Padres Appear Built for Last

The rebuilding process that began when San Diego Padre owner John Moores decided to tear down his 1998 pennant winner has encountered more delays than construction of the downtown ballpark.

The park is about to be completed, but it is difficult to say where the team is other than that it has more chance of repeating the 96 losses of last year than contending in the National League West.

Injuries, payroll restrictions and developmental setbacks have impeded progress, leaving the Padres to install a revolving door on their roster and accelerate and expand the level of force-feeding.

General Manager Kevin Towers insists that he and Manager Bruce Bochy aren’t conceding, but “we’re realists. We knew even before we lost [the injured Phil Nevin and Trevor Hoffman] ... we’d have a hard time competing.

“If that means 66 or 67 wins again, then 66, 67 it is. I would much rather watch these kids play, taking their lumps some days and having success on others, than I would putting a 35- or 40-year-old club out there that has no chance to win and no hope going forward.”

Towers, of course, thought he had a happier blend of young and older before Nevin, who is out for the year, went down for a second straight season and Hoffman, out until at least August, was forced to have a second shoulder surgery.

Pitchers Jay Witasick, Kevin Walker and Kevin Jarvis also opened the season on the disabled list, reviving nightmares of last year, when 20 Padres went on the disabled list and the club set major league records by using 59 players and 37 pitchers.

“As a $40-million club we can’t afford to have $20 million or so on the disabled list,” Towers said. “We’re left with a $25-million club competing against $100-million clubs, and that makes it difficult. The injuries have killed us because we’ve had a hard time gauging where we are in this process and how good we are. Two years ago we were close to being a .500 team [at 76-86], but we’ve never had our team out there since. We’re constantly trying to piece the thing together to be respectable.”

The hope, Towers said, is that a core of young players like third baseman Sean Burroughs, 22, right fielder Xavier Nady, 24, and pitchers Jake Peavy and Oliver Perez, both 21 and regular members of a rotation in which Brian Lawrence, 26, is the senior, can progress and gain experience moving toward the new park next year.

The Oakland A’s are cited as the industry model for what can be done with limited revenue and good scouting and development.

But the A’s had six consecutive losing seasons between the basic end of the Bash Brothers era and the 87-win start of the current success in 1998.

The Padres, however, have been blessed with a more consistent and resilient fan base, drawing two million or more for seven straight seasons. But Towers’ payroll restrictions haven’t been lifted by Moores, whose losses in eight years of ownership are claimed to be more than $100 million, some of that in litigation fighting ballpark lawsuits.

Moores has also had a series of personal legal problems that continue with an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into his software company, but he has donated millions of dollars in San Diego and assured Towers that the payroll leash will be loosened in Petco Park.

The Philadelphia Phillies also move into a new ballpark next year and opted not to wait before expanding the payroll. The Phillies decided to build momentum for the move by borrowing against the increased revenue of the new park to sign free agents Jim Thome and David Bell and trade for arbitration-eligible Kevin Millwood, among other investments.

Moores and Towers have taken some hits for not following a similar course, but Towers said, “I still don’t think any one player makes that big a difference.

“The Phillies probably felt they were a pitcher and hitter away from winning the division. We weren’t in that situation, so why go out and spend the money now?”

The Padres saved about $5 million in the recent trade that sent Bubba Trammell and pitching prospect Mark Phillips to the New York Yankees for Rondell White, but Towers wouldn’t say how much more he will be allowed to spend next winter.

He knows the player who heads “our wish list,” Japanese shortstop Kazuo Matsui, won’t come cheaply or without competition.

Towers will go to Japan next month to scout Matsui, a top-of-the-lineup catalyst whom some consider to be better than Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui, and possibly find a way to begin selling him on the charm of San Diego and the new park and assure him the Padres are committed to winning.

That commitment has taken a beating amid the injuries and lengthier rebuilding process, and for a veteran like first baseman Ryan Klesko, who was traded out of the championship environment of Atlanta, it has been both “frustrating and rewarding.”

“Anyone with a passion for winning like I have never gets used to having his rear kicked, but it’s also rewarding to help the young players when they come up,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing a lot of young players get their first hit or first win the last couple years. I’ve also seen a lot of guys who don’t deserve to be here.”

Towers hopes to sort out those who do this year, hopes that Nevin and Hoffman can return effectively in Petco while knowing there is no guarantee, hopes that he can add to the young core with an expanded payroll and hopes that a group of high draft choices now in the minors -- rewards for bad finishes at the big league level -- will come quickly.

There is a long way between hope and reality, but then there were often times when it didn’t look as if the building of the new ballpark would be completed either.