Padres Trying to Get Some Help in a Pinch

Joe McIlvaine sat hunched in seat 19-C of the cramped plane, trying to ignore the crying baby across the aisle as he scoured minor-league reports to unearth a player the Padres can afford.

Sitting 18 rows ahead in first class was Dodger General Manager Fred Claire. Forget the minor-league stuff. Claire was studying the list of tantalizing high-priced free agents.

Even Delta Airlines realizes which direction each team is headed.

“I’m not a banker, I’m not an accountant,” said McIlvaine, “I’m a general manager. I’m trying to put together the best ballclub I can.

“But I have such stringent parameters, there’s not really much I can do.

“We’re not going to be signing any free agents, so I’m just hoping we can make a trade, any trade, at least do something positive.

“There hasn’t been a whole lot to be positive about lately.”

The Padres, according to an owner who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said the ownership group is mandating that McIlvaine cut an additional $5 million from the team’s payroll.

The Padre player budget for the 1993 season will be only $21 million. Excluding the two expansion franchises, the Padres will have the second-lowest payroll in the National League, behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Padre budget crunch is so severe that a memo prohibiting employees from dialing directory assistance was circulated.

Little wonder why agents have not bothered to call the Padres.

Will the Padres be able to sign at least a low-profile free agent, for say, $1 million?

“Less,” McIlvaine said.

Five hundred thousand?

“Less,” McIlvaine said.

How much less?

“Try $109,000,” McIlvaine said, citing the major league minimum.

“I had David Cone’s agent (Steve Fehr) call me the other day and ask if we were interested in signing him,” McIlvaine said. “I told him, ‘Sure, for $109,000.’

“Funny thing, that’s the last time I heard from him.”

This is the man whose calling card is wheeling and dealing, and McIlvaine has been told not to spend a buck.

The only trades that can be made are the ones that reduce the payroll. This is why starter Bruce Hurst and his $2.75-million salary could go to Boston in exchange for outfielder Phil Plantier in the next few days. It’s why starter Greg Harris ($2 million) and center fielder Darrin Jackson (estimated $2 million) are being shopped. It’s why free agent catcher Benito Santiago and reliever Randy Myers will be gone without so much as an offer of arbitration.

“The frustration is having to make trades when you’re not getting equal return,” McIlvaine said.

Like the Fernandez for Wally Whitehurst, D.J. Dozier and Raul Cassanova trade?

Silence.

“That’s the worst trade I’ve ever been involved in,” a Padre official said. “If Whitehurst wins 10 games for us, and Dozier wins the starting job in left field, it’s still a one-sided trade.

“We’ve had to set some sort of world record for going from a contender to an expansion club in one winter.”

While the Padre ownership is being ridiculed from San Diego to New York--and one American League owner insists that the Padres are for sale--there actually are Padre owners who blame McIlvaine for the public-relations mess.

It’s McIlvaine’s honesty and candidness--such as his assessment of the Fernandez trade--that has the Padre owners stewing. They’re not asking McIlvaine to lie, per say. Just camouflage the truth, a bit.

“I can’t believe what they’re doing to him (McIlvaine),” said one general manager. “The owners never gave Joe a chance, and now you wonder what’s going to happen to him.”

There’s no hiding the possibility this could be McIlvaine’s final winter meetings with the organization. There’s a re-opener in his contract that allow the owners to fire McIlvaine at the All-Star break--halfway through his five-year contract.

“I know it’s a possibility,” McIlvaine said, “but I’m not going to worry about Joe. I’m going to keep trying to build the best organization I can, and if that’s not good enough, what can I do?”

Said Padre President Dick Freeman: “To be honest, that hasn’t even been discussed in any of our meetings. It’s way too early for that to come up.”

Still, McIlvaine is concerned enough about his future that he recently recommended assistant general manager John Barr for the same position in Boston. If McIlvaine is not going to be around, he doesn’t want his people to suffer the same fate.

“I’m in the development of players as well as management,” McIlvaine said. “John’s going to be a general manager one day, and I would never stand in his way.”

Simply, the situation is frustrating. Scouts have been terminated. Coaching positions have been eliminated. Barry Bonds’ contract is worth twice as much as the entire Padre payroll in 1993.

“The hard sell will not be to the public,” said one Padre official, “but to our own players.”

While the rest of the teams in the National League West continue to strengthen themselves, with even the Houston Astros becoming a legitimate contender, the Padres only are becoming weaker.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen to this team in the future,” Darrin Jackson said. “Do they want to win? Right now, to be honest, it’s tough to tell.”

Padre Manager Jim Riggleman, who’s going to have to figure out a way to win without a top-quality shortstop, second baseman, left fielder and bullpen stopper, pleads for patience.

“I can’t expect the public to have confidence in these guys,” Riggleman said, “because they haven’t seen these young players the way we have. I think we’ll be fine.”

And yet . . .

“You have to be realistic,” Freeman said, “and we don’t want to mislead the public and give false hopes.”

The way it appears, that shouldn’t be a problem.