McReynolds Loses Arbitration, but Feud With Williams May Be Over

Exactly five minutes before Kevin McReynolds’ arbitration hearing Wednesday, this news bulletin leaked out:

Alvin Davis had lost.

McReynolds’ agent, Tom Selakovich, knew right then that McReynolds would lose, too.

He was right. Arbitrator Tom Roberts decided in the Padres’ favor Thursday morning, ruling that McReynolds, a 26-year-old center fielder, should earn $275,000 in 1986, instead of the $450,000 he was asking for.

Davis, the Seattle first baseman, hit .287 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs in 1985 and asked for a $550,000 contract. He lost. That same arbitrator, Roberts, awarded him $400,000.

So was McReynolds going to make $450,000? Impossible. He had done worse than Davis in 1985, hitting only .234 with 15 homers and 75 RBIs.

“When Davis lost . . . there went our case,” Selakovich said.

At least it’s over with. McReynolds could not be reached for comment Thursday, having already flown home to Arkansas. But life goes on. He planned workouts for Thursday and this afternoon, followed by a fishing trip Saturday and Sunday, followed by a long drive back to San Diego early next week. Selakovich said McReynolds was not the least bit bothered by this decision.

“I called him up and said: ‘Kevin, we lost,’ ” Selakovich said. “He goes: ‘Is that right?’ I said: ‘Yeah, we got beat.’ Actually, I was more devastated than he was.”

How devastated is that?

“Well, all I can say is ‘That’s life.’ It’s not sour grapes. I tip my hat to Tal Smith (who argued the case for the Padres). They’re the winners. We have no bitter feelings. If you talk to Jack (McKeon, the Padre general manager), tell him congratulations, and that we’re 1 and 1 (Selakovich, representing pitcher Tim Lollar, won a case against the Padres in 1983), and that he can puff a cigar today, and I don’t get to eat.”

Said McKeon: “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And we know how it is to lose. I won’t gloat because we won, and I wouldn’t have felt sorry had we lost. If it’s in somebody else’s hands, you’ve got to live with it.”

Said Roberts: “Every decision is tough. Every one. The parties have become very sophisticated in their presentations now. He (Selakovich) did a particularly good job. But I regret to tell you that I make a practice of not discussing the procedure (of his decision) other than those general comments I just made.”

And here are some other general comments:

- The Dick Williams-McReynolds rift could be over.

It has been learned that Williams approached Padre President Ballard Smith and asked for a private meeting with McReynolds. McReynolds, told of this in a meeting with Smith and McKeon Tuesday, said he wanted a meeting, too.

It’ll happen next week.

“The relationship between Dick Williams and Kevin is gonna be fantastic this year,” Selakovich said Thursday. “Now, you can quote me on that. It will be fantastic. They will have a working relationship. Those two will meet with nobody around but themselves next week. Really, I hate to take the fire out of all those newspaper articles, but a lot of fire is gone now. A lot of the sizzle is gone. The only thing left to do is put the steak on the table. The sizzle is over.

“They’re not forcing Dick to do this. Dick has asked to talk to Kevin . . . Both of them realize things are not the best between them, but they’re both grown up men, and they know enough that it’s their job to get it together.”

- McReynolds could have gotten more money.

On Tuesday, the Padres offered him a two-year contract, which, sources said, would have paid him $325,000 in 1986. Selakovich turned it down.

“It was very close, but it just wasn’t high enough to what Kevin and I had agreed on,” he said.

And, of course, the Padres had made that six-year, $4.5-million contract last spring, which also was turned down. Had it been accepted, McReynolds would have made approximately $430,000 this upcoming season. But he wanted to take the arbitration gamble.

“They had it (the six-year offer) once, but we’re not interested in going five or six years with anybody anymore,” McKeon said. “Our policy has changed . . . but I can’t fault their decision. Only, the thing about going to arbitration every year is that you have to put good numbers on the board every year to get the giant money. You can roll the dice either way you want.

“Tony Gwynn and some others--Dave Dravecky, Carmelo (Martinez), Andy Hawkins--they don’t have to worry about negotiating every year and getting involved in hassles. We’ll be doing this again next year --negotiating. Who knows, though? Maybe we’ve all learned something.”

Selakovich, on whether he made a mistake turning down the long term contract, said: “The cynics will say we made a mistake, but it’s our feelings that count. And our feelings are that we didn’t make a mistake. It has never been addressed that way.”

- Selakovich thinks he has fewer enemies now.

In the past, he had accused the Padres of asking some of his clients (pitcher Ray Hayward is one) to drop him as an agent or else. He accused them of saying to his clients: “If you don’t drop him, it might hurt your movement in the organization.”

Whether that’s true or not (the Padres deny it), Selakovich feels better because of Tuesday’s meeting with McKeon and Smith.

“We had a peace treaty on Tuesday night,” he said. “Everything from 1981, the day they drafted Kevin, until 1986 was addressed, and we are all very happy with the outcome. . . . I’m proud of the way Ballard Smith treated me. I’m proud to say that I am now a friend of Ballard Smith’s and that I think a lot of things that needed to get out got out. He cleared his chest, and I cleared mine.

“He respects me, and I certainly respect him. I feel very much at peace with everything, except for losing this damn case.”