Padre Notebook : Four Free Agents Are Key to Team’s Future

Question of the Week: Where would the Padres be next season without their two most solid starting pitchers and the most solid twosome in their infield?

Answer of the Week: That couldn’t happen.

Mildly Irritated Question of the Week: Haven’t you heard of free agency?

Answer of the Week: Oh, yeah, free agency. Two words that make as much sense as jumbo shrimp. Or light beer.

Welcome aboard, filibuster fans, to the one occasion in an athletic team’s life when it’s time to stop playing and start talking. Free Agent Signing Time.

Discussions formally begin this week between the Padres and their four free agents: pitchers Andy Hawkins and Eric Show and shortstops Garry Templeton and Dickie Thon. It is uncertain just who will be doing the negotiating, and whether President Chub Feeney will be around to see any contract ink dry, but make no mistake: This is not the America’s Cup; this is Joan Kroc’s purse, and this is serious business.

The immediate future of this franchise lies not in what you’ve seen on the field in the past three months. It lies in what you will hear from behind the front office doors in the next three weeks.

At stake, one, is the heart of their pitching staff. Show is the staff veteran. Hawkins is the staff ace.

Said pitching coach Pat Dobson, who barring an earthquake will return next year with a nice raise himself: “We’ve got to have Show and Hawkins back if we expect to be as strong. You don’t find 15-game winners on trees. And not in this organization, not right now. Maybe down the road, but not next year.”

At stake, two, is the heart of their infield. Platoon shortstops Templeton and Thon have combined this season to hit .247 and provide the infield with the leadership and expertise that has made the Padres the third-best fielding team in the National League.

Said Manager Jack McKeon: “I would be very happy to have Templeton and Thon back as my shortstops next year. They work well together, they give us good stability. With the right players around them, they are just what we need there.”

This much is known: The Padres want to sign all four, but Feeney could have signed all four by midseason, and the waiting has cost them both money and good will.

“If one is a player of value, his price goes higher as it gets closer to the day all 26 clubs have a shot at them (following World Series),” said Steve Greenberg, Show’s agent.

Color the rest of the situation gray. In a couple of weeks you will need a slide rule to tell the buyer from the seller. You will hear the Padres’ side. You will hear the players’ side. And then if you’re lucky, you’ll hear the truth.

A preview:

Andy Hawkins, 14-10, 3.33 ERA: He and agent Jerry Kapstein will negotiate the way Hawkins pitches--cool, hard, unaffected by allegiance or emotion.

Hawkins doesn’t even call Kapstein his agent. He calls him “my representative.” He refers to the rest of the process with the same businesslike demeanor.

“We’re in no hurry about this, we have no feelings either way, we’ll get signed when we get signed,” Hawkins said. “I’ll wait till Christmas. I’ll wait till whenever. We just want it done right, whatever happens.”

In other words, don’t think he’ll sign here just because he has spent his career here. Don’t think he’ll sign here just because he can walk around the backyard in short sleeves in January.

Don’t think he’ll give the Padres an inch, because nothing has ever been given to him. He went 3-10 last season, accepted a pay cut to around $450,000 and then was every nearly run off the team this spring by Larry Bowa.

Don’t think he’ll forget any of that.

If Hawkins is allowed to enter the open free agent market after the World Series, at age 28 and with a lack of top pitchers available this year, the Padres seriously risk losing him. It could take an average of $800,000 over a couple of years to seal him beforehand.

If there is a tough signing, this will be it.

Eric Show, 13-11, 3.20 ERA: Despite all those past blatherings about being traded, usually uttered in the frustration of another unlucky game, the reality is this: Show loves living and playing in the city of San Diego.

The problem is, he still isn’t certain the San Diego management loves him. And as much as anything, he’s looking for a contract that would resolve that.

“A good contract would make me feel like they like me more, demonstrate how much they really want me,” Show said. “Sometimes I haven’t felt that. OK, I’m not the greatest pitcher to ever walk the earth, but I’m solid, I don’t get injured. I throw a lot of innings every year.

“But sometimes I’ve been conspicuously absent in winter advertisements and other things. It’s their choice, but I think it’s because I’ve been a bit controversial.”

Show confirmed the general notion that his off-the-field demeanor has changed this season. He said he is shooting for a contract that will show the Padres’ attitude toward him has also changed.

“They don’t have to worry about the things I say anymore, I’ve become just an average person instead of standing out,” Show said. “I hope this means for more fair treatment. I want to play here, as long as everything is fair.”

He makes around $840,000. He will be shooting for around $1 million. The resolution will probably come somewhere in between.

Garry Templeton, .242, 3 homers, 29 RBIs: His agent, Richie Bry, is a friend of McKeon’s from years back. They talk the same language and will enter with the same goals. The Padres want Templeton, and Templeton wants to stay.

The question is, what about the money? Templeton, making $1 million, will likely have to accept a pay cut because his intangible effects upon the team cannot be measured in his recent numbers (he hit just .222 last year). The cut could conceivably be as much as 50%, down to the $500,000 range. But if he was given a couple of years, and he’s 32 now . . .

The feeling is, as long as the Padres don’t insult him, Templeton will be willing to engage in a little give-and-take so he can stay home.

“If it’s my choice,” Templeton has said, “I’m staying.”

Dickie Thon, .263, no homers, 15 RBIs: This guy is so worried about signing, he hasn’t even talked to agent Tom Reich yet. He is still feeling so lucky just to be here, he hasn’t even thought about next year.

Because of the complicated way in which he left Houston, this guy wasn’t even sure he was a free agent until a month ago.

“The Padres have been very good to me, I feel very lucky to be here, I’m not worried about a problem in coming back.”

He’s making $300,000 now. A simple raise to around $400,000 should do it.