McKeon Running the Show : Padres: Owner Joan Kroc makes him vice president of baseball operations in an attempt to get a grip on the team’s personnel situation. He will continue to manage on the field as well.

Padre owner Joan Kroc, disturbed with her club’s leadership, abruptly restructured the front office Sunday by making Manager Jack McKeon the vice president of baseball operations.

McKeon will oversee the entire front office and be allowed to make all trades and sign available free agents, reporting only to Kroc. He will continue to manage the team.

Kroc has yet to announce whether President Dick Freeman and Tony Siegle, vice president/personnel, will be retained, but it’s obvious that Siegle has been stripped of all authority.

“I’m not going to say anything until we get back to San Diego,” said Freeman, who became president of the Padres in March. “Everyone’s unclear what’s going to happen.”

Siegle, who left the Philadelphia Phillies to join the Padres in May, was near tears when discussing the announcement. He was so devastated and embarrassed that he refused to leave his hotel room after McKeon told him of the decision.

“I’m sorry,” Siegle said, “I just don’t know what to say right now.”

Kroc was unavailable for comment, instead allowing her two-paragraph statement to convey her actions: “At this stage of our negotiations with both Mark Davis and the free-agent market, I want to ensure that we use all of our resources to keep the Padres in contention in 1990 and beyond.”

McKeon, taking Kroc’s words to heart--”I think you’ll see immediate results,”--moved ever so closer to completing a deal to acquire Cleveland Indians center fielder Joe Carter.

“I’m optimistic about doing something; I’m very optimistic,” McKeon said. “I think we’ll make the right players available, and it’s contingent upon us being able to sign him.”

Carter is eligible for free agency at the end of the 1990 season, and McKeon said that if Carter is unwilling to sign an extension, the proposed trade would have to be restructured or terminated.

The Padres are offering catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. and a host of prospects, including highly touted third baseman Carlos Baerga. The Indians are asking that pitcher Greg Harris be included.

If the Padres include Harris, sources say, the Indians in turn will add left-handed pitcher Scott Bailes to the package. One problem. The Padres aren’t enthused about parting with Harris, and they don’t want Bailes.

There was also a new development in the Mark Davis free-agent sweepstakes Sunday when the Philadelphia Phillies offered Davis a four-year contract exceeding the Padres’ four-year, $12 million offer.

The Phillies are trying to lure Davis by putting him in their starting rotation, having him abandon the bullpen stopper’s role in which he saved a franchise-record 44 games for the Padres last season.

“We’ve talked to him three or four times, and he’s intrigued by the idea,” said Phillies General Manager Lee Thomas said. “I said, ‘You won the Cy Young as a reliever; now you can win it as a starter.’ ”

There were reports circulating that the Phillies were offering Davis a five-year, $16 million contract, but Thomas denied them: “The thing you can quote me on is that he may get it, but he’s not going to get it from us.”

McKeon talked again Sunday night with Alan Hendricks, Davis’ agent, and said that they will meet again this morning. Hendricks said that he has several other meetings scheduled with teams but refused to identify them.

“Right now, I’m doing everything possible to convince Mark’s people that it’s best for him to say here,” McKeon said. “Hopefully, it’ll work. We’ve made him a very generous offer, and now he’ll have to weigh the factors and make the decision.

The Kansas City Royals, who sources said previously had offered Davis a five-year contract for $14 million with only three years guaranteed, now appear to be out of contention for his services.

“I think it’s going to be unreasonable for the money his agent is talking about,” Royal Manager John Wathan said.

As to the status of free-agent center fielder Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers, it appears that he’s narrowed his choices to the Angels and Brewers.

Of course, if the Padres can swing the Carter trade, they won’t need Yount. And the way McKeon was talking Sunday, he’s confident that he’ll open the 1990 season with Carter in center field and Davis in the bullpen.

“We’re going to do the best we can and salvage this thing,” McKeon said. “I’m not going to be pussyfooting around.”

Indeed, within hours of when he took control, McKeon talked harshly to his scouting and farm departments, spent hours on the trade floor talking to at least 12 teams, decided that the Padres will select a player for the first time in four years in today’s major-league draft and had meetings with a handful of agents.

The message was clear:

There’s a new sheriff in town. And his name is Jack McKeon.

“That’s the best thing that could have happened to that organization,” said Los Angeles agent Dennis Gilbert, who represents Jose Canseco and Bret Saberhagen, among others. “I just think everyone is more comfortable dealing directly with Jack. I think everyone considered him to be the man anyway, but now he has the power to go with it.”

McKeon had the dual role of manager/vice president for seven months last year before becoming solely the manager on Jan. 1. The dual job causes severe time constraints, McKeon admits. But what the heck--he has been in his office at 9 every morning since the season ended anyway.

“I’ve done it before, and you know, I love challenges,” he said. “If someone tells me I can’t do it (both jobs), I’m going to work like hell to do it.

“I’m just very honored (Kroc) had that kind of confidence in me. The Kroc family has been very good to me in my 10 years here, and I always told Mrs. Kroc that I’d do whatever job she wanted me to do.

“And I told her I’m going to help out anyway I can and help bring this team a championship.”

McKeon, who’s in the second year of a three-year, $1.2 million contract, said that he wasn’t provided a raise or contract extension, nor is he seeking one.

“I’m not interested in renegotiating,” McKeon said. “I’m very happy to do what I can to help. I’m perfectly happy with my situation, and this is where I want to end my career.”