Source: Padres fire general manager Towers

Kevin Towers, the longest-tenured general manager in the major leagues, has been fired by the San Diego Padres, a person familiar with the situation said Friday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the club hadn't made an announcement. The Padres said only that CEO Jeff Moorad will address the media on Saturday afternoon. Moorad didn't return a phone call, e-mail and text message seeking comment.

Towers, in his 14th season as Padres GM, told The Associated Press in an e-mail that he can't comment on his situation. He is under contract through next season at approximately $2 million.

Under Towers, the Padres won four NL West titles and reached the 1998 World Series, where they were swept by the Yankees.

The Padres are 74-85. Coming off a 99-loss season in 2008, they have rebounded with a strong final two months, thanks in part to moves by Towers. Since July 28, they are 36-23, fourth-best in the major leagues over that span.

Moorad leads a group that is buying the team from John Moores.

He has spoken about making changes in the baseball operations department.

Although it might seem curious that Towers is being fired while the club is rebounding from its slow start, Moorad apparently wants his own person in the job.

Moorad already reorganized the business operations, eliminating approximately a dozen key positions on July 23, including two vice presidents.

Early speculation on a successor centered around Paul DePodesta, the former Dodgers GM who has been with the Padres since July 2006. He is in the first year of a three-year contract believed to be worth $800,000 per season.

Another possible candidate is Randy Smith, a former GM with the Padres and Detroit Tigers who is the Padres' director of international scouting.

ATTENDANCE DOWN: Attendance has dropped 6.9 percent across the majors to its lowest level since 2003, an average of 30,276. That follows a 0.8 percent slide last year from the record average of 32,785 set in 2007.

Given the recession and the decrease in capacity in two new ballparks that opened in New York this year, baseball officials are pleased.

"Obviously, I've stated how well we've done," commissioner Bud Selig said this week. "I'll have plenty to say after I've seen the final numbers."

BOOK SAYS WILLIAMS' HEAD MISTREATED: A new book by a former employee of Alcor, the company that froze Ted Williams' remains, alleges the baseball Hall of Famer's body was mistreated by the company.

Larry Johnson says in the book "Frozen: My Journey Into the World of Cryonics, Deception and Death" that he watched an Alcor official swing a monkey wrench at Williams' frozen severed head to try to remove a tuna can stuck to it. The first swing accidentally struck the head, Johnson contends, and the second knocked the tuna can loose.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, Ariz., issued a statement on its Web site denying the allegations and promising legal action.