reason for that is that they have spent money on the roster to make themselves competitive , to make themselves a perennial playoff contender. And the fans obviously have responded to that by filling the ballpark each and every night. That is what has made this team so enticing for these people to come in and be interested in purchasing the team. You know , this isn't something of 10 or 15 years ago , when maybe there'd be 26 , 28,000 people in the building. It's packed every night because the fans have responded to the way the Padres have done business. That's what makes them so appealing. That's what makes them so valuable. And it really is a very exciting time to be a Padre fan.
S1:
S6: That is just the reality of MLB. As we talked about. It's a very , very long season , and because of that , it is very , very hard to get through the whole year unscathed. From a starting pitching perspective , you really like the idea of having some combination of Nick Pivetta , Michael King , hopefully Joe Musgrove at the top of the rotation. Randy Vazquez has looked phenomenal here in spring training. They've added guys like Herman Marquez and Walker Buehler into the rotation mix. Matt Waldron is still kind of a name to know. They've got some other guys who have been involved , as we said. Perhaps you add somebody at the trade deadline , maybe a couple of guys , depending how things go. A.J. Preller remembers sort of always ready to wheel and deal if the opportunity presents itself. But the reality of baseball today especially , is so much attrition when it comes to starting pitching. And it's very , very hard to get through the year with the start. As you have just at the beginning of the season , you never quite know what you're going to get from a health standpoint , and then there are always going to be surprises , both good and bad , in terms of how well guys pitch. You add into all of that , you know , just sort of the volatility of the thing. The good news is the Padres , from a bullpen standpoint , I think probably have the strongest group of relievers in all of baseball. So that can help cover some things that may or may not happen in terms of the starting rotation. But my biggest question again for the Padres and really the other 29 teams.
S1: I did want to just , you know , ask you , this is what your 13th season in the booth for the Padres , something like that.
S6: Um , you know , I think I've learned a lot. You know , I've broadcast a lot of games over the years. I started doing this for pretend as a kid , you know , turning the volume down on the TV or on video games and recording myself. I started doing it where other people could hear it in high school and through college and through my early 20s all the way. Now , I'll be 44 next month , as you said , my 13th year with the Padres. And , you know , I'm a I'm a big , big believer. And the more you do it , the better you get. And you can always get better. Um , so for me , every season , you know , I kind of look back and I think , all right , what could I have done better ? You know what ? What do I want to try and do better this year ? What do I want to try and hone in on ? Because I'm trying to master the craft. And if this continues to go a long time for me , and I certainly hope that it will , I will always , always kind of have that approach personally. You know , if I'm at this 50 years , I'll say in year 50. All right. What can I do better this year in terms of favorite moments ? There are a lot. But the triple play that they turned at Dodger Stadium to clinch a playoff spot a couple of seasons ago is just one of those that's going to stand out probably forever. You know , I kind of had this running joke off the air with Tony Gwynn Jr and our producer Dave Marcus. I had never seen a triple play in person before at any level. Not as a fan , not as a broadcaster. And so we would kind of bring it up all the time off the air. I was like , when am I going to see a triple play ? And it just kind of drove me crazy that it had , you know , been this many games that I had attended both as a fan and as a broadcaster. And I was like , I've never seen a triple play. And then I guess , you know , it was worth the wait because when I finally got to see a triple play in person , it was just the most unbelievable moment imaginable for it to clinch a playoff spot against the Dodgers ninth inning game ender. You know , everything it could ever be. So that's one that will probably always stand apart. The 2020 playoffs also kind of that Covid season. So much built up emotion and tension with everything going on that year. The Padres had not been to the playoffs in 14 years. That was the first time I got to broadcast the Padres in the playoffs , and while there were no fans in the building , you felt the fans. You know , I was lucky enough to be inside of Petco Park with Ted Leitner. We were in different booths , we were socially distanced , but we got to be there and we could feel the fans. We could hear the horns honking outside of Petco Park when the Padres won that series against the Cardinals. The wild card round in 2020. That's something I will always remember. And again , because of Covid , a little bit distinctive , a little bit odd , but just one of those times where you felt like baseball kind of crossed over into something bigger than just the game and something I will remember very fondly for the rest of my life.
S1: Well , you mentioned some truly historic Padre moments there , and hopefully we'll hear more of those this season as well. Jesse Aguilar is the radio voice of the San Diego Padres. You can hear him on 97.3 The Fan and the San Diego Padres Opening Day game is this Thursday , March 26th. Jesse , thanks so much for joining us and have a great season.
S6: Andrew , my pleasure as always.
S1: That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Trufant. The show is produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer. I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend. And thanks again for listening.
