DENVER -- Padres manager Andy Green threw his support behind general manager A.J. Preller Friday evening, in the wake of Preller's 30-day suspension by Major League Baseball.
Preller was suspended without pay on Thursday after a review of the July trade of left-hander Drew Pomeranz to the Red Sox. After the trade -- which netted the Padres their top prospect, Anderson Espinoza -- the Red Sox voiced concerns about whether they had received all of the relevant medical information on Pomeranz from the Padres. The investigation is complete, and MLB considers the matter closed.
Green reiterated what the Padres said on Thursday -- that the organization made mistakes with its medical information, but never did so with any malicious intent.
"Every mistake that's been made was well-intentioned," Green said. "Mistakes have been made. We've owned them. I think at the end of the day, I know that I work with people of integrity, regardless of how many people want to throw stones at a glass house right now."
Assistant general manager Josh Stein will "keep things moving" in Preller's absence, according to a Padres team source. No roles will be altered.
During the course of Preller's suspension -- which begins Monday -- September callups are likely to be the most important decisions made by the front office. Those callups will be determined by "a group discussion" -- which doesn't deviate much from the usual plan. It also seems highly probable those decisions have already been made, and the Padres are simply waiting for the Triple-A season to end.
As for the suspension itself, Green was quick to defend the Padres from accusations that they were attempting to conceal medical information. He noted that, as far as he and Preller knew, Pomeranz was fully healthy at the time of the trade. Pomeranz has, indeed, made all of his starts since joining Boston.
"There was never a point in time I was in a meeting where anything was talked about being concealed," Green said. "I would have such a moral objection to that. I recognize where the story is in the media right now. It's a very difficult thing for me to digest, on a personal level, because I'm right in the middle of it and I care about the people whose integrity is being questioned."
Green said the issue arose from the Padres' training staff having its "wires crossed." The club kept meticulous notes on all injuries and preventative treatments. But the Padres didn't enter the entirety of those notes into the medical records system, known as the Sutton System.
The Padres released a statement on Thursday following the announcement, in which Preller said:
"I accept full responsibility for issues related to the oversight of our medical administration and record keeping. I want to emphasize that there was no malicious intent on the part of me, or anyone on my staff, to conceal information or disregard MLB's recommended guidelines. This has been a learning process for me. I will serve my punishment and look forward to being back on the job in 30 days."