Friday morning, news broke that the San Diego Padres organization had officially been sold. And that news effectively ended much of the debate, disagreement, and complaints about the market size disparities in modern Major League Baseball.

For over a decade, the Seidler family, primarily the late Peter Seidler, owned and operated the Padres. And they turned a perennially bottom-feeding franchise into a juggernaut. How? By treating a competitive sport like a competitive sport, and investing heavily in the on-field product.

Now? It’s been sold to billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones, owners of the English Premier League team Chelsea. For a staggering and record-setting $3.9 billion.

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Nearly $4 billion for a team located in one of the smallest markets in Major League Baseball. A team that’s never once won a World Series, and hasn’t won the National League West in quite literally 20 years. That team sold for $4 billion. Just six years ago, Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets for $2.4 billion.

The New York Mets. In New York City. The largest media market in the country. And the Padres just sold for 63% more, six years later. This is why all the whining and complaining from small market teams across the sport is manipulative nonsense.

What makes this price even more stunning is that the Padres currently do not have a television deal with a regional sports network. While much of the focus and criticism of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spending habits rests on their agreement with Spectrum, Padres games are produced exclusively by MLB.

Fubo and DirecTV+ carry the Padres “channel,” but for most fans, they are forced into buying the team’s package of games through MLB.tv. And they’re still worth $3.9 billion.

How can this be, when teams like the Pirates and Marlins relentlessly cry poor, despite raking in huge amounts of revenue sharing dollars? The Marlins even play in a significantly larger market than the Padres. San Diego County has roughly 3.4 million people, while the Miami metropolitan area has 6.4 million. Yet the Padres can routinely run payrolls at or above $200 million, while the Marlins spend under $100 million. Why?

Because the Seidler family, particularly Peter, spent money to build a competitive product, taking advantage of the window of opportunity that the Chargers’ move to LA offered.

Seidler, who had serious health issues for years, invested in the team in hopes of winning a World Series before he died. They signed big name free agents like Eric Hosmer, Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado. They were aggressively in trades, bringing in stars like Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Mason Miller, Dylan Cease, and Juan Soto. They signed key players to extensions, like Yu Darvish, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr.

And what do you know, fans appreciated the effort. Petco Park is routinely sold out, and currently ranks second in average per game ticket sales with 42,395. Turns out, the old adage of spending money to make money is accurate.

This sales price shows that the owners complaining about not being able to compete with big market teams are, to put it mildly, wrong. Money is pouring into the sport, and there’s more to be made when teams try to win. Fans buy tickets when ownership shows they take winning seriously. Fans buy jerseys when they have star players to support. And fans will spend money to buy a package of baseball games when there’s a reason to watch.

Instead, we have owners like Bob Nutting in Pittsburgh, who hasn’t signed a free agent to a contract longer than two years in decades. Literally decades. We have the Marlins, who have taken a community of rabid baseball fans, as the electric atmosphere at the World Baseball Classic demonstrated, and spat in their face by demonstrating a commitment to spending as little as possible. We have the Milwaukee Brewers, who, while competitive, trade every single big-name player they have as soon as possible to avoid long-term contracts.

But the Padres sale demonstrates that despite the excuses and gaslighting, the fastest way MLB owners could increase their franchise values is by spending money on players. If you build it, they will come.

More than three million people travel to undergo cosmetic surgery each year, statistics show – but the potential savings come at a cost.

Most people opting to pursue this so-called “medical tourism” are chasing budget-friendly price tags. 

International surgeries, such as hair transplants in Turkey, can cost as little as $4,000–$5,000 compared to $20,000–$30,000 in the U.S., but often come with extreme risks, according to board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian.

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The doctor recently joined Lisa Brady on the “The FOX News Rundown” podcast to discuss the rising trend of medical tourism. One of the biggest risks, she said, is the lack of safety regulations in popular destinations like Mexico and Turkey.

As demand spikes in these medical tourism “mills,” there have been reports of non-medically trained staff performing procedures like hair transplants.

“I’ve heard that they [international clinics] are even recruiting people who maybe were taxi drivers and then putting them through their own training program … to become hair transplant technicians,” Nazarian shared. “That’s how high the demand has become.”

In the U.S., medical school graduates are granted a “physician and surgeon” license, which means doctors — including pediatricians or OB-GYNs — can legally perform cosmetic surgeries, even if they didn’t receive specialized training for those procedures during residency, Nazarian noted.

