Padres Long for Langston : Good News in Midst of 6-4 Loss Is That He Likes Them, Too

In midst of the Padres’ 6-4 defeat Saturday night to the Montreal Expos, Padre Manager Jack McKeon could not resist taking a longing glance at the guy sitting across the diamond in the home dugout at Olympic Stadium.

He’s a California native, with blond hair, blue eyes, 6-feet-2, 190 pounds. The most appealing aspect of his appearance to McKeon, though, is his left arm.

He’s got one of the best in the business, and is quite capable of turning any contender into a champion.

His name is Mark Langston.

He’s eligible for free agency at the end of the season.

And the Padres want him.

They want him bad.

Shhh. You’ve got to keep it a secret now. It’s a baseball rule that no club is allowed to talk about their desire for another team’s potential free agent. It’s called tampering.

“There are heavy fines for that,” Padre General Manager Tony Siegle said, “and I don’t feel like shelling out money.”

But behind closed-doors, in private conversations while talking about their plans for 1990, the Padres have come to the conclusion that Langston is the man who could lead them to the top of the National League West.

And you know what?

Langston revealed Saturday that the Padres could also fit into his plans. He told a Padre player Friday that it’s unlikely that he’ll return to Montreal next season and revealed to a reporter Saturday that the Padres indeed are among the handful of teams he’d be interested in playing for next season.

Yes, the man who is the most-coveted free agent in baseball just could be wearing Padre pinstripes in 1990.

“I like it here, it’s a nice city and everything,” Langston said, “but it’s different. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just different.

“I’m from California, and everyone knows I’d like to play on the west coast one day. We’ll just have to wait and see whether it’s next year.”

Langston, born in San Diego and raised in Santa Clara, reportedly has been offered a three-year, $9 million contract by the Expos, with incentives that could be worth $11 million. But he indicated Saturday that he likely would not make a decision on the contract until after the season, which would also allow him time to test the free-agent market.

“When I came over here,” said Langston, traded from Seattle on May 25, “I told myself I wouldn’t be distracted by this. I went through all that in Seattle, and it didn’t do me any good.

“So I’m just going to sit back and wait to see what happens. When I get time, I’ll sit down and go over it (the contract), but not until then.

“It probably will be after the end of the season.”

The Padres, understandably, were delighted to hear Langston’s revelations. While McKeon could only smile, knowing the ramifications of discussing other club’s free agents, the Padres freely showed their emotions.

“I told him to show up early for the game tomorrow,” Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said, “because I want to know the scoop. I want to know just what he’s thinking.

“That would be awesome if we could get him. I know there are good pitchers all around the league, and I don’t want to belittle this staff, but there’s nobody like this guy.

“I mean nobody.”

Sure, the Padres could also use more help than just a pitcher, with particular need for a starting shortstop and center fielder, McKeon says, but if nothing else, this season has proven has proven that the Padres’ starting rotation is woefully thin.

Take away Ed Whitson (14-9, 2.72 ERA) and Bruce Hurst (12-9, 2.98 ERA) and look, if you dare, at the numbers compiled by the rest of the staff in their 72 starts:

They own a 23-35 record and 4.85 ERA. They’ve allowed 476 hits, 245 runs (217 earned) and 143 walks, yielding a whopping 13.8 baserunners per nine innings

“I don’t want to get on our pitching staff,” Gwynn said, “because we’ve had our problems in all phases of the game. But experience is a big part of this game, and lack of it on the mound has just killed us.”

Take Saturday night, for instance. Greg Harris, making just his seventh big-league start, was provided the lead in the fifth when the Padres scored three runs, including Mike Pagliarulo’s first National League home run, for a 4-3 lead.

Harris (5-7) came to the mound, yielded a single, two walks, a passed ball and a balk, and just like that, the Expos had a 6-4 lead.

“I can’t do that and expect to win,” said Harris, who allowed eight hits and six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. “The thing that hurts is not so much performance but that I let them right back in it.

“I just pitched poorly, and I let the team down.”

Ideally, McKeon said, Harris is best-suited for the bullpen. McKeon says that he’s the perfect setup man for bullpen stopper Mark Davis, and having him return to the bullpen would allow Mark Grant to be a middle man once again.

You get the picture now why the Padres lust after Langston, who’s 10-3 with a 1.91 ERA since joining the Expos?

“I really believed we were the team to beat,” Gwynn said, “but now I think we’re going to fall a little bit short. He could push us to the top.

“We’re still a good team, and we ain’t far, we ain’t far away at all, but to be honest we’re lucky to be 10 games out.

“I said before this trip that it was make or break for us. And now that we’ve lost four out of five, well, we’re not showing people we want to win this thing. It’s like we’ve reverted back to our old ways.

“What have we got, 39 games left? To win it, I think we’d have to win 35. That’s not likely to happen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a team to be reckoned with.”

Considering that Padres were the preseason favorite and are 10 games behind the San Francisco Giants with a 60-63 record, it would be quite understandable if the Padre front office is a little shy about assuming another huge contract.

They acquired first baseman Jack Clark and his $2 million salary. They obtained free-agent pitcher Bruce Hurst, who signed a three-year, $5.25 million contract. And now to get Langston, well, it could cost at least $8 million over three years.

“That’s the thing,” Gwynn said. “Once we got those guys, the payroll went through the sky. And like we proved this year, it’s not just about going out and getting guys. There are more things that come to play if we’re going to win.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’d love for us to go out and get Langston and trade for (Cincinnati center fielder) Eric Davis because that would enhance our chance of winning. You just know that Langston could win 20 games very easily, and everyone knows what kind of player Eric Davis is.

“But to get those guys means money. And if guys start coming in making big money, the guys that are here will want money, too.

“It’ll be interesting, real interesting. But my God, can you imagine what it’d be like to have a pitcher like that on our staff? Oh, man.”

Padre Notes

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said he fully expects to be back in right field at the end of the season, instead of center field, where he has started 77 times this season. “I don’t think they look at me as a center fielder,” he said. “I think this is just a stop-gap thing. I’ll be back in right next year.” . . . Padre catcher Mark Parent’s next start likely will be this afternoon since starting Benito Santiago usually is given day games off.