Padres push back amid reports of organizational dysfunction - ESPN

SAN DIEGO — Less than a year after a stirring run to the National League Championship Series, the high-priced, underperforming San Diego Padres are defending themselves against reports there is a lack of clubhouse leadership within a dysfunctional organization.

While hinting that there have been issues in the clubhouse, right-hander Joe Musgrove said they have been addressed following a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune that questioned the clubhouse culture and a story in The Athletic that suggested cultural issues and dysfunction extend up to general manager A.J. Preller.

Both publications said the reports were based on interviews with players and former club employees who had been granted anonymity.

«You look at last year, we were one step away from being in the World Series competing for the ultimate prize. Not a whole lot's changed this year,» said Musgrove, who has spent two stints on the injured list. «Obviously, there were things that went on in the clubhouse this year that we didn't do a very good job of addressing and handling. I think if we addressed some of those things sooner instead of kind of letting them fester, some of that stuff might have worked itself out. By no means is it a dysfunctional organization.»

Musgrove declined to offer specifics, saying, «A lot of stuff has been said already in these write-ups that have come out.»

«I think when you struggle like that, sometimes when things aren't addressed when they need to be addressed or in the way they need to be addressed, I feel like sometimes the guys who are considered the leaders feel a need to step up, myself included, to try to do more than you should,» he said.

Some sources in the Union-Tribune story appeared to be pointing a finger at third