N.L. Champion Padres Fill Ship With Ace, Fireman, Utilityman : LaMarr Hoyt : Cy Young Honoree Offers Winning Hand

SAN DIEGO —  After watching the Padre starting pitchers take a beating during the World Series last fall, LaMarr Hoyt thought San Diego could use a hand. His hand.

“The first thing that crossed my mind,” he said Wednesday, “was that I could help that team. If I got traded, and I wasn’t really thinking of being traded, I thought San Diego might be a place I could end up.”

Dewey LaMarr Hoyt, the 1983 American League Cy Young Award winner with the Chicago White Sox, became the Padres’ property on Dec. 6. He came to San Diego, along with two minor league players, for pitcher Tim Lollar, utilityman Luis Salazar and two from the minors.

Hoyt, the pivotal man in the seven-man transaction, discussed just how much help he might be to the defending National League champions.

Obviously, much is expected. Hoyt, 30, comes to the Padres perceived as the staff ace, a pitcher who would not have been subjected to the ignominies afflicted upon Padre starters by both the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers in post-season play.

“You can’t look for one person to be the savior and pick everybody else up,” Hoyt said. “Actually, you’ve got to have a pretty good pitching staff to get into the World Series. I just want to do my part to help out.”

At his most controversial Wednesday, Hoyt expressed mild surprise that the White Sox traded him after a 13-18 season in 1984. After all, he was 61-31 through his first four major league seasons and went 24-10 in his Cy Young year.

“I feel like the White Sox may have been premature in their judgment,” he said, “but that’s their prerogative. It’s a business, and I guess they were trying to protect themselves. The right deal came along and they had an opportunity to get out from under my contract, so they went for it.”

And the Padres, facing the five years at a reported $1 million a year, went for it. What’s more, they guaranteed it for the duration, three more years than the White Sox would.

“It might have seemed like not many people would have been interested after the losing season I had,” Hoyt said, “but the Padres seemed to have the ability to look beyond things like that.”

Hoyt’s waistline, an ample sample of girth, was apparently his undoing in Chicago. The suspicion was that his earned-run average was in some way connected with his weight.

It was undoubtedly a sensitive subject to Hoyt, but the media didn’t bother him with it until at least 20 seconds of the conference had passed.

“In this league,” he mused, “I can probably burn a little bit off running the bases.”

To Hoyt, however, weight is not such a burning issue. He said he weighed approximately 258 pounds the past two seasons. Right now, he said, he weighs 248 to 250.

“I’ve lost a little bit,” he said. “I try to watch what I eat. Stay away from red meat and fatty foods.”

Hoyt looked somewhat slimmer Wednesday, but it might have been the neat trim of his beard and hair. He is frequently pictured with a scraggly beard and hair flying out from under his cap.

His appearance didn’t seem to matter to the Padres. They had acquired a pitcher, not a Gentleman’s Quarterly model.

“I had a young man who pitched three years for me in Oakland who’s the same kind of pitcher,” Manager Dick Williams said, “and he came up with some of the higher numbers in the Hall of Fame balloting. His name was Catfish Hunter. He was my money pitcher in my money games.”

And so, LaMarr Hoyt has been acquired by a team which was short-changed in the World Series, the biggest of the big-money games.