Padres Get Locked In for Spring

The Padres, partly because of optimism but mostly because they say it’s necessary, decided to ignore the advice of the baseball owners’ Player Relations Committee by finalizing spring-training plans Friday, booking hotel rooms for their major league roster and staff.

“Right now,” said Jack McKeon, Padre manager and vice president/baseball operations, “we’re treating it as business as usual.”

Charles O’Connor, interim executive director of the PRC, advised clubs last week to delay making arrangements until the owners meet Feb. 9 in Chicago. If there is not an imminent collective bargaining agreement between the Major League Players Assn. and PRC at the time of the meeting, owners will decide whether to stage a lockout that could delay the start of spring training.

But the Padres have booked hotel rooms for major league players and other personnel at the Park Inn International, formerly the Days Inn, for the entire spring-training schedule. Trucks have been scheduled to deliver the equipment to their facilities in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 8.

Certainly, McKeon and the Padres are well aware of the distinct possibility of a lockout, but they also know there is potential disaster if they don’t make plans.

The Padres already were scrambling for hotel rooms for their minor league players and staff because of the closing of the 260-room Stardust Hotel. And if they had delayed, they could have found themselves homeless.

“We’re still hopeful everything will work out,” McKeon said, “but because of the room shortage, we’ve had to go ahead and make our plans just like usual.”

Likewise, although the Players Assn. has sent memos to members warning against putting deposits down on housing and making plane reservations, Padre player representative Dennis Rasmussen expects few to listen.

“I think most of us are coming in anyway,” said Rasmussen, whose off-season home is in Omaha, Neb. “Since Yuma is just three hours away from San Diego, most of the guys are planning to come in and set up their housing for the season. A lot of guys already live in San Diego, anyway, and for guys like me who are dying to get to warm weather, we don’t want to wait.”

The Padres also learned Friday that their payroll will increase by at least $670,000, and as much as $1.615 million, when salary-arbitration figures were exchanged between the club and their four eligible players:

--Catcher Benito Santiago, as promised, requested the largest arbitration award in Padre history, $1.25 million. The Padres countered with a $750,000 offer.

--Pitcher Calvin Schiraldi is seeking $685,000, a $285,000 raise. The Padres offered $500,000.

--Third baseman Mike Pagliarulo filed for $645,000, a $95,000 raise. The Padres offered $550,000, a $25,000 cut.

Pitcher Mark Grant filed for $475,000, a $320,000 raise. The Padres offered $310,000.

“We’ll sit down next week and see if we can settle the differences,” McKeon said. “I think we can. If not, it’s all a roll of the dice, and we’ll see what happens.”

If the Padres and the players are unable to reach agreements, they’ll settle their differences in front of an impartial arbitrator in hearings scheduled Feb. 1-Feb. 21 in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Santiago’s case figures to the most difficult to settle. It’s the largest difference the Padres have had with a player.

The Padres filed for $750,000, sources say, primarily because of the recent signing of catcher Terry Steinbach of Oakland. Steinbach, who like Santiago also has three years of major league service, this week signed a two-year, $1.8-million contract that will pay him a $100,000 signing bonus and a $700,000 in 1990 and a $1-million salary in 1991.

The Padres say that Steinbach’s contract computes to $750,000 for 1990, averaging his signing bonus over two seasons. Santiago and his agent, Scott Boras, compute Steinbach’s salary to being an average of $900,000.

And, of course, there also is the difference in Santiago’s talents and Steinbach’s:

Steinbach is a two-time All-Star who helped his team to two World Series; Santiago has superior offensive statistics, hitting 13 more homers and driving in 40 more runs while winning two Gold Glove and two Silver Slugger awards.

“We feel we can demonstrate that Benito is worthy of the money we’re seeking,” Boras said.