Padres Fail to Make a Trade, but McKeon Sees Numerous Possibilities

Much like Jack McKeon’s voice as he ravaged the three lobbies of the Mariott Marquis hotel here, the Padres ended the first full day at baseball’s winter meetings on a low boil.

Nothing happened Sunday, but by placing his team in the middle of a major free-agent signing and several possible major trades, McKeon might have set his club up for the sort of personnel shake-up worthy of one of his verbal shake-ups.

“I’m going on record right now as saying, ‘We can win the pennant,’ ” McKeon rasped around his cigar, pacing the garden level lobby 2 hours shy of midnight. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. The Dodgers get Eddie Murray, now they’ve got to be favored. The Reds get Rick Mahler, they are next. But look out for us. We’re going to leave there the sleeper.

“Sure, we may leave here having done nothing. But I doubt it.”

The reason for optimism begin with free-agent pitcher Bruce Hurst, who to no one’s surprise could be signing with the Padres as soon as today. He flew back to his Boston home from his parents’ home in St. George, Utah, on Sunday, with sources saying he was duly impressed with Padre efforts on two fronts.

He enjoyed the sales efforts of a local San Diego radio station, which flew a representative there to present him with a petition signed by thousands of San Diego fans. Then during Hurst’s stint as grand marshal of a St. George Rotary bowl parade, the station rented an airplane and flew a banner overhead that read Over 2 million Padre fans 500 miles west .

“That was very nice,” Padre president Dick Freeman said, “although we can’t count on him coming to San Diego just because of that.”

It appears Hurst is more impressed with the efforts of the Padre front office, which has done just the opposite of the radio station. The Padres made their 3-year, $4.7 million offer 2 weeks ago, soon thereafter, they entertained him on a 1-day visit . . . and since then virtually have left him alone.

“I’ve talked to him twice by phone, that’s it,” Freeman said. “On some people, maybe we would have set deadlines, but not him. We feel the low-pressure approach is best, we are counting on them to communicate what they want from us. If this doesn’t happen, we have made a terrible mistake.”

The Red Sox, feeling their star left-hander slipping away, have resorted to a different approach. They will attempt to talk directly to Hurst via phone today, something Hurst’s agent Nick Lampros does not find too appealing.

“They better go through me first,” Lampros said.

Said John Harrington, president of JRY Corp., the majority owners of the Red Sox: “I just think it would be productive to get together with Bruce and see if there is anything we can do.”

If Hurst does sign with the Padres, look for it to cost them $300,000 above their offer, which would match the Red Sox offer of $5 million, which is all Hurst requires.

“We haven’t raised our offer yet,” Freeman said. “But I never said we wouldn’t raise our offer.”

Meanwhile, McKeon is leaving the worrying over Hurst to Freeman and concentrating instead on picking up “a hitter. A hitter who plays third base or outfield or even shortstop.”

An update on those potential hitters, as of late Sunday night:

--The Padres thought they were close on a 3-team deal with Seattle and the Chicago Cubs that would land them Cub shortstop Shawon Dunston and cost them Sandy Alomar Jr., but the Cubs backed out. Then they asked McKeon about a straight-up deal--Alomar Jr., Greg Booker and Dickie Thon for Dunston--and McKeon quickly turned that down.

“Let’s just say we would be happy to do into the season with the shortstops we have,” said McKeon of free-agent Garry Templeton and minor leaguer Mike Brumley. The Padres are expected to sign Templeton within the next few weeks.

McKeon ended the night with his attentions turned closer to New York Yankee third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, whom the Padres have decided to seek instead of Seattle third baseman Jim Presley. Oddly enough, the Yankees want Presley, so McKeon was toying with a 3-team deal that would get the Padres Presley and top right-handed reliever Mike Schooler from Seattle for Alomar Jr., at which point they would send Presley to New York for Pagliarulo.

--McKeon is preparing to meet today or Tuesday with Atlanta General Manager Bobby Cox concerning The Big One: Dale Murphy.

It could take Alomar Jr. It could take outfielder John Kruk. It could take minor league stars Shane Mack and Joey Cora and maybe even Shawn Abner.

“We’re going to definitely see what they want,” one Padre official said. “Heck, Dale Murphy would bring us the pennant.”

McKeon is also going to employ the same strategy on the The Big One II: Cleveland outfielder Joe Carter.

“It would take a significant number of players of significant caliber to make us even think about trading Joe Carter,” Indians’ General Manager Hank Peters said.