Padres Offer $11 Million to Left-Hander Higuera

The Padres have made the largest contract offer in franchise history to free-agent starting pitcher Teddy Higuera, it was learned Tuesday night. The offer is believed to be worth in excess of $11 million.

The offer, according to a source, secretly was made in the past few days. It is a three-year guaranteed contract, according to the source, with a one-year option that could total as much as $12 million or $13 million.

“I can’t comment on San Diego’s offer,” said Jim Bronner, Higuera’s agent, “but it’s significant.”

Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, would neither confirm or deny the offer, only smiling, and saying, “No comment. It’s something I can’t discuss right now.”

The Padres are one of three finalists in the bidding for Higuera, who is considered the top left-handed pitcher on the free-agent market. The Milwaukee Brewers and an undisclosed team also are in the running.

Higuera, 32, informed several of his teammates during the season that the Padres would be his top choice since San Diego is one of the nearest teams to his home in Ciudad de Juarez, Mexico.

“He has told us that (the Padres) are his first choice,” Bronner said, “but he also has told us he’d like to stay in Milwaukee.”

Bronner said that he has meetings scheduled today with two of the three teams, and the Brewers believe that Higuera’s decision will manifest within 72 hours.

Higuera, who has a career 89-54 record, has won at least 16 games three times in his career and is the team’s all-time strikeout leader. The risk, however, is Higuera’s health. He has been limited to 49 starts the past two seasons, missing about 21 starts because of arm, back and groin injuries.

He made only 22 starts in 1989, missing the first month of the season while recovering from a herniated disc operation, and the last month with a viral infection and strained left pectoral muscle. Last season he made 27 starts, missing virtually the month of June with a left groin pull.

Yet, according to a Padre front-office executive, they have had Higuera thoroughly examined by doctors, and are convinced he is completely healthy.

If the Padres are successful in signing Higuera, it’s possible that he could earn more than the combined total of the Padre rotation: Bruce Hurst ($1.75 million), Ed Whitson (1.225 million), Greg Harris ($175,000), Andy Benes ($130,000).

In another intriguing development, the Padres are engrossed in trade discussions with the Kansas City Royals that would bring right fielder Danny Tartabull in a package deal in exchange for Padre left fielder Joe Carter.

Dennis Gilbert, Tartabull’s agent, had a two-hour meeting Monday with Herk Robinson, Royal general manager, expressing Tartabull’s desire to be traded to the Padres. It’s the only team, Gilbert said, in which Tartabull will sign a long-term contract with before being eligible for free agency at the end of the 1991 season.

McIlvaine confirmed that the Padres indeed have talked about the possibility of acquiring Tartabull, but would not divulge the asking price. Yet, for the first time Tuesday, he did reveal that Carter’s name has been discussed in possible trades.

“The closest thing we have to being untouchable right now is Tony Gwynn and Bruce Hurst,” McIlvaine said. “We would consider trading anyone else.”

When reached at his home in Malibu, Tartabull said: “I’d love to be traded to San Diego. That’s where I always wanted to play. I’m just trying not to get myself too excited right now.”

Tartabull, 28, long has been an attraction to the Padres. Jack McKeon, who was fired two months ago as the Padre general manager, has attempted to trade for him the past three seasons.

Although hampered by hamstring and groin injuries the past two years, Tartabull is considered one of baseball’s top power-hitting outfielders. He hit 60 homers and drove in 203 runs during the 1987 and 1988 seasons. But the past two seasons, while missing 103 games, he combined for 33 homers and 102 RBIs.

“We’re talking,” McIlvaine said, “but that’s all I can say right now.”

Said Robinson: “They came up with a name today that tweaked our interest. We’ll definitely be talking again. It’s something that has our interest.”

The Padres also are discussing a trade with the Baltimore Orioles that would send Bip Roberts to the Orioles in exchange for third baseman Craig Worthington and possibly reliever Mark Williamson.

Worthington, 25, was selected as the American League’s Rookie of the Year in 1989 by The Sporting News, batting .247 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs. Yet, he slipped this past season, hitting .226 with eight homers.

“His name came up, he’d be a definite fit,” McIlvaine said.

The Padres also had trade discussions Tuesday with six other teams--the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners and the Mets. They discussed such players as Astro first baseman Glenn Davis, Cub shortstop Shawon Dunston and Phillie outfielder Von Hayes, McIlvaine confirmed, but it appears unlikely that they would be able to swing a deal with any of those teams.

Padre Notes

Outfielder Mike Humphreys, one of the Padres’ top prospects, was the player to be named in Monday’s deal with the Yankees, it was learned. The Padres won’t announce his identity, according to McIlvaine, until the Yankees have an opening on their 40-man roster. Humphreys batted .276 with 17 homers and 79 RBIs for the Padres’ double-A team in Wichita, and .238 with two homers and six RBIs in 12 games with triple-A Las Vegas. . . . The Padres selected two players in the minor league draft Tuesday: John Pawlowski, 27, a pitcher, and Peter Kuld, 24, a catcher.