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Padres Complete as Show Shows : Opening Day, Contract Among the Things on His Mind

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Times Staff Writer

The last missing player reported to Padre spring training Friday, and it became official that pitcher Eric Show had been in bed all week with the flu. The announcement was made by his face.

“Either he had the flu,” pitching coach Pat Dobson observed, “or he’s been sleeping on a flour bag all winter.”

A pale Show--six days late and nearly a waist size lighter--showed up just in time to impressively complete a workout that included 12 minutes of strong pitching. Afterward he quickly showered, dressed, and begged forgiveness for hustling to the nearest bed, lest someone need to carry him there.

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“I’m still not right,” he said. “How sick? I’m sick enough. I don’t know how to measure that stuff.”

Show, an eight-year veteran coming off his best season, did stick around long enough to talk about the two things that could make his month here, well, a bit queasy.

1) It appears the opening day starting assignment, April 3 in San Diego against San Francisco, is his. The Padre bosses, who can’t comment openly on this now, will likely make final decision after Show’s fourth spring start, in which he is scheduled to go five innings for a second consecutive time.

If at that time he is still in possession of an elbow and fingers, he will be the pick. This should make Show uneasy but happy.

2) It appears he and agent Steve Greenberg are having problems with his new contract, worth a potential $3.6 million over three years, one an option year. When it was signed in mid-October, the Padres weren’t giving out three-year guarantees. Then baseball’s economics suddenly changed, and Bruce Hurst and Tony Gwynn got them. This could made Show uneasy, and unhappy.

Wherever he decides to end up emotionally, he is starting off with a surer step than last spring, when Dobson said Show would finally learn to reach his potential, or they would both die trying.

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When asked if Show was his biggest project last season, Dobson said, “Yeah. He was pretty headstrong. (Pause) But I was pretty headstrong too. We battled there for a while. But now I actually feel pretty close to him.”

Perhaps the relationship was forged on Show’s splendid 1988 finish, when he won his last five starts and nine of his last 10 decisions. He finished with a career high 16 victories (with 11 losses) including 13 complete games, the most by a Padre in 13 years.

Then there was the stat that really made Dobson happy--Show walked just 53 men in 234 2/3 innings, only two per inning. The Padre staff wound up with a team record for fewest walks (439), Dobson was given a nice contract, and all was forgiven--including the loud argument June 24 in Atlanta.

You might remember. That’s where, because of questionable fielding, Show gave up four runs in the first inning of an eventual 4-3 loss to the Braves. He, not the fielders, were later criticized by Manager Jack McKeon and Dobson. Show heard the criticism and confronted the pair, setting off a match of raised voices.

In the middle of the clubhouse, Show ended it by looking at Dobson and saying, “I’m ashamed for you, Dobber.”

Eight months later, Dobson is proud of Show, so proud that he is pushing him for the opening day start.

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“After that game, I think he really progressed and became able to face a lot of things without rattling,” Dobson said. “Errors didn’t rattle him, tiny hits didn’t rattle him, he showed he could cope with all the bull. He became a lot more aggressive, almost like, ‘I’m going to show you, guys.’ That’s the kind of guy you want out there for you opening day.”

It would be Show’s fourth opening day start, all within the past six years. Where last season he went along with Larry Bowa’s experiment to save him for the third game and ease off the pressure, this year he says he is ready.

“Pat (Dobson) and I talked about it, he asked how I felt about it, and I said it’s fine,” Show said. “I turned it down last year at Bowa’s behest, we mixed it all up, and it didn’t really work (the Padres dropped their first five games).

“So yeah, it’s OK with me. But it’s still no big deal. It’s just another game, but with a lot more hoopla.”

Ed Whitson, who pitched his first opening day last season, said it was also fine with him: “All it is is more publicity. I don’t need any more of that. I’ll just take my starts and go on home.”

Bruce Hurst, whom you might think would be the opening day starter if you didn’t understand McKeon’s and Dobson’s sense of loyalty, also does not mind. “It’s not that big of a start when you consider some of the ones you’ll make later,” said Hurst, speaking from playoff and World Series experience.

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Nonetheless, Dobson thinks opening day is an honor, and Show is worthy of it.

“After the way he pitched last year, he’s earned it,” Dobson said. “Bruce Hurst pitched great last year, too. But he did it in Boston.”

Now for Show’s spring fever. His agent, Greenberg, said Friday that the Padres changed their fiscal policy within “a couple of weeks” of signing free agent Show. He said he wants Show’s contract to include that change.

Essentially he wants Show’s third year, currently at the club’s option and worth $1.4 million, to be guaranteed, and perhaps for more Bruce Hurst-type money ($1.6 million) while the Padres are at it.

The Padres’ problem is that the contract already heavily weighs in Show’s favor. If he throws 175 innings in either of the next two years, the option is automatically guaranteed. Show has topped 200 innings in five of the past six years.

Also, the third year contains a unique arbitration clause: If Show’s $1.4 million salary isn’t market value, he could take the club to arbitration.

“We really don’t expect this to be a big deal,” said Dick Freeman, the Padres’ interim president. “We’ve had general discussions with the agent, and I’ll sit down with Eric one of these days, and we’ll just chat.”

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It’s not as if Show will walk out of camp, according to Greenberg. But he already has been burned by signing too early and not testing a free agent market that later went haywire. Any further perceived burns might not be good employee relations.

“It’s like if you have two kids, and you tell one he has a 10 p.m. curfew, and then a couple of weeks later when the other kid goes out, you change the curfew to midnight,” Greenberg explained. “Shouldn’t you let the first kid come home at midnight, too?

“When we signed, we were told certain policy things couldn’t be changed. Then a couple of weeks later, the policy is turned on its head. We just think it’s a logical question to ask that our contract discussions be revisited.”

Show, a jazz guitarist who had a difficult enough winter producing two jazz albums under his own label, said he prefers not to discuss money yet.

“I’m just thankful for the opportunity to play here,” Show said. “My money is not mega-mega-mega, but it’s still pretty good. I wouldn’t even think about leaving camp over it. It just want to get working and get that Yuma feeling again.”

There’s a song title in there somewhere. By now, you’ve probably figured that nothing Eric Show does, not even simply showing up at training camp, is less than lyrical.

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