Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick reportedly told Arizona's former attorney general he should expect "a very unfortunate outcome” if the two ever meet.
After former Arizona attorney general Grant Woods criticized him on Twitter, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick reportedly sent Woods a threatening email in response, according to Zach Buchanan of The Athletic.
Woods provided The Athletic with an email he received from Kendrick in which he called Woods "an arrogant asshole," and said that Woods should expect "a very unfortunate outcome” if the two should ever meet in person.
Woods formerly worked for Phoenix law firm Gallagher & Kennedy and was fired this year. He says the email from Kendrick was sent prior to his firing, and was also sent to G&K managing partner Dean Short and board member Tim Brown.
Buchanan reports that Short denied Kendrick pressured the firm into firing Woods, but that Woods's critical tweet "disparaging one of the firm’s most valued clients was the catalyst for Grant’s dismissal from the firm."
G&K has been the Diamondbacks's general counsel since the club's inception in 1995.
Following the team's June 17 loss to the Giants—their 14th straight defeat at the time and MLB-record 23rd consecutive road loss—Woods tweeted that Kendrick should sell the team, calling their poor play an "insult to fans."
“Ken Kendrick’s reaction to the tweet had no bearing on the decision to terminate Grant," Short said, per Buchanan. "Further, at no time did Mr. Kendrick or anyone else at the Diamondbacks' request, or even suggest, to me or anyone else at Gallagher & Kennedy that Grant be terminated.”
Woods, who is a Diamondbacks season ticket holder, says Short expressed his disappointment in the tweet on June 19, the same day he received Kendrick's email.
“Dean Short emailed your comments in the AZ Republic regarding the Dbacks and me,” Kendrick's email read, per Buchanan. “Of course, I don’t subscribe to that publication or have any respect for you and your self serving public statements. However, my reaction to your comments is that you are an arrogant asshole! A truly toxic combination. It is sad that G&K, a quality law firm, has employed you. I suggest that if our paths ever cross, which I hope they won’t, you should expect a very unfortunate outcome."
Woods says he did not respond to the email, but received word from Short not long after that the situation was “irreparable and we’re going to have to part ways."
Woods claims the threat of a "very unfortunate outcome" meets the legal definition of “threatening and intimidating” under Arizona law, but says he has no plans to sue Kendrick. He expressed surprise that what he views as mild criticism drew the ire of a team owner to this degree.
“The idea that either myself or someone else can’t comment on that without being threatened or without having the owner try to hurt you personally, one way or the other, is pretty outrageous, it seems to me,” Woods said. “As a former public official and public figure, people take shots nonstop. That’s the way it is. You’ve got to deal with it.”
More MLB Coverage: