Padres’ general manager A.J. Preller recently told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune, “…the biggest thing just continues to be getting players to the big leagues and having them develop. As long as those guys are performing well and we’re continuing to create a winning culture at the big-league level, I think that’s really where our focus is.”
Derek Jeter, chief executive officer for the Florida Marlins, also weighed in recently on the importance of “developing a winning culture throughout the organization” in an interview with Marc Lancaster of sportingnews.com. In an article in Sports Illustrated in March in 2016, Tom Verducci identified the Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates as having that winning culture, with the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and New York Mets close to achieving that goal.