Santiago and Padres Go to Court Today

After four weeks of futile negotiations, catcher Benito Santiago and his agent decided Monday that they will take the Padres to court this morning for an arbitration hearing in Los Angeles.

Santiago, seeking a Padre arbitration-record $1.25 million, and the Padres, who offered $750,000, never came close to reaching a settlement, sources said, once Santiago filed for arbitration Jan. 16.

Each side will present their case at 9:30 a.m. today in front of arbitrator Tom Roberts. He has 72 hours to render a decision, and must choose one of the two numbers without compromising.

“It’s not a case where I wanted to go, but I have to go,” Santiago said. “I like our chances. I think it’s about a 90% chance we’ll win.”

Jack McKeon, Padre vice president/baseball operations, spoke briefly Monday morning with Santiago’s agent, Scott Boras, but no counter-offer was made.

“I talked to him (Boras) to see if he’s interested in anything,” McKeon said, “but they thought they had a strong case. We just didn’t get together. Now, we’ll see what someone else thinks.”

Boras said: “We weren’t going to settle this case unless they offered something very close to the figure we filed. We obviously believe we have a strong case, and we have the evidence to support that Benito is worth the money we’re asking.”

Santiago, who earned $345,000 last season, batted .236 while leading National League catchers with 16 homers and 62 RBIs. If he wins the arbitration ruling, he’ll become the eighth Padre player to earn an average salary of at least $1 million in 1990.