Padres Close to Deal to Send McReynolds to Mets for 4 Players

The Padres were getting closer Wednesday night to completing a deal that would send outfielder Kevin McReynolds--and possibly reliever Gene Walter--to the New York Mets for four players.

Which four players? The Padres want infielder/outfielder Kevin Mitchell (he’d play third base), center fielder Stan Jefferson, left-handed pitcher Randy Meyers and pitcher Rick Aguilera.

However, the Mets wouldn’t trade those four just for McReynolds and wanted Walter, too, to sweeten the deal. Sources said Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager, agreed to give them Walter and that the Mets were mulling things over late Wednesday night.

The two teams have agreed to meet again today.

The problem appears to be that the Mets are hesitant to part with either Meyers or Aguilera. Also, perhaps they’d rather give the Padres Mookie Wilson, instead of Jefferson.

“I think it’s got a 50-50 chance to fly,” McKeon said of a Mets deal.

But if the Padres do get who they want--Meyers and Aguilera--they would have a huge surplus of pitching, people such as Dave Dravecky, Andy Hawkins and Storm Davis. Sources said they could then package some pitchers to Minnesota, for example, and acquire third baseman Gary Gaetti. They’d then move Kevin Mitchell to left.

Or they could trade for Twins outfielder Tom Brunansky, who could help compensate for the loss of McReynolds’ bat.

A Met trade could trigger a lot.

Meanwhile, Joe McIlvaine, the Met vice president in charge of baseball operations, said pitching “might be the crux of the deal.”

In other words, he’s not sure whether to part with both Meyers and Aguilera. And sources say he’s certain that he wants Walter, a lefty, if he’s going to part with to part with Meyers.

But McIlvaine also said: “They (the Padres) have decided what they want to do. I think it has a chance. There was talk yesterday that it was dead. It’s alive and kicking.”

McKeon has talked to the Mets about McReynolds since the general manager meetings in November. But talks here didn’t heat up until Wednesday morning.

In an hour-and-a-half meeting, McKeon gave the Mets a list of eight players he likes: Jefferson, Wilson, Mitchell, third baseman Howard Johnson, Aguilera, Meyers, Double-A outfielder Shawn Abner and Double-A third baseman-shortstop Gregg Jeffries.

Abner, by the way, is supposedly untouchable, and McKeon has said he’d prefer not to trade for any Double-A players.

Obviously, there is no urgency here. Met officials plan to stay here through Saturday, and McKeon will stay as long as there’s a chance to make this McReynolds deal.

For a long time, McReynolds has been the big apple of the Mets’ eyes. They envision a batting order of Len Dykstra, Wally Backman, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, McReynolds, Darryl Strawberry, etc. And if they trade a couple pitchers, they still have a lot left--including John Mitchell, a top prospect at Triple-A.

But McReynolds apparently doesn’t want to play in New York, according to Tom Selakovich, his agent. McReynolds, you see, shuns the spotlight. And the spotlight always shines in New York.

McKeon has always liked McReynolds, but he has said he has too many holes to fill and has to do something to improve the team.

“He (McReynolds) had a mediocre year in ’85 and a good year in ’86 (26 homers and 96 RBIs),” a Padre source said. “But we finished third in ’85 and were almost last in 1986. So what difference did McReynolds make? We’ve got holes. We can have McReynolds, but we’ll still have holes. It doesn’t matter how good McReynolds is. We still lose games.”

The Padres have talked with more teams than just the Mets. St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog came up and spoke with McKeon Wednesday and said, “We still like McReynolds, Jack.”

Then, according to sources, Herzog asked McKeon if he’d trade McReynolds straight up for outfielder Willie McGee.

McKeon would like the deal more if the Cardinals threw in Andy Van Slyke.

Also, sources said, McKeon told Herzog he wouldn’t even take Vince Coleman and McGee for McReynolds. He wants Van Slyke, who can play the infield.

McKeon also likes another third baseman--Cleveland’s Brook Jacoby. Souces said he earlier discussed a deal that would’ve sent Walter to Philadelphia for pitcher Charles Hudson and outfielder Gary Redus; then he would’ve sent Hudson and either Hawkins or Dravecky or Storm Davis to Cleveland for Jacoby.

The Indians just wouldn’t part with Jacoby.

Actually, sources said McKeon could trade Walter for Redus any time he wants to. But Walter, being the key to the Mets deal perhaps, is too valuable to let go right now.

If McKeon has one major problem right now, it’s the strange status of some of his pitchers. Dravecky and Eric Show had elbow trouble last year, and other teams are hesitant about them. LaMarr Hoyt would’ve been trade bait, but he was arrested carrying drugs.

The Padres dangled Dravecky to Cincinnati. They wanted to get outfielder Kal Daniels from the Reds, as well as infielder Nick Esasky. That fell through. They also dangled Dravecky and Hawkins to the Seattle Mariners, hoping to get infielder Danny Tartabull. That fell through--probably because of Dravecky’s elbow--and the Mariners traded Tartabull to Kansas City on Wednesday.

“Listen, I’m booked on a flight home on Friday,” McKeon said. “We’ll keep talking to the Mets, but if nothing’s going, why stick around?