Mike Dee, president of Padres, and club sever ties

Mike Dee is out as president of the San Diego Padres, who were embroiled in a major controversy toward the end of another miserable season.

Managing partner Peter Seidler offered little insight into Dee's departure Wednesday. He denied Dee was fired, but wouldn't say whether Dee resigned or if it was a mutual decision.

Seidler said Dee's contract wasn't set to expire until August 2018.

Whatever happened, Dee's ouster comes less than a month after General Manager A.J. Preller was given an unprecedented monthlong suspension without pay by MLB after its investigation revealed the Padres had withheld medical information from trade partners, including in the deal that sent All-Star lefthander Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox.

"This had nothing to do with Preller," Seidler said. "Mike's not taking the fall for the A.J. stuff."

Seidler has said that Preller's job is safe.

"Our baseball operations area is outstanding as far as I'm concerned," Seidler said. "We've got to fix our medical practices, which we're well on our way to making happen."

Indians ace Corey Kluber will start Game 1 of the AL Championship Series against Toronto on Friday, manager Terry Francona said with Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin following in Games 2 and 3.

Kluber pitched seven shutout innings in his postseason debut last week against the Boston Red Sox. He was pitching on 10 days' rest after suffering a strained quadriceps on Sept. 26. The former Cy Young Award winner showed no ill effects from the injury in limiting the AL East champions to three hits.

Kluber went 18-9 during the regular season, bouncing back from a 16-loss season in 2015.

Lefthander Cole Hamels did not have any physical problems that contributed to his poor performance over the final six weeks of the season, Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.

Hamels went 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA for his final six regular-season starts. He had the second-highest ERA in the AL during that span, which began on Aug. 30.

He reached 200 innings for the seventh consecutive season. Banister did not see that having an effect on Hamels' performance.

"He just ran into a few situations where he didn't execute to his caliber," Banister said.

"The preparation was there. The emotional side of it was there. The mental toughness was there.

"It was just the inability to string some executed pitches.

"He has very high standards," Bannister said.