Steinbrenner Meets With Winfield; Hearing Tentatively Is Wednesday

A hearing on Dave Winfield’s refusal to accept a trade to the California Angels from the New York Yankees for pitcher Mike Witt is tentatively scheduled Wednesday before baseball arbitrator George Nicolau.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner met with Winfield and his agent, Jeff Klein, on Monday but was vague about details. Another meeting is scheduled today.

Angel General Manager Mike Port hinted at a contract extension to entice Winfield to accept the deal.

“California sits here as a club willing to go to whatever lengths it has to to bring Dave Winfield here,” Port said. “Is it our plan to have Dave around in a longer term rather than a shorter term? The answer is yes.”

At issue is Winfield’s insistence of veto power over trades as a 10-and-five player, 10 or more years in the majors, the last five with the same club. Winfield has refused to report to the Angels since the deal was announced Friday.