Smith Lays to Rest All Predictions of Raines in San Diego

Ballard Smith, the Padres’ president, could have signed free-agent outfielder Tim Raines to a one-year, $1.2-million contract on Monday--$300,000 less than Raines’ base salary last season--but Smith decided to pass.

“I have . . . decided to terminate all discussions with Mr. Raines and his representative,” Smith said in a statement. “After reviewing this latest proposal, it became clear to me that we are not going to reach an agreement to sign Tim Raines.

“I took this step based on our basic philosophy, which is that the long-term success of the franchise will be based on the players we develop through our excellent farm system.”

Smith, contacted later at home, would not elaborate on why he didn’t sign Raines, the 1986 National League batting champion. Asked if there was pressure from other owners not to sign Raines, Smith said: “Other than the statement, I have no comment.”

Raines’ agent, Tom Reich, said Saturday he had “an all-out commitment to have (Raines) in uniform in the next week. . . . If these people (the Padres) don’t get this done, they are dumber than anything I can imagine.”

But Monday, after having such a low offer turned down, Reich said: “Yes, I’ve said I intend to have this resolved if humanly possible. But I can’t make a one-way deal. I guess I’ve demonstrated my seriousness with a proposal like this that was under last year’s salary. And it was for a guy who’d just won the batting crown and who is one of the megastars of the game.”

When negotiations began in January, Reich told the Padres that Raines--who made $1.5 million with Montreal in 1986--was a $2-million-a-year player. The Padres countered with a two-year, $2.2-million offer that was turned down. Later, Reich said Raines would sign for no less than $1.8 million a year. Later, he said he’d sign for no less than $1.5 million.

Friday, Reich’s assistant--Bill Landman--told the Padres Raines would sign a one-year deal for $1.2 million, plus various incentive clauses that could earn him as much as $1.5 million for the season.

Smith--who said he was handling the deal without help from Jack McKeon, the Padres’ general manager--used the weekend to mull over the offer. Landman called Smith Monday. Smith never made a counter-proposal. Instead, Reich says Smith told Landman: “We’re going another way.”

Earlier in the day, Raines and Reich had appeared on “The Today Show” on NBC, where Raines said with a smile that there was a chance he would sign with San Diego.

“We thought it was close,” Reich said. “We were ready to fly to Phoenix (where the Padres currently are located) tomorrow. When I say I ready to fly, let’s say it was penciled in that I’d be flying to Phoenix no later than Wednesday.

“We did try--because he loves Southern California so much--to cut this deal. . . . The discussions are over permanently.”

Raines has said he will only sign with teams in the National League West. And he admitted he has interest in the Dodgers, the Braves and Astros. Sources said Reich has a meeting planned with one of those teams today.

Bobby Cox, the Braves’ general manager, was told what Reich offered to San Diego and said: “When the numbers come down, we’ll be interested.”

Raines--in a telephone interview from his home in Florida--said: “This is kind of hard to understand. I was ready. Things were sounding so good. I couldn’t have been happier. To have things going so good and all of a sudden, that’s it? No more? It’s hard to believe. And then it was for no reason. They never really gave a reason.

“I mean, for me to be thinking about playing for less than last year . . . it was weird, anyway. I don’t know what’ll happen next. Somebody will be happy (when they get him), and some guys won’t. But I’ll be happy whatever happens. For sure, I’m not going back to Montreal, though. No, I’m not going back.”

Reich said Raines is not panicking.

“He’s fine. Tim’s super,” Reich said. “You couldn’t have a guy who’s a better fellow. He’s got a heart. All he’s shown me this year--through this ordeal by fire--is that he’s as big a man off the field as on the field.”

Smith, meanwhile, is about to take a lot of abuse for ending negotiations. When he attended a spring training game in Yuma recently, fans chanted: “Sign Tim Raines! Sign Tim Raines!” More than 100 season ticket holders also threatened not to renew their tickets if Raines wasn’t signed.

Elten Schiller, a senior vice president in charge of business operations for the Padres, said Monday that about 10 or 15 people have called in the last week to cancel season tickets because Raines hadn’t been signed.

Smith, asked about the inevitable abuse in the coming weeks, said: “Hey, I understand that. No matter what happens, you take a certain risk when you set out to do things. It’s always possible it doesn’t work out and you may take some heat, but that’s fine. I don’t have any problem with that. No problem at all.”

Most of the Padre players and coaches were paying attention to the negotiations. Manager Larry Bowa was calling sportswriters on the telephone and asking: “Anything up?”

Some players were doing the same thing. Earlier in negotiations, right fielder Tony Gwynn was a middle-man between Smith and Raines. Raines would tell Gwynn what he was thinking, and Gwynn would relay the news to Smith.

But Monday, after Smith’s announcement, Gwynn would not comment.

Outfielder John Kruk was interested because Raines likely would have taken Kruk’s place in left field. But Kruk said he wanted Raines anyway.

“Ballard says he wants to go with young guys? How old is Raines . . . 27? So he’s old? I don’t know. I’m just glad to be here. Yeah, I wanted him here, too. Isn’t everyone’s goal to go to the playoffs and win a championship? Wouldn’t he have helped us? Yeah. I don’t know why they wouldn’t have signed him. He told me last year, San Diego was his No. 1 choice. I’d roll out the red carpet for him.”

Shortstop Garry Templeton said: “It’s a business decision, I guess. I’m like anybody else, I don’t know what’s going on. If they’d rather shell out $60,000 for a young kid, that’s strictly a business decision right there.”

McKeon wouldn’t comment on the contract proposal, but he admitted Raines would have helped the team.

“It hurts for a while, but you’ve got to go on with your ballclub,” he said.

Bowa, asked if the Padres can be contenders, said: “Everything’s got to fall into place perfectly. There’s no room for error. These kids will make mistakes, and we’ve just got to be patient, I guess. There will be some long, sleepless nights.”

Padre Notes

The Padres trailed early, 3-0, but rallied to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-6, Monday. Catcher Benito Santiago had five RBIs, giving him the team-high 13. However, Santiago has struggled recently on his throws to second base. In his last two games, he has thrown three into deep center field. “He’s hurrying (the throws),” Manager Larry Bowa said. “He’s standing up straight. He won’t start tomorrow’s game, so we can work with him on it. He knows.” . . . Rookie outfielder Shawn Abner doubled in the ninth inning Monday, and Bowa says he has been more impressed with Abner lately. “I’ll give him more playing time,” Bowa said. . . . Storm Davis started for the Padres Monday and gave up the early runs, but Bowa said he wasn’t disappointed. Instead, he thinks Davis is being too tentative.