Padres Want to Talk With Raines : Deadline Passes for Outfielder to Re-Sign With Expos

The Padres are interested in negotiating with free-agent outfielder Tim Raines, who didn’t re-sign with the Montreal Expos before the 9 p.m. deadline Thursday, said Ballard Smith, team president.

The Expos had offered Raines, who won the 1986 National League batting title with a .334 average, a three-year, $4.8-million contract.

Raines cannot re-sign with the Expos until May 1. But he is free to negotiate with any other major league team, and the Padres expect to do so.

Last season, Smith said he wouldn’t sign Raines unless Raines had a drug clause in his contract. Though an arbitrator recently ruled that drug clauses cannot be enforced by teams, Raines had a drug clause in his 1986 Montreal contract, and his agent, Tom Reich, has said Raines would agree to a new clause if he signs with San Diego.

In fact, Smith ran into Raines’ agent, Tom Reich, last week at a ski resort in Utah and Smith said he asked Reich if he had contacted Jack McKeon, the Padre general manager.

Reich said he hadn’t.

“But he (Reich) indicated very strongly that Raines was going to go by the Jan. 8 deadline,” Smith said. “And, yes, I told him we’re interested (in Raines). We’d like to know what he wants. I don’t want to get in a bidding contest, but we’d be interested in knowing what he wants.”

Smith admitted that the Montreal $4.8-million offer was a good one.

“A lot of money,” Smith said. “And that may be a problem. He (Raines) turned it down. But I had previously told Jack (McKeon) to contact Reich and tell him we want to talk.”

McKeon said Thursday that he hasn’t called Reich, but that he expects to hear from Reich because Thursday deadline has passed.

“They’ll probably contact me,” McKeon said. “I’d be surprised if I didn’t get some calls the next two days.”