They Were Two Who Got Away : Ex-Padres Baerga, Alomar Jr. Head for Stardom in Cleveland

TUCSON, Ariz. — Tom Romenesko, the former Padre farm director, talked in a hushed, somber tone. His voice barely could be heard above the vendors hawking goods in the stands.

All the while, he never took his eyes off the field where the Cleveland Indians and the Padres were playing an exhibition game.

“It never should have happened,” Romenesko said with a grimace. “We never should have let them get away. Those were two of the greatest kids we ever had in our organization, and they had so much talent it was scary.

“You look back now, and you wonder. You wonder how things would have been different. You look now, and I’m sure these guys (the new front office) are asking themselves how we ever let those guys go.

“They’ve got to be crying more than anyone.”

There they stood, catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., and infielder Carlos Baerga, two of the finest young players in the game today. Both in a different league. Both wearing Cleveland uniforms.

They served as a painful reminder of the trade that haunts the Padre organization.

If the Padres had not traded Baerga, no one in San Diego ever would have heard of Jim Presley, Marty Barrett or Mike Pagliarulo. Baerga, 23, whom the Padres signed out of Puerto Rico, could have been playing third base for the Padres well into the next decade.

If the Padres had not traded Alomar, they certainly would not find themselves in the predicament today with catcher Benito Santiago. They would have an All-Star catcher, and they would not agonize over how they’ll trade Santiago before he leaves through free agency.

Instead, with no prospects in sight for at least two years, the Padres must get by with Craig Worthington or Tim Teufel at third and Tom Lampkin or Dann Bilardello behind the plate once Santiago leaves.

“If I were them,” Baerga said, “I wouldn’t be feeling too good right about now.”

Alomar and Baerga, each of whom were signed at the age of 17 out of Puerto Rico, were traded along with outfielder Chris James to the Indians for outfielder Joe Crter on Dec. 6, 1989.

“Some trades work, some don’t,” Padre General Manager Joe McIlvaine said. “All I can say is that when they traded Alomar, they should have signed Benny to a long-term contract.

“But you can’t worry about what might have been.”

The Padres, critics say, made the situation worse by turning around a year later and trading Carter and All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to the Toronto Blue Jays for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez. Of course, if the Padres had never made the Indians trade, it may have been impossible to make the Blue Jays trade.

“Who knows for sure what would have happened,” said Romenesko, who now works for the Mets. “All I know is that Baerga and Alomar should still be in the Padre organization. I’m afraid the wrong catcher was traded, and Baerga never should have been in that trade the first place.

“That’s the sad part.”

Carlos Baerga was sitting in the visiting clubhouse in Puerto Rico when Romensko told him he’d been traded. Baerga began crying.

Baerga couldn’t believe it. He had just come off a great season at triple-A Las Vegas, batting .275 with 74 RBIs. He was tearing up the Puerto Rico winter league, in which he eventually would earn co-MVP honors by batting .341 with four homers and 35 RBIs in 50 games.

He was only 21.

And the Padres were trading him?

“You feel mad; I still am,” he said. “When you sign with a team, you want to stay with that team your whole life. I was always happy there. I loved San Diego, and wanted to play there forever.

“They never gave me the chance.”

Considering that the Indians might have made the trade without Baerga, the repercussions have been horrifying.

Baerga, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound switch-hitter, has been everything the Indians envisioned. He was voted the Indians’ “Man of the Year,” last season, batting .288 with 11 homers and 69 RBIs in his first full major-league season.

He became only the fifth player in baseball history to play at least 75 games at second base and third base. He had the third-highest assist rate in the American League at third base, and the second-highest assist rate at second.

He was moved to second base for good on July 23, and made an immediate impact in the Indians’ infield. The Indians turned only 62 double plays in the first 90 games while Baerga started at third, but after moving to second, the Indians turned 88 double-plays in 72 games.

It’s hard to believe he averaged 32 errors a season in his four-year minor-league career with the Padres.

“There were times when I didn’t even want the ball hit to me,” Baerga said. “After I’d make an error, I’d be afraid. But when I got over here, they tell me the only guys who don’t make errors are the guys sitting on the bench. If you play, you’re going to make errors. You just have to learn from them.”

The Indians showed how they feel about Baerga this past week when they signed him to a three-year contract for $3.9 million, with a one-year option in 1995 for $3.3 million.

“It was unbelievable,” Baerga said. “When they told me they wanted to sign me for three years, I opened my eyes, and said, ‘Wow!’

“I can get hurt, and still be set for life.”

The Indians, who have failed to finish even in the top half of the division for 23 consecutive years--a major-league record for futility--signed 12 players to multi-year contracts that day. There were four who received three-year contracts with a one-year option.

“Our risk is that these players don’t live up to their potential,” said John Hart, Indians general manager. “But the up side is that we think a far greater number of these guys are going to become established major league players in Cleveland.

“And that core is going to stay here.”

Sandy Alomar Jr. might just be the heart of that core.

Alomar was only in the organization for three years before the debate began to rage. Who would the Padres trade? Alomar or Santiago?

They began trade discussions with the New York Mets in 1986, and there was a time when Alomar was included in the Kevin McReynolds trade. Two years later, it surfaced again.

The Padres were asking for Lenny Dykstra and/or Howard Johnson. The Mets, who needed a replacement for Gary Carter, were listening. They sent three scouts to analyze Alomar, and each time the scouts came back with reports that he couldn’t hit.

When Alomar became the American League’s Rookie of the Year in 1990, batting .290 with nine homers and 66 RBIs, a lot of people looked foolish.

“I remember that was the big question last year,” Alomar said, “why he (McIlvaine) didn’t want me when he was with New York. Hey, that’s fine. If you don’t want me, I can live with that.”

Alomar, however, made the scouts look a little wiser a year later. He spent the off-season on the banquet circuit, rarely working out. He dearly paid the price, missing 111 games because of an inflamed rotator cuff and strained hip.

“It was completely my fault,” Alomar said. “I just made too many appearances during the off-season. I didn’t do any work, and suffered the consequences.

“I’ve learned my lesson. It won’t happen again.”

Alomar, who signed a three-year, $4 million contract with the Indians that includes a one-year option for $3.3 million, finished the season batting .217 with no homers and seven RBIs. Inexplicably, he was selected by the fans as the starting catcher in the All-Star game.

“I think the jury’s still out on him,” McIlvaine said. “He comes very ballyhooed, but I don’t see the statistics.”

Said Gordon Lakey, Toronto Blue Jays scout: “I don’t think he ever got in shape last year. Robbie (Alomar) came to us trying to prove he is one of the best second baseman in the game, but Sandy didn’t have the drive.

“He’s got to prove that last year was a fluke, and not the year before. But I still believe the first year was more indicative of his talent than the second year.”

Alomar, who says he’s quite content in Cleveland, wonders aloud what would have happened if he stayed in the organization. He doesn’t second-guess the Padres for trading him, but can’t understand why Santiago might be next to leave.

“I wonder what they’re thinking of,” Alomar said. “If they let that guy go, you don’t have a catcher. How are they going to replace Benito?

“It doesn’t make sense. Why do they let Benito go? Why do they let me go? They have both of us at one time, now they might not have either.

“I don’t understand them, sometimes.”