Majority owner John Moores is on the verge of selling a one-third interest in the Padres to Jeff Moorad, a general partner of the Diamondbacks, and about a dozen partners. The announcement of that closing could occur at a media conference as early as Thursday and will come nearly three months after Moorad began the process of purchasing a portion of the team. "We're awfully close to being able to announce the deal," Moores said when reached by telephone on Wednesday night. "Things have gone as well as I could've expected, particularly because of Commissioner Bud Selig and his staff. The process has been fairly smooth from the beginning up until now. There have been no surprises."