Trump Aide Unaware of Bid for Padres

A close associate of multimillionaire Donald Trump would neither confirm nor deny Wednesday whether Trump has serious thoughts about buying the San Diego Padres.

Norma Foerderer, one of Trump’s assistants in New York, said Wednesday: “He (Trump) is out of town. But I have absolutely no information on this at all.”

According to a source, Trump--owner of the United States Football League’s New Jersey Generals--recently contacted the Padres to say he is interested in buying the team. Owner Joan Kroc reportedly is asking for $50 million.

Ballard Smith, the Padre president, confirmed Wednesday that more than one group has approached the Padres about possibly buying the club. However, Smith said “nothing solid” has been offered. And he would not name names.

“Sure, there have been a lot of calls, and there are some good people out there,” Smith said. “We’re moving forward. The implication is that this organization is in some kind of disarray, and is having all kinds of problems. There are no problems. We have good people working there. This organization can move forward (and be sold) and never miss a beat.

“One of my goals when I got here was to do that. Get good enough people in place that if I decided to leave, we wouldn’t miss a beat. Well, those people are there.

“We don’t need a new daily operations guy. We have (Chief Executive Officer) Dick Freeman there. He does a hell of a job. And Jack (McKeon, general manager) is great. If the right new owner goes in there, he won’t have to make changes because he’ll recognize it’s a good organization.”