Padres Sell Shortstop Thon to the Phillies

The Padres accommodated shortstop Dickie Thon’s wish to be traded Friday by selling his contract to the Philadelphia Phillies for an undisclosed amount of cash.

It is believed that the selling price was close to the major league limit of $400,000.

Thon batted .264 with 1 home run and 18 runs batted in last season in 95 games while being platooned with Garry Templeton.

Unhappy about not playing every day, Thon, 30, exercised his right and demanded to be traded on Nov. 1. The Padres were then forced to trade him by March 15, or he would have become a free agent.

The Phillies say they will offer something the Padres would not: the chance for Thon to play every day.

“We made this move to have Dickie Thon as our regular shortstop, and we feel we have improved ourselves,” said new Philadelphia manager Nick Leyva.

Said Philadelphia General Manager Lee Thomas: “Everybody I talked to who knew him, and that includes Larry Bowa, said he’ll be a definite asset to our club. I know he’s not the player he once was, and he won’t play 162 games, but if he can hit .250 or .260 . . . I know he’ll do the job in the field, and that will help us.”

The Padres signed Thon as a free agent on Feb. 18, 1988, after he had been released by Houston. But the 1983 National League All-Star has not been the same player since being hit in the head by a Mike Torrez pitch on April 8, 1984, suffering a fracture and later vision impairment. After the accident, his vision was 20-300; currently, it’s 20-40.

Thon, a switch-hitter, batted .302 against left-handers in 139 at-bats and .218 against right-handers in 119 at-bats in 1988.