Stars renew deal with Padres

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.

The Las Vegas Stars will remain the triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres for the 1999 season. Whether that 17-year relationship continues into the next millennium could very well be determined by the voters of San Diego in November.

That's when a referendum to build a new downtown stadium in San Diego will be voted on. If it passes, the chances are good the Stars and Padres, who on Tuesday announced a one-year renewal of their triple-A affiliation, could ink a longer deal. If it fails ...

"If they don't get that new stadium, there could be another fire sale," Stars general manager Don Logan said. "We went through that five years ago (when ex-Padres owner Tom Warner unloaded All-Stars like Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield in moves to slash team payroll). It ripped the heart out of the organization. It decimated their farm system and meant about five of our teams going 30 games under .500. We don't want to be in that position again."

There have been reports out of San Diego that current Padres owner John Moores would either slash his payroll or move the team to the Washington, D.C., area if the new stadium referendum gets voted down.

So instead of signing the standard two-year or four-year deal with San Diego, the Stars opted for just a one-year deal. That could only be done if both sides agreed to the stipulation.

"They understood where we were coming from," Logan said. "To their credit, they still want to stay in Las Vegas."

The Stars could have elected to entertain offers from other major league teams whose affiliations are up for renewal this year, including the A's, White Sox and Angels. However, the two sides reached agreement before today's deadline to notify the Office of the Commissioner and the President of the National Association of Baseball of any desire to reaffiliate.

"I'm happy because it's good to get this over with," Logan said.

Padres GM Kevin Towers, an ex-Stars player, agreed.

"This news might have been even better than our win tonight," Towers said from Philadelphia after San Diego's 5-3 victory over the Phillies. "I know it's only for one year, but I wouldn't want to be any place else in the Pacific Coast League than Las Vegas."

Towers said he felt "pretty positive" that the stadium referendum will pass and the Stars will sign a longer agreement with the Padres next August.

"I hope we remain there," Towers said. "Las Vegas is a great city with great ownership. Mandalay Entertainment, Hank and Ken Stickney and Don Logan do a great job there. We've had a great relationship with them both there and at Rancho Cucamonga (single-A) that we'd like to continue for a long time."