Padres Reportedly Given Deadline on Wiggins

National League President Charles (Chub) Feeney ordered San Diego Padres President Ballard Smith on Thursday either to trade second baseman Alan Wiggins or have Wiggins begin rehabilitation workouts in San Diego today.

By Thursday night, the Padres still had not traded Wiggins, who recently spent 28 days at a drug treatment center because of a chemical dependency.

Smith, who has said that Wiggins will never again play for the Padres as long as he is president of the team, would not comment on the conversation, but two sources close to Wiggins said it did take place. And Eugene Orza, associate general counsel of baseball’s players’ association, confirmed this.

Orza said: “That is my understanding, yes.”

Feeney was unavailable for comment.

Smith, when asked if he would let Wiggins work out, said: “With whom? The Jehovah’s Witnesses?”

Actually, a large group of Jehovah’s Witnesses have gathered at San Diego/Jack Murphy Stadium for a religious meeting, but sources said the workout could take place at the San Diego Chargers’ practice field adjacent to the stadium.

Sources said that Feeney made his request only after the players’ association had asked baseball’s Player Relations Committee to talk to Smith. Under the Joint Drug Agreement, after a player is declared medically fit (Wiggins was declared fit on Monday by the Joint Review Counsel), it is up to the team to determine if he is “physically fit.”