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Instead of pinching pennies, the doctor recommends paying whatever amount is necessary to ensure quality treatment.

“People think of it as, you know, going to the mall … it’s surgery, and surgery has risks,” she said. “You need to be with someone who not only can perform a beautiful surgery, but who can handle possible complications well.”

“You need to ask them: ‘What was your residency training in? And if you wanted to, would you be allowed to do this procedure in a hospital?’”

Aftercare is another critical factor in the success and safety of a cosmetic procedure, as the doctor emphasized that 20% of a surgical result depends on post-operative care.

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This can be difficult or even impossible to manage when a doctor is in a different time zone, she cautioned, or if the clinic disappears shortly after the procedure.

Nazarian also discussed the importance of addressing the psychological component of plastic surgery, noting that no procedure will fix underlying unhappiness. The doctor said she uses screening questionnaires to ensure that patients are truly seeking self-improvement rather than a “cure” for deeper issues.

“If you’re not already generally very content with your life, a knife in my hand is not going to bring you there,” Nazarian said.

“The analogy I always give is you don’t want a paisley couch – you want a neutral couch and you can put paisley pillows on it,” she said, noting that a procedure should “make you look normal, God-given, athletic. And then you can change your clothes when the trends come and go.”

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Dr. Samuel Golpanian, MD, a double board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said he has also seen an increasing number of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures abroad, sometimes with “devastating consequences.”

“I’ve seen a wide range of complications, including infections, poor wound healing, significant scarring and tissue necrosis (skin death),” he told Fox News Digital. “These complications often lead to prolonged pain, ongoing medical problems, and significant additional costs to repair the damage.”

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Golpanian said he’s treated patients who received unsafe or non-medical-grade injectable materials, which can lead to serious long-term health issues.

“I’ve also seen damage to underlying structures, asymmetry and results that are extremely difficult — sometimes impossible — to correct.”

“That said, I’ve also seen some good outcomes, so it’s not all bad,” he noted. “The key is being extremely careful before embarking on this journey.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is not expected to step down this term and has already hired all four law clerks for the upcoming annual term, multiple sources said, despite speculation that the high court justice was weighing retirement.

Alito “is not stepping down this term and is in the process of hiring the rest of his clerks for the next term,” a source told Fox News Digital. Two other sources told Fox News that Alito is not retiring this term, which lasts until the Supreme Court’s new year kicks off in October.

Justices tend to hire their clerks two to three years in advance, although that process is not necessarily indicative of a justice’s retirement plans.

The revelation that Alito is reportedly not planning to step down comes after President Donald Trump told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo he is “prepared” to appoint up to three Supreme Court justices if vacancies arise. Trump added that he has a shortlist of nominees in mind, though he did not mention any names.

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“In theory, it’s two or three, they tell me — if you just read statistics — it could be two, could be three, could be one,” Trump told Bartiromo. “I don’t know. I’m prepared to do it. But when you mention Alito, he is a great justice.”

Trump said he thinks Alito, who has sided with him on most high-profile cases, is “in very good physical health” and called him “one of the great justices of our time.”

“Justice Alito is an unbelievable justice,” Trump said.

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Rumors about Alito, 76, potentially retiring have grown because of his age, his two-decade tenure on the bench and speculation that he may want to make sure a conservative successor is confirmed by the current Republican-led Senate before the upcoming midterm elections. Former President George W. Bush nominated him for the nation’s highest court in 2005. 

The rumors were further fueled when it was revealed Alito was treated last month for dehydration after becoming ill at a Federalist Society dinner. A Supreme Court spokesperson clarified at the time that the justice was “thoroughly checked” and quickly returned to the bench.

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Justice Clarence Thomas, an appointee of President George H. W. Bush, has drawn less retirement speculation despite being one year older than Alito at 77 and his own lengthy tenure. Thomas has been a conservative fixture on the court for more than three decades and holds a record as the second-longest serving justice in history.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters earlier this week he would recommend Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or Mike Lee, R-Utah, as top candidates if Alito were to retire. Grassley said he hoped Alito would not step down but said his committee is “fully prepared” to process a nominee before the midterm elections. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that the GOP majority would be able to fill a Supreme Court vacancy quickly.

“That’s a contingency I think around here you always have to be prepared for. And if that were to happen, yes, we would be prepared to confirm,” Thune said.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.