McIlvaine, Padres Get Off to Good Start

A new era for the Padres started Wednesday in the small manager’s office in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium.

Joe McIlvaine, the team’s new executive vice president/baseball operations and general manager, met with Manager Greg Riddoch for about 1 1/2 hours Wednesday afternoon, held short meetings with Bruce Hurst, Garry Templeton and Jack Clark, then closed the clubhouse doors for 11 minutes to introduce himself to the rest of the team before the Padres’ 7-3 victory against the Dodgers.

When the doors reopened, the Padre clubhouse suddenly seemed filled with fresh air and new perspectives.

“I think we’re all right,” Bip Roberts said. “The slate is wiped clean. We’re starting with the new Padres today. I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

Said Mark Parent: “It was a good meeting. He seems like a players’ type of guy. He wants to develop a winning organization. Who can not like that? He sounded pretty good to me.”

Shoring up an organization ripped apart by internal dissension and bickering will take some doing, and McIlvaine will continue the work he started Wednesday over the next several weeks.

“In today’s baseball, there is too much pulling against each other,” he said. “The front office is the enemy of the players. That’s the last thing we’re trying to do. Our theme, I guess, is stability, and the second thing is unity. We want all the forces--the business forces, the baseball forces, the minor leagues, scouting, we want it all to blend together for the good of the whole.”

He said he plans to meet with Tony Gwynn today, talk with several Padres who live in San Diego during the next few weeks, and hold an organizational meeting sometime in November. McIlvaine said this meeting will include scouts, minor league managers, coaches and instructors.

“It will be three or four or five days, and we’ll be going over everything,” McIlvaine said. “Instructional policies, scouting policies . . . “

As for the Padre coaching staff, McIlvaine said the current one “probably” won’t remain intact next season.

“Mr. Dobson (pitching coach Pat) has opted for getting closer to his family (in Florida),” McIlvaine said. “You have to support that.”

The Padres have given Dobson permission to search for employment elsewhere although he has a year remaining on his contract. Dobson said Wednesday that the Padres have told him they will put a limited time frame on his job search, and said he has asked for three weeks. Although he and McIlvaine have not discussed it yet, McIlvaine said Wednesday that he thinks a couple of weeks after the end of the season is reasonable.

Riddoch said McIlvaine had done his homework and that the two of them exchanged several ideas and plan to meet a few more times in the future.

“He pretty much hit the nail on the head with most people,” Riddoch said. “This guy seems to be super. I feel great.”

Although Templeton wouldn’t go into specifics of his meeting with McIlvaine, he said he came away with a good feeling.

“I was very impressed,” Templeton said. “What I liked about him most is that he listens. Most people come in and want to do all the talking. It’s unusual that a guy would come in and be willing to listen. I guess he’s going to make decisions later. That’s the way most people like it.”

Now, all McIlvaine has to do this winter is fulfill the expectations of an organization desperate for new leadership.

“When you come into something like this, where you’re new to a team, you need a running start,” McIlvaine said. “Yesterday, I spent the whole day with the employees around the stadium, on the telephone, in a press conference, going out with the owner. Today, I start facing up to problems. What I have to do now is a lot of listening. I have to hear what people have to say and then formulate a plan.”

As for hiring an assistant, McIlvaine said he does not know who it will be--but he did say it will not be Gerry Hunsicker, director of minor league operations for the New York Mets.