Smith Makes His Decision on Wiggins : But Padre President Won’t Release the Statement Until Later

Ballard Smith, the Padre president, said Friday that he has decided what to do with Alan Wiggins, but will wait to release a statement.

“I’m not going to tell you now,” he said before Friday’s game against the Cubs. “. . . I don’t know when a good time is--probably sooner, than later.”

Wiggins, the Padre starting second baseman, mysteriously disappeared before the series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last weekend, and then voluntarily entered an unidentified drug treatment center. Because he volunteered, he is protected by baseball’s joint drug agreement, which means he cannot be suspended.

“It may be the only area of the game where he (baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth) is powerless,” Smith said.

Consequently, Wiggins’ status will be determined instead by his lawyers and the Padres, who must come to some agreement. If no agreement can be reached, an unbiased joint review counsel, made up of three doctors, will decide. But Smith has said this counsel cannot order Wiggins back onto the team.

So what this means is that Smith can decide what to do with Wiggins, who was suspended from baseball for 30 days in 1982 for cocaine possession. Smith can bring Wiggins back on the team or pay him his two-year guaranteed contract to sit out.

And it’s almost certain that Wiggins won’t return, at least not this season. Smith had once said that if Wiggins ever had a relapse, he’d probably never play again for the Padres. Last week, he said he remembered that statement and would stick by it, although he said he’d talk Wiggins before he’d do anything.

As of Friday, Smith still hadn’t spoken to Wiggins.