Kroc Puts Kapstein in Charge of Padres

This is a peculiar time in baseball, but the Padres weren’t about to allow the absence of spring training to ruin their annual tradition of spring cleaning in the front office.

Padre owner Joan Kroc, who said she has abandoned all hope of selling the franchise before June, announced that son-in-law Jerry Kapstein will oversee all aspects of the club’s operations.

Kapstein will have no formal title and will continue working out of his La Jolla office, but he’ll be the man accountable for the Padres’ entire operation.

“I’ll be highly visible,” said Kapstein, who was a player agent until this past November. “Let me put it to you this way, even when I’m not visible, I’ll be very directly involved on a day-to-day basis.”

The reason for the move is simple, Kroc said. Because she expected to have sold the team by now, she went ahead and made extensive travel plans that will keep her out of the country for much of the season, until Sept. 15.

But now with the scheduled opening day five weeks away and no potential buyer in sight, Kroc is resigned to the fact that the earliest the team could be sold is in June at the quarterly owners’ meetings.

Thus the dilemma: Cancel all travel plans and spend another summer monitoring the Padres or go ahead with the vacation and entrust the day-to-day responsibilities to someone else?

“I decided I wasn’t going to change my plans,” Kroc said, “but there’s no way, in good conscience, I could go on a trip without being comfortable with the team. The perception would be that the club is for sale, and I don’t give a damn.

“The problem may be that I give too much of a damn.”

So, for the fifth consecutive year, the Padres have made a major front-office maneuver during spring training, although with a lockout in effect, purists might cry for an asterisk to be placed next to their feat.

The fun began in 1986 when the Padres opened spring training and found out they had no manager. Dick Williams chose the eve of spring training to quit, leaving Steve Boros to inherit the job.

In 1987, Kroc announced that she was selling the team to George Argyros, a Newport Beach developer who owned the Seattle Mariners at the time. But Kroc learned of Argyros’ reputation for mercurial incompetence in Seattle and dissolved the transaction before the owners’ meeting.

In 1988, Chub Feeney’s temporary status as Padre president came to an end when Kroc provided him with a three-year contract. His reign was ended by an incident on Fan Appreciation Day that September, when he flipped the wrong finger to indicate to jeering fans who he thought was No. 1.

And then there was last spring. After what was alleged to be a long, exhaustive search to find a new president, Kroc announced that the man for the job was in the office all along. She simply promoted Dick Freeman.

Now, two months after the firing of Tony Siegle as vice president/personnel, Freeman’s status has suddenly become cloudy. He remains employed by the organization, but Kroc and Kapstein each refused comment on his future.

“This doesn’t affect my responsibility,” Freeman said, “but obviously it affects who I report to. As Mrs. Kroc explained to me, instead of discussing things with her now, I’ll communicate directly with Jerry.

“Other than that, I don’t know how my role will change.”

There has been at least one report that Freeman already has been told that he will dismissed with severance pay before the start of the season and has begun applying for other jobs. But Freeman said “there’s absolutely no truth to that.”

“In my nine years here, I’ve never even talked to anyone about another job,” he said. “I’ve never even updated a resume.

“No one’s said anything to me about leaving.”

But it’s almost certain now that the status of everyone in the front office will be evaluated thoroughly by Kapstein, and he’ll have the final decision on their future.

“You can draw your own conclusions,” Kapstein said, “but I will be responsible for overseeing all phases of the operation of the franchise. That means the president will report to me; the general manager will report to me.

“The bottom line is that Mrs. Kroc did not want to leave the ship without a captain.”

Kapstein had previously been involved only in negotiations with prospective buyers. He said that he will continue trying to sell the club but in the meantime will attempt to make the Padres the best team in the National League.

“I think this is a very positive move on the part of Joan Kroc,” said Jack McKeon, the team’s manager and vice president/baseball operations. “Jerry certainly brings great knowledge and leadership qualities to the organization.

“You’ve got a guy here who’s very well-respected in this game. He’s a guy who’ll be great in making business and baseball decisions.

“I can’t wait to start working with him.”

There had been speculation as far back as November that Kapstein would assume command, but Kroc dismissed the talk because she was convinced the team would be sold. Well, with the labor strife and the impending ruling on Collusion III, it became difficult to find someone willing to plunk down about $100 million.

“I thought for sure the club would be sold by opening day,” she said. “That’s why I made plans. I guess I was something of an optimist.”

When Kroc realized this week that it would be impossible to sell the team before the March 7 major league owners meetings, she requested Kapstein’s services, which led to Thursday’s announcement.

Kroc said that all efforts will continue to sell the franchise. But then again, she was asked, what happens if the Padres find themselves sitting atop the National League when a buyer emerges?

“If the team’s in contention, and everything’s going great,” Kroc said, “well, I guess there’s nothing that’ll prevent me from putting the sale on hold, is there?”

Hmm.