Gwynn and Werner to Discuss Contract : Padres: Right fielder is two for five in 7-5 victory over Braves. Jack Clark ends a zero-for-27 slump with a long home run and three RBIs.

Tom Werner, Padre chairman and managing partner, has requested a meeting with Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn and his agent to discuss a possible extension or renegotiation of Gwynn’s contract, sources said Saturday.

Werner, vacationing in Canada, was unavailable for comment, but the meeting request was confirmed by several ownership group members who requested anonymity.

John Boggs, Gwynn’s agent, said: “By no means did he (Werner) make any promises, but he wants to sit down and talk about the situation.

“I appreciate the fact that he was concerned enough, and that he has enough respect for Tony, that he broached the subject.”

Gwynn, who went two for five Saturday night in the Padres’ 7-5 victory over the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, is the seventh-highest-paid Padre with his $1 million salary.

He expressed displeasure over his contract during the winter--particularly when the Padres changed their policy and began offering four-year contracts--and threatened to file for free agency when he becomes eligible after the 1992 season.

Although Gwynn still remains uncertain whether he would sign an extension at this time, he said Saturday that he now wants to complete his career in San Diego.

“In my heart, I’ll always be a Padre my whole career,” Gwynn said. “In my mind, this is where I want to be. I’m happy here, even with all of the stuff that has gone on. This is where I want to stay. This is where I want to be.

“I love wearing the brown and orange, as ugly as it is.”

This is why when the two parties meet, Gwynn said, he has one, and only one, request.

“What I really want is a no-trade clause,” Gwynn said. “That’s what I want the most. I don’t want to hear my name in trade rumors going to New York or Chicago or somewhere else anymore.”

Gwynn, who has won four National League batting titles and three Gold Gloves, has two years left on his contract. He will earn $2 million in 1991, and the Padres have an option for $2 million in 1992. Even if the Padres are willing to offer a two- or three-year extension, it’s uncertain what the fair market price would be.

The marketplace is expected to change again this week when the Oakland Athletics announce that they have signed outfielder Jose Canseco to a five-year contract.

Canseco, according to a highly reliable source close to the negotiations, has verbally agreed to a five-year, $23.5-million base salary with incentives, which includes a $3.5 million signing bonus.

It’ll make Canseco the highest-paid player in the history of the game, surpassing the five-year, $19.6-million contract signed recently by first baseman Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees.

“I know he’s probably the best player in the game,” Boggs said, “but that certainly raises the norm. Is $3 million now the standard for a superstar? Is it $4 million? Is it $3.5 million? I really don’t know. I don’t think anybody does.

“The biggest thing now is that Tony just wants to be treated fair, and I think this is a great start. It’s a major, major, major indication that this is an ownership that’s not so far removed from the field that they can’t have an open line of communication to the players.”

Certainly, their willingness to talk is a drastic change from the stance of the previous ownership, which refused to meet face-to-face with Gwynn during the winter. Instead, owner Joan Kroc and Jerry Kapstein, chief operating officer, had a conference call with Gwynn and Boggs, during which Kapstein kept telling them only that “a contract is a contract,” refusing to even discuss an extension or renegotiation.

The situation deteriorated to a point of no return, Gwynn said, when Kapstein then announced publicly on a radio show that the two sides had reached an amicable agreement.

“Jerry’s the guy I had trouble with,” Gwynn said. “He avoided me and avoided me. And when we finally talked, he said things that really upset me. He chose to speak for me, I had to defend myself, and he didn’t like what I had to say.

“It was an ugly, ugly situation. That’s what has made this last year so difficult, because of my squabble with Jerry and the way he treated me. I wasn’t treated fairly at all. If he had stayed, it would have been very hard for me to look him in the eye.

“But now, that’s all over. I just want to play baseball.”

He did that Saturday in the usual way: two for five with a double, raising his batting average to a team-leading .326.

But it was first baseman Jack Clark who stole the show. He entered the game hitless in his previous 26 at-bats, with 10 strikeouts. After his first at-bat, it became zero for 27 with 11 strikeouts.

Then, it happened. Standing at the plate in the fourth inning, with an 0-2 count on him, Clark unloaded. He hit Tom Glavine’s curveball over the left-field wall . . . over the 30-foot back drop . . . over the first section of left-field seats . . . and into the Coke sign on the mezzanine level.

Tale of the tape: 423 feet.

It brought memories of Clark’s homer Sept. 4 last year, when he hit a homer about 20 feet to the right off Mark Eichorn, bouncing off a beer sign.

“I’m not a Bud Man, anymore,” Clark said. “I’m a Coca Cola Classic kind of guy now. Hey, they got any Jack in the Box signs out there?

“The homer was nice, but really, it felt good just to get a hit again.”

But Clark still was not done. In the fourth inning, Brave Manager Bobby Cox ordered Glavine to intentionally walk Joe Carter, loading the bases. The move made sense. Clark owned a career .125 batting average (two for 16) against Glavine, and Clark was batting just .154 this season with runners in scoring position.

Oops. Clark hit a 2-1 pitch through the right side of the infield for a two-run single. He finished the game two for four with three RBIs, registering his first multiple-hit game since May 5.

Besides welcoming Clark back to the lineup, the Padres also reached a milestone of sorts. Ready for this? For the first time all season, the Padre pitching staff went back-to-back games without surrendering a home run.

“It certainly wasn’t because of my pitching,” said Padre starter Ed Whitson (6-5), who yielded nine hits and three runs in six innings. “I had probably the worst stuff I’ve ever had in my life here.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but it’s the worst (pitching) mound I’ve ever been on. There’s no slope to the thing. If Russ Nixon had found a man to fix it, he’d still be managing here.”

Oh, well. The Padres hardly were in the mood to complain after their third victory in a row.

“This is our time of year, isn’t it?” Whitson said. “This is when Jack gets going. And when he goes, we all go.”

Padre Notes

Brave shortstop Andres Thomas said Saturday that he’d welcome a trade to the Padres. Thomas asked to be traded earlier in the week because of his feud with Brave Manager Russ Nixon, but even though Nixon was fired Friday, Thomas said that he still wants out. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy here, because I don’t think I have their respect. Tell San Diego to get me, I’ll show them what I can do.” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said that he has yet to inquire, for a simple reason, about what it would take to acquire Thomas. He’s not sure if he’s interested. “We’ll see,” McKeon said, “but right now, I’m not sure how much he’d play for us, either.”