Raines Works Out, Waits for Deal

Tim Raines has been taking batting practice from 15- and 16-year-old pitchers for a month now, and he has come to the following conclusions:

--Teen-age pitchers are a pain in the neck.

--He would love to see a 90 m.p.h. fastball again.

--He’ll never make $2 million this year.

--And he’ll be lucky to make $1.5 million.

Jack McKeon, the Padres’ general manager, says Tim Raines is the best player ever to become a free agent, yet no one will offer him a raise.

So it has come to this: Raines said by telephone Friday that he is willing to sign a one-year contract for a base salary less than $1.5 million (which is what he made with the Montreal Expos last season), as long as he can make $1.5 million with incentive clauses.

He said that because he doesn’t want to sit out the season and because he realizes the owners are pretty stingy nowadays. He also said he will play for one of only four teams--the Padres, the Dodgers, the Braves and the Astros. He’s not interested in any teams from the National League East because of the Mets. The Mets are too strong, he said. And he wants to go to the playoffs.

So is anyone interested? Ballard Smith’s Padres are the only team to have made an offer, and it was a two-year deal worth $2.2 million.

“How did I feel about their offer?” Raines said Friday. “Well, it’s like you wanting to buy a new car with a used-car price.

“I realize their job is to try and get salaries down, but you’re talking about a player who plays 150 games a year and who’s not really injury-prone at all. You can bet I’ll be out there every day. I’m only 27. I feel I haven’t even reached my peak yet. It’s not like I’m over the hill.”

Smith stopped pursuing Raines about two weeks ago when Raines’ agent, Tom Reich, said Raines would not sign for less than $1.5 million. But, when he was told Friday that Raines would sign for less than $1.5 million, Smith responded: “Tim Raines was doing a lot of talking a month ago and (was) basically saying the same thing. But his agent is doing his contract, and I haven’t heard from his agent.”

And Smith has no plans to call Reich.

So Tim Raines is all dressed up with nowhere to go--except to high school baseball practice.

He has been working out at his alma mater, Seminole High School in Sanford, Fla.

“It’s a difficult situation,” said Raines, who wears his old Seminole baseball cap during workouts. “Here I am, a big league ballplayer, and I’m working out with high school kids. You can’t find a 15- or 16-year-old kid who throws as hard as a big league ballplayer, so it’s tough to get your swings in.

“And then I’m afraid I might hit one of their guys on the mound. Some of their pitches are afraid to throw ‘em over the plate, and some want to strike me out. I only get about 10 or 11 swings a day.”

He really longs to face a guy such as St. Louis’ Todd Worrell or the Padres’ Goose Gossage.

“I’m getting itchy,” he said. “I’ve been playing pro baseball for 10 years. I’m used to being in spring training at this time. There’s only three more weeks left, and I haven’t been to spring training for one day.”

In 1982, Raines spent 30 days in the Orange County Medical Clinic for treatment of a cocaine dependency. But he says this winter’s free agency has been much harder to deal with.

“Yeah, by far,” he said. “Well, going through the drug thing was hard, but it didn’t really have anything to do with baseball. But I think it made me stronger. Mentally, I think it made me tough, and it think maybe it got me ready for this year.”

To some he seems greedy because he says he’s worth $2 million a year. The Expos offered him a three-year contract worth $4.8 million, and Smith, among others, thinks he was crazy to turn it down.

“Turning down $4.8 million? They don’t know the full story,” Raines said. “I wanted to go somewhere else. The Expos and everyone else can say it was a fair offer, but I wanted to leave. If I wanted to stay in Montreal, I would have stayed.

“It’s not at all like you read in the papers--’Tim Raines wants too much money.’ That’s not true at all. All I ask is for a team to be fair to me. Being fair is not offering $1.1 million a year for two years.”

Fair, to him, is a contract worth, perhaps, $1.3 million, plus incentive clauses.

“There are ways to do it (to get to $1.5 million),” Raines said. “Listen, how old was Steve Garvey when he became a free agent? About 34? It’s not like I’ve got two or three more years left. I’ve got 10 more years unless I get run over by a truck.

“Free agents like (Andre) Dawson and (Lance) Parrish have both signed, and they were risks (Parrish has a back problem; Dawson has knee problems). But myself, I’m no risk. I can make a team better. They’ll help their new teams, but a player like myself is an impact player. I can turn a whole team around.”

Raines figures he can sign a one-year contract and then go to arbitration.

“Oh, if I went to arbitration, I’m sure I could make $2 million,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people know that.”

It’s the same strategy that his former Montreal teammate Dawson is planning. Dawson signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs (including incentive clauses), but his base salary is only $500,000.

“Andre’s in a situation where the team (the Cubs) didn’t know how his knees were,” Raines said. “And he’s 32. And his production has gone down. With me, I’m hardly ever hurt, and my production is going up. You’re not really taking a chance signing me. I’ll hit .330 to .350.”

But with whom? Padre Manager Larry Bowa wishes Raines would come play for him.

“With a guy like him, it’ll be a little easier to score runs,” he said. “You can literally manufacture a run with him. Without getting a hit, probably.

“He wants $1.3 million plus incentives to get to $1.5?” Bowa said. “That’s fair. But it’s not my money. If it was my money, I’d do it in a second. I’m sure they (the Padres) are going to say, ‘Just let Larry manage. We’ll worry about the money.’ ”

Smith appears in no rush. He says he won’t call Raines’ agent. He says: “They know where to find me.”

And we know where to find Raines: dodging teen-age fastballs.

Padre Notes The Padres lost their third straight exhibition game Friday, 3-2, to Dick Williams’ Seattle Mariners. Eric Show started for the Padres Friday and gave up a long home run to Ken Phelps. . . . Center fielder Stan Jefferson sat out Friday’s game. He had suffered a mild concussion in Thursday’s game after getting hit in the head on a pickoff play, and he still had headaches Friday. “The sun’s bothering me,” he said. “I got a wicked headache. I’m not exactly on all cylinders.”