Raines Offers Proposal to the Padres : Free Agent Willing to Sign for $1.3 Million and Incentive Clauses

A representative for free-agent outfielder Tim Raines made a contract proposal to the Padres Friday, and the team is deciding whether to accept it, a source close to negotiations said Saturday.

Raines has offered to sign a one-year contract for about $1.3 million with various incentive clauses that could earn him as much as $1.5 million for the season, the source said.

Ballard Smith, Padre president, could not be reached for comment Saturday night, and Jack McKeon, Padre general manager, declined comment.

Raines’ agent, Tom Reich, would not discuss the offer. However, in a telephone interview from Sarasota, Fla., Reich confirmed that his office had recently been in touch with McKeon.

Reich did say Saturday that Raines--the 1986 National League batting champion--will sign for less than $1.5 million as long as there are incentive clauses involved. He also said a deal will be struck with one of four teams--Raines has said it would be the Padres, Dodgers, Atlanta Braves or Houston Astros--in the next week, and possibly as soon as today.

Reich said there was no time to waste “because sometime in the next week, Raines is going to be in uniform, as far as I’m concerned. It’s an all-out commitment to have him in uniform in the next week.”

Sources said the Padres are Raines’ first choice and that Reich is waiting to hear from Smith before he makes his next move.

“This kid could be on a plane to Phoenix (where the Padres are playing) tomorrow,” Reich said Saturday. “Or he can be in another camp (in Florida) in an hour.

“They (the Padres) can get a little softer of a deal now than I was willing to do before. It’s that simple. It’s because of the environment. . . . If San Diego is at all in their wits, they can do something immediately on this. It’s no revelation to them. They know this.”

Reich said he would not get into a bidding war.

“When somebody gets on the phone with me and something is struck, it’s over,” he said. “In other words, there will be no conversations with any other team, and Raines will be on a plane. That’s how this can work. That’s how one day this week it will work. Or this weekend, I should say. When I say this week, the likelihood is that it will go down in the next 48 (hours). But it could be a few days longer than that.

“There are four teams that I don’t even have to call Tim about. I just say over the phone to them, ‘That’s a deal,’ and the next call is to Tim to say, ‘Meet me in Oshkosh’ or wherever. San Diego is one of the (four) teams he’ll get on a plane to go to them immediately without any dialogue with me.”

Raines made $1.5 million with the Montreal Expos last season, and he said Friday he turned down a three-year, $4.8-million offer from the Expos not because it was a bad offer, but because he wanted to get out of Montreal.

When Reich opened negotiations with the Padres and other teams, he told them Raines was a $2-million-a-year player. Later, he said Raines wouldn’t sign for less than $1.8 million.

“Yes, if you asked me two months ago if I would take less than $1.8 million, I would have said no,” Reich said Saturday.

On March 8, Reich told Smith that he would not settle for less than $1.5 million a year.

“But now, at this date, I am flexible,” Reich said. “I have other options. I do believe he would take some sort of a discount off his base (of last year’s $1.5-million contract), as long as he could get it back (through incentives) with a normal Tim Raines season. The environment right now is intolerable in the sense of the unilateral control that’s being exercised (by owners). There’s nothing anybody can realistically expect to do that will change it in an instant.”

So Reich and Raines are willing to sign for less--given the incentive clauses. Raines said there should be an attendence clause, as well as other clauses for a certain number of at-bats, games, stolen bases and hits and winning the batting title.

“If I perform, it’ll give me a chance (to make $1.5 million),” Raines said Friday. “But the thing is, I’d have to prove myself. It’s not like I’m a first-year player. I think they (the clauses) would have to be something I can reach.”

Reich and Raines’ plan is for him to sign a one-year contract now and then go to arbitration after the season or sign a multiyear contract.

“I don’t intend to do more than a one-year contract now,” Reich said. “But I’d want it to be a place that he could be for the next five years. . . . Because that’s what he wants, and that’s what I want for him.”

Without a doubt, the Padres want Raines. Manager Larry Bowa keeps asking reporters if they have heard any news regarding negotiations, and Bowa said Friday, “Somebody’s got to take charge, whether it be Tim Raines or Ballard Smith. It seems like nobody wants to take charge. To me, it looks like a lack of communication somewhere.”

But now there is an offer on the table.

Reich is waiting.

Padre Notes The Padres overcame a four-run deficit Saturday to defeat the Cleveland Indians, 11-8, in Tucson. They trailed, 8-4, in the seventh inning, but right fielder Tony Gwynn’s bases-loaded single cut the lead in half, and then Marvell Wynne scored from third on a double steal. The Indians’ lead was one run when first baseman Steve Garvey (three hits) singled in the eighth. Garvey scored on catcher Mark Parent’s double. Pitcher Jimmy Jones, running for Parent, scored the go-ahead run on designated hitter Tim Flannery’s single to right. Gwynn and third baseman Kevin Mitchell added RBIs in the ninth. . . . Gwynn finished with three hits and four RBIs. . . . Starting pitcher Andy Hawkins gave up seven runs (six earned), nine hits and two walks in three innings of work. Dave Dravecky followed and gave up two hits and a run in three inings. Craig Lefferts picked up the save with two scoreless innings. . . . The Padres’ spring record is 5-4, and they meet the Oakland A’s in Phoenix at 12:05 p.m. today. . . . Center fielder Stan Jefferson left Saturday’s game after three innings because of dizziness. He had been beaned on the head Thursday while avoiding a pickoff play at second, and he still is bothered by the hot sun.