Kevin Towers Dead At 56

Former Padres General Manager Kevin Towers passed away today after a long battle with cancer at 56.

This is unbearably heartbreaking news.

Towers, while not a perfect GM, oversaw Padres teams for 15 seasons (KT was a member of the organization for nearly 30 years, more than half his life!)- and he was one of the most gifted talent evaluators of his generation.

When he needed to, he could bring stars players into town- like Kevin Brown, who had one of the best seasons of any pitcher in baseball history. Brown was worth almost 10 WAR in his lone year with the Padres after Towers pulled the trigger and acquired him from the (surprise!) Florida Marlins...some things never change.

Towers turned throwaway players like Heath Bell, Rondell White, and Mark Loretta into All Stars, and acquired franchise cornerstones Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Klesko, Phil Nevin, and Brian Giles. This is just a shortlist- one could build entire rosters of overlooked players that Towers turned into impact contributors for the Padres.

And while under his watch, there were many painful misfires (*cough* Matt Bush *cough*) in the MLB draft, Towers' scouting acumen was responsible for some very remarkable successes. Towers drafted many notable fan favorites, including Jake Peavy, Chase Headley, Wil Venable and Kahlil Greene.

Under his watch, the Padres won four division titles- by far the most successful period in franchise history. That success came in spite of the fact that Towers had a fraction of the monetary resources at his disposal compared to big-market teams like the Yankees.

But the most important consequence of Towers' tenure as GM? 1998.

In large part, Towers was responsible for crafting the 1998 World Series team- the best in franchise history. In large part due to the success of 1998, the Padres were able to secure funding to build PETCO Park.

So yeah, Kevin Towers' most powerful, most enduring, most important legacy? Securing the future of Padres baseball for generations to come.

Without hyperbole, he is the most impactful front office executive in the history of the team.

Towers should be considered among Padres greats, in the same vein as Coleman, Kroc, Bochy, Hoffman, and Gwynn. While he was the architect of our favorite Padres memories- may his memory live on forever.

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