The Art of the Deals: McKeon Never Quit

Jack McKeon took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and groggily asked what time it was.

He was told it was 5:15 in the morning.

He groaned and then asked a rather peculiar question.

“Hey, what day is this, anyway?” McKeon said.

It was Thursday morning, and McKeon, the Padre manager and vice president/baseball operations, had been up for 23 consecutive hours.

He awoke Wednesday hoping to iron out a contract with center fielder Joe Carter, finalizing the trade with the Cleveland Indians. By the time he went back to sleep Thursday morning, he had signed Carter to a three-year, $9.2 million contract; free-agent left fielder Fred Lynn to a one-year, $500,000 contract, and free-agent reliever Craig Lefferts to a three-year, $5.3 million contract.

“You know, I’ve been in this business a long time, but I’ve never ever had a day like this,” he said. “It was the most productive day I’ve ever had, and even as I’m sitting here, I can’t believe what we got accomplished.”

Even with the knowledge that he will no longer have the luxury of calling Mark Davis from his bullpen, McKeon left the winter meetings this morning with the belief that this might be the strongest Padre team in history.

He went out and acquired the most attractive player available on the trading block--Carter--to solve his problems in center field.

Because the acquisition cost the Padres left fielder Chris James, along with catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. and minor league third baseman Carlos Baerga, McKeon filled that spot with Lynn.

And facing the prospect that he was about to lose Davis on the free-agent market, he acquired Lefferts, who saved a career-high 20 games last season.

“I don’t want to pat myself on the back,” McKeon said, “but I think you can say, ‘I’ve done good.’ ”

Not bad, considering that McKeon was able to acquire these three by using the same money he would have had to pay Davis.

“Believe me,” McKeon said, “I’d rather spend that $15 million with those guys than one reliever.”

The moment he was put back in charge of baseball operations Sunday, he seized the opportunity and showed just why his trading exploits are legendary.

“I don’t mess around,” McKeon said. “I know there are other general managers who think I’m abrasive. They think I’m a wise guy. But, hey, I don’t want to waste their time, and I don’t want them to waste my time.

“If you want to make a deal, give me a call. If you just want to talk and aren’t serious about trading, call someone else.”

You want to know the legend of Trader Jack? Just sit back and take a look at this past week:

* Sunday: McKeon becomes vice president/baseball operations. He sets up a meeting with Indians President Hank Peters. He has exploratory discussions with 12 teams. He finds out that the Indians are willing to deal Carter for a package that includes Alomar.

* Monday: McKeon meets for the first time with the Hendricks brothers, agents for reliever Mark Davis, and talks about the Padres’ last offer of four years at $12 million. He sits down with Cleveland officials and offers a list from which the Indians may choose three names: Alomar, James, Mike Pagliarulo, Darrin Jackson, Thomas Howard, Jerald Clark and Shawn Abner. The Indians ask for Baerga, a minor league third baseman, to be included.

“Now, I’m the only one in the organization that’s willing to trade Baerga,” McKeon said. “I know he’s a fine prospect, but, hey, I’m not going to hold up any deal for this kid. When Carter’s hitting 35 homers for someone else this year, I don’t want to be thinking, ‘I didn’t get Carter because I wanted this guy, a kid who doesn’t even fit in our plans for a year or two.’ ”

At about 11:30 p.m., the Indians choose the three names, and the deal is reached. Now, McKeon has to sign Carter.

* Tuesday: McKeon meets the following day with Jim Turner, Carter’s agent, and they agree that they will negotiate a three-year deal. In the meantime, Kansas City Royals General Manager John Schuerholz telephones McKeon and says that he’s willing to trade right fielder Danny Tartabull for the rights to Carter. McKeon: “Bo who?”

* Wednesday-Thursday: McKeon awakens at 6:15. He and Turner exchange numbers, finding themselves $1 million apart. At 2:30 p.m., McKeon has signed Carter to a three-year, $9.2-million contract, paying him a $2-million signing bonus, $1.2 million in 1990 and $3 million in both 1991 and 1992.

The moment Turner leaves the room, McKeon telephones the agents for Lynn and Lefferts. He tells Bob Teaff, Lynn’s agent, to meet him at the press conference. At 10 p.m., Lynn has signed a one-year contract for $500,000 with incentives that could push his total to more than $1 million. McKeon announced the signing at 10:30, telling the media corps: “Stick around, I’ll be back.” Reporters laugh and pack their bags.

McKeon telephones Steve Comte, Lefferts’ agent, and tells him that he’s ready to make a three-year offer. Comte asks McKeon if they might be better off doing it in the morning, allowing McKeon to get some sleep. McKeon: “Hey, I’ve been resting all day, let’s do this now.”

McKeon and Comte trade offers. Mike Swanson, the Padre assistant media relations director, asks McKeon if it’s OK to go to bed. No, McKeon says, he made a promise that he’d be back, and he’s keeping it. Call back every 30 minutes.

McKeon puts on another sweat suit, takes the long walk to the convention room and at 2:45 a.m., announces that he has signed Lefferts. And, oh yeah, that means Davis no longer is wanted. McKeon is asleep at 5:30.

The telephone rings a little after 7 a.m. It’s Padre owner Joan Kroc. She wants to know what happened in the Lefferts’ negotiations, and McKeon tells her. He will be disturbed nine times by the telephone during the morning.

He heads downstairs to the lobby at 12:15 p.m. and greets Lefferts, for whom he first traded with the Cubs exactly six years previously to the day. “Who knows?” McKeon jokes. “Maybe we’ll be trading for Davis six years from now, too.”

He has talks with the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. The Cubs are willing to give up left fielder Dwight Smith and are asking for pitcher Greg Harris. McKeon instead offers Dennis Rasmussen. Sorry, no deal. The Twins ask if outfielder Jerald Clark is available, and McKeon tells them he’ll call next week.

The Hendricks brothers call one last time, asking to re-open negotiations with Davis. Sorry, the door is closed. “We’re out of business,” McKeon tells them. And at 8:30 p.m., McKeon goes out to dinner for the first time all week, unless you count his quick stop at Bonanza on Saturday night.

He finally gets a good night’s sleep.

“I’ve never had a week like this one, man oh man,” McKeon said. “I’ll tell you what, even though we don’t have Davis, I like this team a lot better than the one we came in with.

“I came here to get a power-hitter. I wanted either Joe Carter, Ellis Burks (of Boston) or Von Hayes (of Philadelphia). I got the man I wanted. I wanted to improve our bench, and we got a great veteran in Lynn. We needed to get a pitcher, and we got a guy I think is very capable. We developed Davis into a stopper, didn’t we? We can do the same with Lefferts.