Sale News Is No Jolt to Padres

There were no shouts of joy. No feelings of remorse. The Padres acted quite nonchalant, if you want to know the truth, upon learning on Monday that the club will be sold.

If nothing else, maybe the new guy can at least give this bunch some acting lessons.

Padre owner Joan Kroc announced at a press conference Monday that TV producer Tom Werner of Los Angeles and nine general partners have signed a letter of intent to purchase the club. The price: $75 million.

“We’ve gone through this before, haven’t we?” said Jack McKeon, Padre manager and vice president/baseball operations. “What does Yogi say, ‘It’s not over ‘til it’s over.’

“But this should be different. It’s not like the last time where the guy already owned a baseball team.”

McKeon was referring to the last time the Padres appeared to be sold, in 1987 to Seattle Mariners owner George Argyros. The deal collapsed in the final stages, however, and Kroc decided to hang on to the team.

There’s optimism on each side that this sale will be completed, but it was revealed Monday that the eight-man ownership committee still has yet to examine the prospective ownership group.

“We still haven’t received an ownership application from the group,” said Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago White Sox owner, “so they have a long ways to go. There’s still a whole series of documents that must be submitted.”

Once the documents are received by the eight-man committee, Reinsdorf said, the financial, business and personal backgrounds of each of the 10 owners will be examined.

“We’ll look to see if they have the financial entity to cover losses,” Reinsdorf said. “We’ll look at their capital reserve. And we’ll look at their partnership agreement.

“They still have to have a purchase agreement, so it could take as long as 90 days.”

The major league owners would then vote on approval of the sale, with three-quarters majority vote needed by the other 11 National League owners, and a simple majority vote required by the 14 American League owners.

The owners likely would vote on the sale at their next quarterly meetings, June 13-14 in Cleveland, but Reinsdorf said it’s possible that a special meeting could be called beforehand.

While lawyers and legal assistants will pass documents back and forth during the next three months, the Padres say they’ll simply continue to run their operations as if everything is status quo.

“She’s (Kroc) a good owner, I hate to see her go,” McKeon said, “but we’re going to be under the gun whether it’s the present ownership or a new ownership.”

The players showed little emotion when informed of the agreement between Kroc and Werner’s group, but spent time reminiscing about Kroc’s reign.

“I heard so many times how the club was going to be sold,” Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn said, “so it’s kind of hard to believe now. I mean, I knew it was up for sale and everything, but I just didn’t think it would be sold.

“We’ve sure had some weird things happen with this ballclub. We’ve had suspensions. We’ve had drug suspensions. We had a lockout. We had a strike. We had Goose (Gossage) going off.

“But I guess the thing that sticks out in my mind the most was when she came downstairs to see the players in 1987. We were really stinking up the joint. But she came down and said, ‘We love you, and the community loves you.’

“To hear her speak, that meant a lot to us, especially at that time, because we were getting clobbered. She even told Goose to smile. Then she looked at me, and she had heard the financial problems I was having, and came over and hugged me.”

Reliever Craig Lefferts, who will be spending his fifth season in the organization, said: “Both Ray (Kroc) and Joan did a lot for baseball in San Diego. They should be commended for their ownership. They put a good baseball team on the field. They were concerned about the community. They were concerned about the fans. There’s not many owners who can put together a better package.”

There, of course, were numerous jokes in the clubhouse about Werner’s Hollywood background. The players talked about how producers’ jackets would replace Padre warm-up jackets, directors’ chairs would replace clubhouse stools, and bit acting parts in “The Cosby Show” series will sure be better than sitting home all winter.

Heck, there was even a debate going on which of Werner’s shows were better: Cosby or “Roseanne.”

“It’s going to be kind of different to walk in here and have somebody else owning the team after all these years,” Padre shortstop Garry Templeton said. “She’s a good friend of mine. When I was having some problems in St. Louis, she gave me an opportunity and took care of me.

“She came down to the clubhouse only when she thought it was necessary, but she never once interfered.

“She was everything you wanted an owner to be.”

McKeon was infuriated Monday upon learning that baseball owners have changed their minds once again and now will revert to a 27-man roster for the first three weeks of the season.

“I don’t need 27 guys,” McKeon said. “It’s just ridiculous. There’s not going to be enough work for them.

“If we had been allowed to carry 25, it would have been ideal. We could have carried the one extra pitcher, and everything would be fine.

“All this does is help out the clubs with no idea what they’re doing. They’re getting another three weeks to decide. It’s like going to the winter meetings now with no trading deadline.”

McKeon said he would not necessarily carry the allowed limit of 27 players, but when asked what he’d do if the other 25 clubs had a 27-man roster, he said: “If everybody else goes to 27, it’d be stupid on my part not to have the same advantage. But I don’t like it.”

The extra three roster spots are expected to be filled by pitcher Rafael Valdez or Eric Nolte; outfielder Shawn Abner; and first baseman Rob Nelson.

“I don’t see what’s good about it either,” Abner said. “All that does is delay the agony. It’s like sitting in a sauna for three weeks, waiting to see what happens.

“If they’re keeping us around just to be insurance policies, it’d be better if they’d just trade us. The whole thing stinks.”

Padre Notes

The Padres extended their winning streak to five games Monday with a 5-3 victory over the Angels. They overcame a 3-0, fourth-inning deficit, marking the fifth consecutive time they have posted come-from-behind victories. . . . Rookie Rafael Valdez, who said he has been bothered by a stiff biceps muscle lately, pitched two scoreless innings for the victory. He has allowed just three hits in his past five innings, yielding one run. “I hope it’s good enough,” Valdez said, “because this is where I want to be.” . . . After committing 13 errors in their first five games, the Padres have not committed an error in three of the past four games. . . . Padre outfielder Darrin Jackson went two for three Monday, driving in two runs.