Wiggins Not Pleased With Padre Decision : Apparently, He Wants to Play This Season

Alan Wiggins reportedly was “extremely disappointed” when he heard the Padres didn’t want him this season, and since it is now assumed Wiggins wants to play baseball in 1985, Wiggins’ lawyers will do everything they can to make his wish come true.

And the first step, according to Wiggins’ agent Tony Attanasio, is to find out what the Padres plan to do with Wiggins, who entered a drug treatment center just more than one week ago.

Still, the Padres are vague, saying only that Wiggins will not play for them in 1985. That is not enough information for Attanasio, who wonders if the Padres will trade Wiggins, release him, refuse to pay him or pay him while he sits out the season.

And Attanasio said Sunday he also is confused why the Padres made this decision without speaking to Wiggins’ doctors.

“I don’t know what the (doctor’s) recommendation will be, so we all feel the announcement by the club was a little premature,” Attanasio said. “As it stands now, what happens if Alan Wiggins is prepared to play on May 25? He’ll go to the club and say ‘I’m ready to play, and the doctors say I’m ready to play’ and the team will say no. Then, the player’s association will have to file a grievance.

“He can’t be put on any (inactive) list, and he won’t volunteer to retire . . . I asked Ballard (Smith, Padre president) if he’d consider making a trade, and that was something he said he’d consider. It would solve a problem for the Padres, and probably solve a problem for Alan Wiggins.

” . . . In my opinion, (Wiggins playing with San Diego in) 1986 is as much out of the question as 1985. The only persons to say he shouldn’t play in 1985 are the doctors . . . “

Smith, reached Sunday night to respond to Attanasio’s statements, said: “I will repeat one thing--We don’t think Alan Wiggins should play baseball in 1985. He certainly will not play baseball in San Diego in 1985. If someone can convince us that there’s some other option . . . we’ll be happy to sit down and talk about it.”

So this leaves the door open for a meeting, probably this week, between Smith, Attanasio, and one of Wiggins’ lawyers, Roy Bell. Then, Attanasio will ask Smith what they plan to do with Wiggins once Wiggins is released from the drug treatment center. If Smith’s answers are not satisfactory, it’s likely that a grievance will be filed by the player’s association.

Certainly, Smith has options. He can trade Wiggins, although Wiggins’ market value, once quite high, obviously has fallen. Second, he can give Wiggins an outright release. Third, he can pay Wiggins to sit, but this would not be pleasing to Wiggins’ faction. They would likely have a grievance filed then.

Attanasio did say Sunday that the Padres must pay Wiggins. Smith had said Saturday that Wiggins’ four-year, $2 million contract contained a “drug agreement clause,” implicating that his contract may be voided since he had used drugs again.

And Attanasio revealed, in fact, that there is such a clause in the contract, which says that while Wiggins is with the Padres, he will not be paid during a time he’s suffering from drug or alcohol abuse. Yet, Attanasio also said that clause does not apply now, since Wiggins is protected by major league baseball’s new joint drug agreement.

Under the agreement, a player who voluntarily enters a rehabilitation center must be paid in full, as long as he’s only been in the center for 30 days or fewer. After 30 days, his pay is cut in half. After 60 days, he receives the minimum salary.

So Wiggins is earning his money at this very moment.

Still Attanasio described the anguish Wiggins currently faces. He had called Wiggins on Saturday to tell him what the Padres had done, and while he’d started the explanation, Attanasio’s radio had blared in the background. And the broadcaster had been talking about Wiggins’ status.

Attanasio held the telephone close to the radio so Wiggins could hear. The announcer said Wiggins was through for 1985.

“He was extremely disappointed,” Attanasio said. “It was very distressing news to him, which caused him to feel very very depressed. Fortunately, he’s with people who are experts at handling emotions . . . Normally, when a player is in this (rehabilitation) situation, he’s looking forward to getting out to re-establish his role. But he (Wiggins) has something to look forward to that’s potentially a conflict.

“Right now, he doesn’t know how to handle that, and I don’t either. We need to sit down with the club and seek some other alternative solution.”

Still, it is almost certain that Wiggins won’t play with the Padres this year. Attanasio had posed a scenario to Smith on Saturday, one that went like this: What if Wiggins’ doctors say Wiggins is fine, but that the best treatment is that he begin playing again and not sit out?

“They said no, that it doesn’t make any difference,” Attanasio said.

Padre players maintain that there had been no hints, no signs that Wiggins had had a drug problem.

Said Tony Gwynn, one of Wiggins’ closest friends on the team: “I told him when he came back from the last rehabilitation (in 1982) that he could talk to me or anyone else in the organization (if he had a problem). But he’s the type of person who doesn’t trust anyone, and a lot of guys on our team don’t understand him.”