Padre Bid to Davis $1.5 Million Short

The Padres are willing to make Mark Davis the highest-paid reliever in baseball, but they still are at least $1.5 million shy of meeting Davis’ asking price, according to sources close to the negotiations.

Sources said the Padres have offered Davis a three-year guaranteed contract for $5.5 million that would pay him an annual salary of $1.7 million a year through 1992 and a $300,000 signing bonus.

Davis and agent Alan Hendricks are said to be seeking in excess of $7 million over three years but are expected to make a counter-offer today.

“We’re just a phone call away, that’s all,” said Fred Lane, a Chicago-based attorney who’s handling the negotiations for the Padres. “I don’t anticipate a problem. Mark’s a perfect fit for the Padres, and we’re going to do everything we can to get him.”

Davis filed for free agency Oct. 30 after setting the Padre franchise record this past season with 44 saves, just two shy of the major-league record set by Dave Righetti of the Yankees in 1986 and the most by a National League pitcher since 1984.

“We know he’s very special,” Lane said, “and that’s why we want him. That’s why we’re going to get him.”

Said Davis: “It sounds good to me. I’ve had a great time there. I just hope things can work out.”

But the holdup in the negotiations is that while the Padres want to sign Davis, they’re not about to pay the kind of money to a reliever that normally is reserved for a starter.

The most lucrative contracts dispensed to relievers the past two years belong to Righetti and Steve Bedrosian, each considered the top relievers of their leagues. Righetti, who had 137 saves from 1984 to 1987 (the most of any pitcher), received a three-year, $4.3 million contract from the Yankees in January 1988. Bedrosian, the 1987 Cy Young Award winner who had 40 saves in 1987 and 28 in 1988, received a three-year, $4.35 million contract in February 1989.

So just how much is Davis, king of the hill in 1989, worth nine months after Bedrosian’s signing?

“They (Hendricks and Davis) quite candidly have said that they don’t know where the market is,” Lane said. “They’re saying they want to find out.

“We’d like to think we know, unless the market has radically changed. They’re hoping there is a radical change in the market, and quite frankly, they’re not acting responsible if they don’t find out.”

This is why, Hendricks said, that he likely will not have Davis sign a contract until he at least talks with other teams. Once the free-agent filing period ends at 10 a.m. Monday, all teams will be allowed to negotiate with Davis.

“Really,” said Davis, 29, “it’s a once in a lifetime deal.”

While Davis begins to listen to other offers on Monday, the Padres plan to launch their pitch for Mark Langston, a free-agent left-handed starter.

Arn Tellem, Langston’s agent, telephoned Lane Thursday. Lane said that he hopes to travel to California next week and begin negotiations with Langston.

The expected opening bid?

Three years, $9 million.

“It’s not to take anything away from Mark (Davis),” Lane said, “but there’s a big difference in pay between starting pitchers and relief pitchers.”

Indeed, starters Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers and Frank Viola of the New York Mets signed three-year, $7.9 million contracts earlier this year, and Bret Saberhagen of Kansas City is soon expected to sign a three-year, $8.8 million contract.

“Maybe things will change, I don’t know,” Davis said. “Right now, all I can do is sit back and wait.”