Padres and Orioles Haggle Over Money in the Wiggins’ Deal

Padre second baseman Alan Wiggins was on the verge of being traded to the Baltimore Orioles for an undisclosed minor league player late Friday night, but the deal wasn’t completed when the two sides haggled over money, sources said.

“As far as I’m concerned, nothing will happen tonight,” Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager, said Friday night.

McKeon, however, would not elaborate. Meanwhile, Tony Attanasio, Wiggins’ agent, said he could not comment, and Hank Peters, Baltimore general manager, was unavailable for comment.

Sources said the problem with the potential trade is money. The Orioles had agreed to pay Wiggins’ entire four-year, $2.85-million contract. But they also wanted a clause in the deal that stated if Wiggins had a drug relapse during those four years, they could release him and be responsible for just one-third of his remaining contract.

Also, the Padres would be responsible for another third of that contract and Wiggins would lose the final third.

The Padres apparently balked on those figures.

Another potential problem is the role of the Major League Players Assn. There was a question as to whether Wiggins would retain his right to file a grievance under such a clause. Under the basic collective bargaining agreement, he has the right to file a grievance upon being released for drugs, and if he were to waive that right, the association’s executive board would want to vote on whether or not to approve the trade. Apparently, both sides weren’t sure whether they should give the association the right to approve the deal.

Still, sources said the association would approve the deal as long as Wiggins still retained his right to file a grievance. Thus, the snag was whether the Orioles and the Padres would grant Wiggins that right.

Earlier, it seemed that the trade would be approved, pending the executive board’s vote. In the meantime, Wiggins would have been assigned to the rehabilitation list, and would have begun working out with the Orioles.

Wiggins worked out in San Diego Friday morning, after Charles (Chub) Feeney, National League president, had called Ballard Smith, Padre president, Thursday night, ordering Smith to either trade Wiggins or begin his work outs Friday. Smith again received a call from Feeney Friday morning, and Smith confirmed that Wiggins was working out.

“I told them (Thursday) what their options were,” Feeney said Friday. “They had to work him out or send him for rehabilitation in the minors, or release him. And they worked him out. All he (Smith) has done is do what we said he should do. He’s accommodated the rules. Right now, they’re within the rules.”

If the Baltimore trade is not consummated, the Padres still must either have Wiggins work out in San Diego, send him to the minors or release him. And if they release him, he will still be under contract.

Smith said: “We never said he couldn’t work out. He’s been free to work out at the stadium all along (just not with the Padres). And we didn’t do it (Friday) because the player’s association said we had to, because the Player Relations Committee said we had to or because Chub Feeney said we had to. They have nothing to do with what we’ve done in the past, or with what we do in the present or future.”

Smith said Wiggins’ Friday workout was arranged by McKeon. Sources said a couple of minor leaguers were around, and Wiggins worked out with them on San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium grounds. But McKeon said his minor leaguers were in the minor leagues.

“You don’t need minor leaguers to work out,” he said. “You can go to the Y and workout . . . I don’t have anything to say about the workout. I met with him in the clubhouse . . . That’s it.”

Later, McKeon went back to his office and began negotiating with Baltimore.