Parsimony Outweighs a Pennant

So this is how the end begins for the Padres.

An All-Star shortstop who didn’t fit in their plans is traded away for a couple of players who shouldn’t fit in their plans.

Tony Fernandez simply made too much money to be kept around. The Padres would have had to pay him $2.3 million in 1993.

Wally Whitehurst and D.J. Dozier were affordable. That is the Padres’ approach to putting together a baseball team. They will play whomever they can pay. Give them a call if you’re interested.

You could throw darts at a telephone book and get almost as much in return. You could get a Whitehurst and a Dozier at a swap meet or a garage sale. You do what the New York Mets did to the Padres in the real world and you get arrested.

Rumors have been circulating for weeks, maybe months, about the housecleaning ahead in the winter of 1992-93, but it just seemed too preposterous that it could be as thorough as reported.

Benito Santiago would surely be gone, because he would be making too much money as a free agent to be afforded hereabouts. Randy Myers too would be gone for the same reason. Bruce Hurst would have fit into the same boat if he had not undergone shoulder surgery.

And Fernandez turned out to be the beginning of the purge.

This is an interesting place to start and also a frightening place to start. You see, getting an All-Star shortstop for $2.3 million is a bargain in itself in today’s market. That’s called getting a lot of bang for your buck.

If these owners cannot afford a Tony Fernandez at that cost, they should not be involved in baseball.

That’s the bottom line with this franchise.

Joe McIlvaine, the general manager, had to get whatever he could for Fernandez. He had no choice. Ownership wanted Fernandez gone. Ownership left the general manager with absolutely no leverage. It is impossible to make a good trade when you are forced to make a trade.

That’s how the Padres end up with a Whitehurst and a Dozier for a Fernandez.

Whitehurst?

Dozier?

Who are these guys?

General managers must be circling the Padres like vultures, wondering who might be next.

Who’s going to play shortstop for the 1993 Padres? Kurt Stillwell? Who’s going to play second? Paul Faries? Craig Shipley? Bill Cosby? A player to be named later?

This team went into the 1992 season with close to what it needed to contend in the National League West. It spent the entire season unraveling, partially because of the distracting specter of what ownership was going to do in the upcoming offseason. On the brink of the stretch run, ownership subtracted Craig Lefferts rather than adding to that nucleus. That was the end of the 1992 season, for all intents and purposes. That was the white flag.

Here it is, late October of 1992, and already the white flag is waving for 1993.

That is the modus operandi of current ownership.

Subtraction.

Subtract Lefferts and Fernandez and Santiago and Myers. Plug in whatever fits. Not what works. What fits.

What fits what?

The bank account.

Granted, salaries are ridiculous. Most working stiffs won’t make in a lifetime what these guys make in a year. However, one club is not going to reverse this trend by dumping every high-priced player when his contract expires.

As might be expected, Padre fans are outraged. They are being betrayed by ownership. A baseball team is more a public trust than a private possession. Every fan who walks into the stadium feels he or she owns a little piece of the team. Ownership is responsible to these fans.

The message being sent to these fans is that San Diego simply cannot afford a championship caliber baseball team.

Is this Woonsocket, S.D., or what?

When last I checked, San Diego was one of the most populous metropolitan centers in the United States. It’s not an off-the-beaten-path hamlet with one traffic signal, a general store, two saloons and a speed trap. It deserves more than a bush league approach to putting together (taking apart?) a baseball team.

I suppose Gary Sheffield will be gone in the winter of 1993-94. He will be in line for very big bucks by then. That will be it. Adios, amigo.

It’s a sorry situation when players play themselves out of town by playing too well. It’s sorry for them, but it’s more sorry for the fans.

What the Padre fans really need, even more than a new shortstop, is new ownership. Obviously, the guys they have cannot afford to play with the big boys.