DRUG CLAUSE CONTROVERY : Valenzuela Set to See Arbitrator : Agent Says Pitcher Won’t Accept Tests

Fernando Valenzuela’s agent said he expects the Dodger pitcher to file for salary arbitration today, the deadline for filing, and added that Valenzuela will not agree to any contract from the Dodgers that includes a clause for mandatory drug-testing.

But the drug-testing issue is independent of Valenzuela’s decision to file for arbitration, since it has not even come up in negotiations, attorney Dick Moss said.

“I should think this would not affect our negotiations,” said Moss, who along with Tony DeMarco represents Valenzuela. “The Dodgers have too much sense to do that to us.”

Two Dodgers, catcher Mike Scioscia and relief pitcher Carlos Diaz, filed for arbitration Thursday, and it is expected that first baseman Greg Brock will join them today. Two other Dodgers eligible for arbitration, pitcher Alejandro Pena and outfielder Candy Maldonado, are postponing their decisions to file until after the owners’ Players Relations Committee meets with representatives of the Major League Players Assn. today in New York.

Pena and Maldonado, who are both represented by agent Tom Reich, apparently are close to coming to terms with the Dodgers. But according to a source close to negotiations, the drug-testing clause has “thrown a wrench into the whole thing.”

Moss said he has had just one negotiating session with the Dodgers, that several weeks ago. The Dodgers are believed to have offered Valenzuela $1.1 million, the same figure the left-hander was paid in 1984. The year before, Valenzuela was awarded $1 million by an arbitrator.

“Our positions are very far apart,” Moss said. “We have heard nothing since then. Bob Walker (the Dodger lawyer) said he’d get back to us, and he hasn’t.”

Moss expressed sharp opposition to the Dodgers’ decision to incorporate a drug clause in their contracts, calling it “the height of arrogance.

“It’s quite apparent that it’s in violation of both the collective bargaining agreement and the drug agreement entered between the players’ association and all clubs,” Moss said. “I have no idea why the Dodgers did it.”

A Dodger spokesman said the team will have no comment until after today’s meeting in New York. Donald Fehr, executive director of the players’ union, is scheduled to meet with Dodger players this afternoon.

Scioscia, the Dodgers’ acting player representative since Burt Hooton went to the Texas Rangers as a free agent, said that the drug-testing clause has not come up in the negotiations between his agent, Richie Phillips, and the Dodgers.

“But if you’re asking me hypothetically, I’m not sure if I would sign it or not--not that I have anything to hide,” said Scioscia, who added that he had not discussed the subject with any other players.

“As a matter of principle, we have an ironed-out agreement on how to deal with the drug problem in baseball, and that agreement is sort of being short-circuited.”

Scioscia, who batted .273 in 114 games after recovering from shoulder surgery, reportedly was paid $175,000 last season. “Realistically, the only way to go is a one-year deal,” he said.

Diaz, who was 1-0 with a 5.49 earned-run-average in 37 games last season, also had not been approached about a drug clause, according to Mike Childers, Diaz’s Chicago-based agent. “But hypothetically, we would defer the signing of any kind of contract that included the clause until we went through the union,” Childers said. “We feel very strongly that this is a union issue.”

Eugene Orza, associate general counsel for the players’ association, said the union has not become aware of the Dodgers’ drug-testing clause until late last week, when it surfaced during Mike Marshall’s contract negotiations. On Monday, Marshall signed a one-year contract that will pay him more than $300,000, saying, “The clause is fine with me. The bottom line is I have nothing to hide.”

Orza said: “One player’s agent told me about dealing with (Dodger Vice President) Al Campanis after the story broke. He said Campanis told him, ‘There’s no deal without it. It’s part of the package.’

“Valenzuela has the leverage,” Orza said. “He can tell them that he won’t sign. But a young kid coming up is afraid to tick off a general manager, so he’ll sign. It’s driving a wedge between us and the players.”

In most cases, a player filing for arbitration comes to terms with a team before an arbitration hearing takes place. Last year, 80 major-league players filed for arbitration, and 70 signed before their scheduled hearings. Arbitration hearings are scheduled in the first 20 days of February.