Padre Notebook : Kruk Reaches Agreement; Alomar to Start Exhibition at Second

The Padres signed three players and agreed to terms with another Wednesday. But the most interesting development occurred when Manager Larry Bowa named his starting lineup for Friday’s exhibition opener here against the Angels.

Roberto Alomar, 20, the son of Padre coach Sandy Alomar, will start at second base. Bowa stopped short of naming Alomar as his starting second baseman the rest of the way. And as late as Tuesday, he said Randy Ready had the “inside track” at being his starting second baseman when the Padres open the regular season April 5 in Houston.

But he has praised Alomar all week long. And the other seven position players Bowa named to start against the Angels are all players that figure to be regulars a month from now.

The lineup card for Friday’s game: 1. Stanley Jefferson, CF; 2. Tony Gwynn, RF; 3. Keith Moreland, LF; 4. John Kruk, 1B; 5. Benito Santiago, C; 6. Chris Brown, 3B; 7. Alomar, 2B; 8. Garry Templeton, SS; 9. Eric Show, P.

The three players signed to one-year contracts were outfielder Randell Byers, pitcher Ed Vosberg and outfielder Shane Mack. Kruk agreed to terms on a two-year contract.

“That means we’ve agreed to the length of the contract, the amount and the guarantees,” said Chub Feeney, the team president, when asked about Kruk. “All he has to do now is put his ‘John Kruk’ on the contract.”

The signings left the Padres with 11 unsigned players. Among them are Santiago and reliever Lance McCullers. Feeney met again in the morning with McCullers’ agent, Jerry Kapstein, but Kapstein drove back to San Diego in the afternoon with no new agreement.

The Padres have set a deadline of Friday to reach agreement with the remaining 11 players. Under major league rules, they can automatically renew the contracts of those players at up to a 20% reduction.

Feeney has pointed out more than once that the team finished with the worst record in the National League last year. He also says he has offered raises to most of the unsigned players.

Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, condemned teams that are playing hardball in negotiations with players with less than three years of major league experience.

“It seems to me that’s something that will turn around and bite them in the rear end sooner or later,” Fehr said. “What they (owners) are doing is telling players--not just the Padres, it’s essentially everyone with very rare exceptions--that no matter who you are or how good you are or what you have contributed, you’re not going to be paid appropriately.

“And (the teams) are not really going to have real negotiations unless (they) get very nasty and you’re (Oakland’s Jose) Canseco or (Angel Wally) Joyner and you can make a holdout meaningful.

“That builds a resentment. And it doesn’t go away. It’s sort of an ‘I am the boss, and it doesn’t matter who you are. I’m gonna make the rules.’ That comes around. I expect that there will remain a lot of residual resentment on these kinds of issues, even if the rest of the things seem to get better.”

Any player with three years’ major league experience or more becomes eligible for arbitration.

Fehr struck out at major league baseball owners again after he conducted his annual meeting with the Padres. He and assistant Mark Belanger, the former Oriole shortstop, spent two hours in the Padres’ clubhouse briefing the team on the various issues facing the association.

Each year, Fehr conducts a similar spring meeting with all major league teams.

Afterward, Fehr met with reporters and lashed out at his arch-enemies--the owners. Among other things, he said he believes the owners are already plotting a lockout against the players in the spring of 1990. The current agreement with the owners expires at the end of 1989.

“I don’t mean to suggest they have settled on that necessarily,” he said. “But what they are doing, it seems to me, is preparing for the possibility of (a lockout). And that’s a message that’s not lost on the players.”

He also said he was uneasy with the direction of relations between players and owners. “I don’t like the trend,” he said. “I don’t think relations are getting any better. I think the litigation we’re involved in is, in all likelihood, going to get bigger and nastier. That’s not a terribly good stage to set for 1990.”

The Brown team beat the White, 3-0, in the final intrasquad game, an eight-inning affair.

The hitting star was shortstop Dickie Thon, who had two hits, including a double off the base of the left-center field fence. Catcher Mark Parent also had two hits. Carmelo Martinez ripped an RBI double. The winning pitcher was Greg Harris, who allowed no runs and, in Bowa’s words, “threw some nasty breaking balls.”

Infielder Joey Cora won the two-mile race for the fourth consecutive day, and Harris was again second. Pitchers Eric Nolte and McCullers were third and fourth, and Martinez finished fifth.

Cora’s time of 12 minutes 6 seconds was the fastest to date. Today is the last scheduled two-mile race of the spring.

Padre Notes

Pitcher Jimmy Jones, when asked if he had considered growing a mean-looking mustache to appear tougher on the mound: “Nah, I’m ugly enough already.” . . . First base coach Greg Riddoch allowed one of his runners to be picked off for the second consecutive game. By the time he got back to his locker afterward, somebody had swiped his civilian pants. He immediately stormed into Bowa’s office and fished them out of Bowa’s locker. A wide-eyed Bowa pleaded innocent. “If I had taken them,” he said, “would I have been stupid enough to try and hide them in my own locker?” . . . Brad Pounders, listed as an outfielder, played some third base in the intrasquad game. Bowa said he may play that position occasionally in Class AAA Las Vegas this summer. The Padres signed Pounders as a third baseman in 1984.