Victory Brightens Day, but Padres Ponder 1990

Tony Siegle, the Padre general manager, grimaced, put his hands over his eyes and slowly shook his head in disgust.

Siegle had just been informed Saturday afternoon that outfielder Chris James’ right hand had been slammed in a car door by teammate Don Schulze. A team doctor immediately was summoned for an examination and fortunately for the Padres, the news was good. The injury was later diagnosed as only a deep bruise, with no bones broken. James will likely miss the next couple of games, but is expected to return to the lineup possibly as early as Monday for the three-game series against the Montreal Expos.

Still, it hardly was enough to soothe Siegle’s sagging spirits: “You know you’re going bad when that type of stuff is happening to you. Good God.”

Who then would ever have thought that it would turn out to be a break at least temporarily in the Padres’ favor?

Marvell Wynne, the man who just so happened to replace James in the lineup, hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning and drove in a career-high-tying four runs, helping provide the Padres with a 9-4 victory over the New York Mets.

A crowd of 28,469 watched the Padres win their fifth game in the past six and improve to 65-64.

But considering that the Padres have just 33 games remaining this season, and are still nine games behind the San Francisco Giants, who can blame them for thinking about something more encouraging these days: the 1990 season.

The Padre hierarchy is not scheduled to sit down and formulate their plans for 1990 until after the final game, but rarely does a day go by when the Padres do not discuss their ideas among one another. Who will they keep? Who will they let go? What trades might they make? What must they do to become a contender once again?

The front office has unanimously concluded that the primary needs are a starting center fielder, starting shortstop and pitching help. The fastest route, and perhaps the most logical, is the free-agent market.

Starting pitchers Mark Langston of Montreal and Mark Gubicza of Kansas City each are expected to file for free agency, and each say that the Padres are among their top choices for employment. Giant reliever Craig Lefferts is eligible to be a free agent. Robin Yount of Milwaukee and Mookie Wilson of Toronto are the top center field candidates. The best shortstop available is Spike Owen of Montreal.

The question that suddenly has emerged, however, is will the Padres enter the free-agent market again?

Although money seemingly would be no problem considering that the Padres will earn $15 million for their 1990 national TV contract and another estimated $6.5 million in local revenue before they even sell a seat, the Padres appear reluctant to enter the market.

“I, for one,” Siegle said, “am not big on the free-agent system. I’ve never been a big proponent of free agency. I’m just not convinced that’s the way to go. I’d just as soon go the other way.

“There are reasons to believe that there are players in Las Vegas who could help this club, but who knows the timetable?”

The Padres revealed earlier in the day just who they believe is most capable of helping at the big-league level by announcing the four players who will be called up Sept. 2 from their triple-A team in Las Vegas: catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. (.310, 13 homers, 100 RBIs), outfielder Jerald Clark (.317, 20 homers, 80 RBIs), second baseman Joey Cora (.314, 37 RBIs), and pitcher Eric Nolte (6-8, 5.11 ERA).

The problem, however, is that Alomar is the only player among those four who has any trade value.

“You look at our whole team,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said, “and we don’t have a whole lot to trade. We really don’t.”

The Padres will experiment with Cora, 24, and try him at shortstop during September, but realistically, he’s considered in their future plans only as a utility player. Clark, 26, has hit just .182 (six for 33) in his 14 big-league games. Nolte, 25, is 2-6 with a 3.33 ERA in 14 big-league games. And Alomar, 23, still is unproven in the big leagues.

“I want to win this thing right now,” McKeon said. “I don’t want to keep rebuilding and rebuilding.”

The first step for the Padres, McKeon and Siegle said, is to determine just who they want back in 1990. They have five potential free agents: bullpen stopper Mark Davis, shortstop Garry Templeton, outfielders Marvell Wynne and Carmelo Martinez and infielders Luis Salazar and Tim Flannery. Davis is the only player among the group, Siegle said, that the Padres definitely want to retain. The future of the others will be decided after the season ends.

“Our needs are obvious,” Siegle said, “but we really won’t know what we need until the dust settles. I think basically, though, we need to get two or three players to fill holes.”

The Padres’ best bargaining chip, of course, is their catching surplus with Benito Santiago and Alomar. McKeon said that he hasn’t had a legitimate trade offer since May before Seattle traded Langston. And with the shortage of top-quality catchers in the majors today, he refuses to panic and trade Santiago or Alomar away without obtaining top value in return.

And even then, Siegle said, he’s leery about trading away one of the catchers, particularly Santiago.

“Despite what they say about Santiago,” Siegle said, “you look at the exhibition he puts on night after night throwing people out (including Juan Samuel in the seventh inning Saturday). You just don’t find catchers like that.

“To me, we have a marvelous nucleus. I don’t think we have to go into a mode where we totally revamp our club. We’re not going to change faces just to change faces.

“I really believe Jack Clark will have a better year next season. Hopefully, Eric Show will be OK from his back surgery. (Bruce) Hurst will be settled in. We’ll have James for a whole year. And I think Pags (Mike Pagliarulo) will be OK.

“Naturally, you’d like to have a good everyday player in every position, but it just isn’t possible. Maybe that’s where the Las Vegas guys fit in. I mean, look at Bip Roberts. My God, where would we have been without him?”

Said McKeon: “We’ve been very patient with a lot of these guys who have been here three, four, five years. Our patience has run out. How long can we keep waiting?

“It’s time for us to find consistency, and until we do, we’re going to have a tough time winning.

“It’s that simple.”

Padre Notes

Dennis Rasmussen (7-9) won his third decision in his past four starts, allowing six hits and four runs in five innings. Greg Harris earned his fourth save, pitching two hitless innings. . . . Padre pitcher Bruce Hurst, who left his last start Wednesday with a strained left groin muscle, did not suffer a tear as feared. Instead, team doctors are saying he aggravated the muscle. He’ll miss his scheduled start today against the Mets, and then is expected to start Saturday against the Phillies. Don Schulze (2-1) will take Hurst’s start today against Bob Ojeda, meaning that the Mets faced three former Yankee starters this series: Ed Whitson (1985-1986), Rasmussen (1984-1987) and Schulze (1989).

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