Players Assn. Sets Up Plan for Wiggins Return

The Major League Players Assn., now certain that San Diego Padre second baseman Alan Wiggins is medically fit to play baseball, has devised a plan to get Wiggins back on the playing field this season.

And although this sounds nice, the Padres maintain that Wiggins will not play again for them this year, which ultimately means one of three things will probably happen--Wiggins will be traded; he will be released; or grievances will filed, possibly by both sides.

Right now, it’s a waiting game. The Players Assn., according to its general counsel, Gene Orza, is waiting to hear from Ballard Smith, the Padre president, who, under the joint drug agreement, has a right to have a doctor examine Wiggins before Wiggins returns to the club. Saturday, Wiggins left the Hazelden Foundation drug treatment center in Center City, Minn., and doctors there reportedly gave him a clean bill of health.

Still, Smith has given no indication that he wants to have Wiggins examined. And if the players association doesn’t hear from him soon, Orza said it will bring on step No. 2, which would grant baseball’s Joint Review Counsel, under jurisdiction of the joint drug agreement, the authority to make a decision on Wiggins’ status.

And if that counsel, made up of several doctors, rules that Wiggins shouldn’t play, Orza said Tuesday the players association could then file a grievance.

But there are, as Wiggins’ agent Tony Attanasio points out, a “myriad of possibilities.” The counsel could rule in favor of Wiggins, and the Padres could refuse to use him or send him to the minors. In both cases, grievances would likely be filed.

Or the counsel could rule in favor of Wiggins, and the Padres could file a grievance.

Perhaps the simplest scenario would be a trade, and sources close to the Padres say they would love to talk trade with any major league team, although few teams may be willing to give up much to get him.

But it’s not clear what Wiggins thinks, nor is it clear where he is now. All that’s known is that he spent 28 days at Hazelden, was given medical clearance and, according to Attanasio, is “fine and happy. He’s in good spirits.”

Tuesday, Attanasio went on to say: “There is an existing (drug) agreement, and I would expect the Padres to fulfill their obligation . . . just as Alan Wiggins has fulfilled his.”

Attanasio also said he had a meeting with Smith at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, a meeting about which he would not elaborate. And he said Smith spoke with Wiggins this past Friday night, describing the conversation as a “nice chat.”