PADRES : Baseball Has Become Fun Again for Barrett

You remember Marty Barrett.

He was the guy throwing anything and everything out of the dugout on national television in the final game of the American League championship series last season. Roger Clemens, Barrett’s teammate and good friend, had just been ejected. Boston was running out of innings and the A’s were wearing their goin’-to-the-World-Series smiles.

So Barrett cleaned out the dugout in protest of what he thought was a ridiculous call by the umpire. Then he was thrown out. And then the Red Sox lost. It was that kind of season.

Barrett, 32, is now a Padre. He wants another crack at second base, where he started for the Red Sox since 1984 before being benched last May in favor of Jody Reed.

That may not happen. Bip Roberts, who by Barrett’s own admission has better physical skills, has been working out at second and could be the starter when April rolls around. But a new beginning has filled Barrett with a rookie’s enthusiasm and helped melt the unpleasant memories of his final season in Boston.

“I’ve got that passion to play again,” Barrett said. “And that’s such a big part of anyone’s game. I just didn’t have it last year with the Red Sox.”

Baseball is fun again. In workouts, when Barrett and Roberts aren’t taking ground balls or swinging in the cage, they can be found chuckling, amusing each other with jokes.

They liked each other from the start. Roberts was working out the day Barrett signed his contract. Barrett, attired in a suit, came over to introduce himself and talk a little baseball.

“Right then,” Roberts said, “I knew he was genuine.”

Since, Barrett has given Roberts pointers on how to play second and suggested new bunt plays. Competition exists, but it is friendly. Roberts, 27, even sees to it that Barrett stretches his well-traveled legs.

“I make sure he gets loose so he don’t pull no muscles,” Roberts said. “We’re working together. We’re not working against each other because that would only cause friction.”

Barrett had his fill of friction last season. After missing half of 1989 with a knee injury, he returned last season to what he thought was a secure spot at second. He had no reason to believe otherwise. In 1988, he hit .283 and made only seven errors in 721 chances. In the World Series in 1986, he went 13 for 30 against the Mets and hit safely in all seven games.

Then came 1990. Midway through May, Manager Joe Morgan told Barrett that he planned to move Reed from shortstop to second and start Luis Rivera at short. From then on, Barrett, a lifetime .278 hitter who was hitting .246 at the time, saw most games from the bench.

“You’re in first place and all of a sudden they just drop it on you: ‘Hey, you’re out of there.’ Why?” Barrett said. “There was no explanation. So I kind of took offense to that. . . . It was the strangest thing that I’ve ever seen.”

And it got stranger. Later in the season, with Rivera in an 0-18 slump, Barrett figured he would get a chance against the Baltimore Orioles, against whom he had a .450 lifetime average. No such luck.

Rivera played the first game and went 0-4. He played the second game and went 0-4. In the third game, Jeff Ballard was scheduled to pitch for the Orioles. Barrett had always hammered Ballard. Still, he sat. And Rivera went 0-4.

After the fourth game, in which Rivera again went 0-4, a reporter informed Barrett that Morgan planned to start him in the first game of the next series against Toronto.

“Against Dave Stieb,” Barrett said, “who I don’t do well against at all.”

Barrett played. He even got a hit.

“But then the next day I was out of there,” he said. “And (Rivera) got all the way down to .201 and he still stayed with him.”

So naturally, Barrett wasn’t too broken up when the Red Sox released him. After negotiations with Kansas City and the Padres, Barrett signed with the Padres on Jan. 8.

“Right now I feel like if I can get four- or five-hundred at bats I can hit .285 and get some big hits and play good, solid defense,” he said. “I hope I get that chance. If I don’t get that chance then I’ll probably always feel that if I did I would have done it.”

All nine unsigned Padres were signed by 6 p.m. Wednesday, an hour after the deadline set by Padre General Manager Joe McIlvaine.

Negotiations with pitcher Greg Harris, who signed for $342,500, took McIlvaine about 45 minutes past his deadline, but he said talks were fairly smooth with all players and there were no walkout threats. Along with Harris, the other top-salary signings, were pitcher Andy Benes ($235,000) and outfielders Shawn Abner ($180,000). The other six players to sign were outfielders Jim Vatcher, Oscar Azocar, pitchers Rafael Valdez, Derek Lilliquist and Candy Sierra and infielder Kevin Garner.

All players signing Wednesday have been in the major leagues for less than three seasons, which means they weren’t eligible for arbitration. Because of that, the Padres could have renewed them at a salary set by the team, but McIlvaine said he made an effort to negotiate to help ensure high morale entering the season.

“I think its a statement by the club,” McIlvaine said. “Basically what we’re saying here is we’re trying to be fair, as fair as we can be within the structure.”

The deadline set by the league is March 11, but McIlvaine said he wanted to finish the business end of spring training before the games begin on Friday.

That suits Benes, who commented: “Now I guess I’ll have enough for me and my wife to go out to dinner tonight.”

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch announced his lineup for Friday’s first exhibition game. The batting order: 1. Bip Roberts 2B, 2. Tony Fernandez SS, 3. Tony Gwynn RF, 4. Fred McGriff 1B, 5. Benito Santiago C, 6. Jim Presley 3B, 7. Shawn Abner CF, 8. Darrin Jackson LF, 9. Ed Whitson P.

With Jerald Clark out with a strained hamstring until the end of the week, the Padres are down to seven outfielders, which prompted Riddoch to cancel Saturday’s B game to avoid overworking the outfielders on the first weekend of play.

Padre Notes

Phil Tyne, a former Charger strength coach, has been in camp this week talking with the Padres about the possibility of a full-time position as a conditioning coach. . . . Tony Gwynn received his signing bonus Wednesday in the form of a $1 million check. Taking into consideration the interest involved, Gwynn said he might drive to San Diego to deposit it in the bank.