The San Diego Padres family lawsuit takes another Roki turn

The lawsuit Sheel Seidler filed against the brothers of her late husband, San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, twisted and turned again Tuesday in the court of public opinion.

The latest pawn in the game of public posturing? Roki Sasaki.

The star Japanese pitcher was officially introduced last week as a Los Angeles Dodger, ending the suspenseful free agency of the highly coveted right-hander. Smack-dab in the middle of Sasaki's 45-day window to negotiate with MLB teams, Sheel Seidler sued Matt and Bob Seidler for control of the Padres.

Tuesday, Matt Seidler filed a letter in Travis County (Texas) court in response to Sheel Seidler's lawsuit. In it, he writes: "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. Any person who had any insight into the Padres business as Sheel claims she does would know this statement was absurd and without any foundation whatsoever. It was a total fabrication made recklessly to alarm fans, sponsors, players, employees, and MLB."

Peter Seidler passed away in Nov. 2023, leaving the Peter Seidler Trust (which controls the Padres) in the hands of his brothers. Sheel Seidler's lawsuit accuses the brothers of breaching their fiduciary duty — the crucial allegation on which her quest to gain control of the team will ultimately rest.

In the suit, Sheel Seidler alleges Peter Seidler's brothers might have prevented her from taking control of the team amid what "may well be ... efforts to sell, and perhaps relocate, the team, over Sheel's strident objections." Seidler's brother Matt wrote in an open letter to Padres fans that they had no desire to relocate the franchise, which has called San Diego home since it joined the National League as an expansion team in 1969.

All of that might have been construed as the sort of posturing typical for these kinds of lawsuits. In 2022, for example, Louis Angelos sued his brother, John, and their mother, Georgia, over control of the Baltimore Orioles. The case ultimately was settled, and the Orioles were sold to a group led by David Rubenstein.

The timing of Sheel Seidler's implication that the Seidler brothers might move the Padres came into sharp focus at Sasaki's introductory press conference last week.

Sasaki, 23, said in his introductory remarks at Dodger Stadium last Wednesday that "the number one thing that stood out (about the Dodgers) was the stability of the front office."

Sasaki: “the number one thing that stood out (about the Dodgers) was the stability of the front office.”
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) January 22, 2025

Maybe that wasn't intended to draw a contrast with the situation in San Diego. After all, many within the industry figured Sasaki was going to be a Dodger even before his agent officially notified major league teams Sasaki was going through the posting process this winter.

Still, as they say in politics, it was a case of "bad optics" for the Padres when Sasaki cited the Dodgers' stability.

An attorney for Sheel Seidler provided a response to Matt Seidler's letter in a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"“The response, for all of its bravado, is especially thin in responding to the very specific and serious allegations of Matt and Robert Seidler’s breaches of fiduciary duty. It’s ironic that they accuse Sheel — Peter’s wife of two decades and the mother of his three children — of misusing his assets, while at the same time they have reaped the benefits of Peter’s generosity for decades. The fact is, we will win in court because the defendants have shown they have no case. In short, their response is a total strike out.”"
- Dane Butswinkas, Sheel Seidler's counsel

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