Santiago Wins $3.3-Million Showdown : Baseball: With the arbitration award, the Padre becomes the highest-paid catcher in baseball.

Padre catcher Benito Santiago was heading to the airport Wednesday afternoon in his white Porsche when the car phone rang. It was his agent, Scott Boras. He told him to brace himself.

“Benny, ready for this, you’ve just become the highest-paid catcher in baseball history.”

Santiago immediately pulled to the side of the road and shrieked in exhilaration.

Santiago was awarded $3.3 million in what likely will be his final arbitration hearing with the Padres. The decision, made by arbitrator William Rentfro, is the second-highest arbitration award in baseball history, surpassed only by Pittsburgh pitcher Doug Drabek’s $3.35 million victory last year.

“It’s nice to make a guy pull over to the side of the road because he’s so happy,” Boras said. “I mean, his voice was even cracking.

“He said, ‘I feel I’m the best catcher in baseball, and now I’m paid like I’m the best.”

Santiago, traveling to his native Puerto Rico and unavailable for comment, becomes the highest-paid catcher for a single season. Mickey Tettleton previously was the highest-paid catcher an average salary of $2,833,333 for his three-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. Tettleton actually will receive more this season with a $1-million signing bonus and a $3-million base salary, but he’ll earn only $4.5 million his final two seasons.

“It’s the most rewarding arbitration victory I’ve ever had,” said Boras, who has won two of Santiago’s three arbitration cases. “I felt anger last year after we lost. This year, I feel vindicated.”

But while Santiago and Boras were celebrating, the other screams heard around town were from the Padres.

The Padres, who already have exceeded their 1992 player payroll budget, now have to find room for Santiago’s salary, who becomes the second-highest paid Padre behind Fred McGriff. Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, said there will be immediate financial ramifications.

After negotiating again Wednesday morning with Boras about free agent Kurt Stillwell--this time listening to proposals that would eliminate the option year in his two-year contract--McIlvaine said the Padres now may not be able to afford him. And if they do sign him, McIlvaine said, they certainly will begin to look at ways to reduce their payroll by trading reliever Craig Lefferts ($1.875 million) or others.

“We’re going to look at the overall structure to see if we can do something to pare it down,” McIlvaine said, “but not if it’s going to make us less competitive.”

The Padres already have informed teams they are willing to entertain offers for Santiago. Santiago is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, and McIlvaine said the Padres have no plans at this time to induce him to stay.

“I don’t think now is the right time to assess that,” McIlvaine said. “They wanted to leave all their options open for next year, anyway.”

Santiago says he’s willing to sign with the Padres, but the Padres are unwilling to provide a five-year contract in excess of $20 million that he’s proposing. They don’t believe he’s worth it. If someone’s willing to pay the price, the Padres will listen to trade proposals.

“We’re going to wait and see what happens,” McIlvaine said. “But nobody’s been knocking our door down for him.”

The Padres maintained that their $2.5-million proposal was fair, if not lavish. They were willing to settle the case for about $2.65 million before the arbitration hearing, but when there was no compromise, the Padres planned to prove that Santiago was not the best catcher in baseball.

They talked about how Santiago has led the league in errors the past two seasons, including 14 last year. They talked about how he threw out 38% of the baserunners attempting to steal, tied for only sixth in the major leagues. Even with Santiago’s four Silver Slugger awards, they wanted to know how anyone can justify paying Santiago more than Tettleton, who hit 31 homers--14 more than Santiago.

Boras proved to be ready for every Padre argument. Why not? Boras had actually begun preparing the case since March, he said, and came to the hearing with a 34-page written brief with 66 exhibits.

“I had to talk like the Federal Express guy just to get my case in,” he said.

While Tal Smith, who represented the Padres in the hearing, kept trying to compare Santiago to Tettleton and the Yankees’ Matt Nokes, Boras disputed that neither were worthy of comparison.

If Tettleton is so good, Boras said, then why did the Baltimore Orioles trade him a year ago, receiving only pitcher Jeff Robinson. If Nokes is so talented, he said, then why did the Tigers give up on him, trading him for journeyman pitchers Clay Parker and Lance McCullers? If Tettleton and Nokes are the best catchers in baseball, then why did Santiago catch nearly 300 more innings than either of them?

“There are some good offensive catchers out there,” Boras said. “There are some good defensive catchers, too. But by the time I finished, I demonstrated there was no better catcher in the game than Benito Santiago.”

The Padres hope that Santiago’s arbitration victory will help spur him to his finest season. He hit .267 with 17 homers and a career-high 87 RBIs last season, batting .331 the final 40 games with 36 RBIs.

“They made the argument that Benny should be in a class by himself,” McIlvaine said, “and now he can demonstrate that he is. . . . After the arbitration loss last year, he sulked a little bit, then went out and had a good year. Maybe with the win this time, all of his physical talent will come out and he’ll have a great year.”

Could Santiago even evolve into the sought-after No. 5 hitter to protect McGriff in the lineup?

“For $3.3 million,” McIlvaine said wryly, “I would hope he can provide that support.”