Andersen Signs With Padres

Completing a move to strengthen the bullpen and enliven the clubhouse, the Padres on Friday announced the signing of free-agent relief pitcher Larry Andersen.

Andersen declined to comment on the terms of his contract, but said it was “close” to the two-year, $4.4-million deal that sources reported earlier this week.

Andersen reportedly will also receive an option year that could bring the total package to $6 million, making him the highest-paid pitcher per year in franchise history. Andersen, 37, a right-hander, posted 1.79 ERA in 65 appearances primarily as a setup man with the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox last season. He has a 1.67 ERA with a 9-6 record and 10 saves in 125 appearances over the past two seasons.

But the Padres are not just getting proven relief but a little comic relief for a clubhouse that didn’t have many laughs last season. Andersen, in nine major league seasons that also included stops in Cleveland, Seattle and Philadelphia, has built a reputation as a prankster and a kind of wacky philosopher.

“When we agreed to terms,” Andersen said from his home in Redmond, Wash., “I thought, ‘This is the first day of the rest of my life.’ But if I would have been born on the other side of the International Date Line, yesterday would have been the first day of the rest of my life.

“I play around and have a good time. I play jokes. I’m a free spirit. But I told (Padre Manager Greg Riddoch), ‘If you want to talk to any of the other managers I’ve had in the past, they’ll say when it’s time to go play, I play serious.

“I’m not the type that’s going to sit there and get wound up about a game five hours ahead of time.”

Said Riddoch from his home in Greeley, Colo.: “He’s kind of a prankster, a la Mark Davis. And I like that. I like to have fun, too. I told him I hoped he would bring that aspect to the Padres, because we want to have fun in the clubhouse. And then once we walk onto the field we put that away and go to work.

“But he has that reputation for being that kind of a catalyst that is real good in the clubhouse.”

Andersen was one of 15 players who became second-look free agents in December, and he decided to leave the Red Sox, who acquired him in an August trade.

The Padres, Houston and Atlanta made proposals. Andersen settled with the Padres, in part, because they plan to use him both as a closer and set-up man--to complement Craig Lefferts (23 saves last season). After toiling for 10 years in the minor leagues, Andersen has a 32-30 record and 3.15 ERA in the majors.