PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Andersen Realizes Disk Problem Could Mean End of His Career

Padre reliever Larry Andersen, who has a bulging disk and ruptured disk in his neck, says there is a possibility this could his final year in baseball.

“After the problems I’ve had, I’m trying to take the attitude that this could be the last year,” he said. “If it doesn’t get better, if I have the setbacks, it could be the end.

“I’m not trying to say this will be it, but I’m trying to be realistic that it’s a possibility, so I want to go out and enjoy it as much as I can.”

The Padres have an option on Andersen’s contract for the 1992 season that will require them to pay a $350,000 buyout, or pay him $2 million next season.

“I think I’d have to have an All-Star season for them to pick up that contract,” he said.

It’s official:

Padre starter Ed Whitson’s $1 million salary this season represents the largest salary cut by a player who remained in the same organization. Whitson, who signed a three-year contract extension in July, 1989, receives a $225,000 pay cut this season from his $1,225,000 salary of a year ago.

“That was a beauty of a contract, wasn’t it,” Whitson said. “That’s why I was asking for a contract extension last year. They gave Tony (Gwynn) an extension. They gave (Bruce) Hurst an extension. They told me to shove it . . .

“But I’m not worrying about it this year. I don’t feel I have to prove anything to anybody. I’m going to pitch like I’m capable, and hopefully keep on pitching until I’m 40.

“If it’s not here, it will be for somebody else.”

Whitson, who can not be traded without the Padres’ permission, is eligible for free agency at the season’s end.

Once again, Padre Manager Greg Riddoch is finding himself atop the annual poll in several preseason publications that he’ll be the first manager fired this season.

And once again, Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager, is being asked to respond to the rumors that if the Padres struggle, Riddoch could be gone by the All-Star break.

“I don’t want to put timetables on anything,” McIlvaine said. “People can speculate all they want, but you always give the manager every opportunity to succeed. I’m a very patient man.

“The only thing that would change that is if a manager lost control of the ballclub.”

Thomas Howard, who’s competing for the starting job in left field, signed a one-year contract Wednesday. “I’m ready to go,” he said, “I think this is my year.” . . . It may be at least six months away, but McIlvaine, Padre general manager, already has formulated a list of the 15 players he plans to protect in the expansion draft. The only players that must be on the list are Gwynn, Fred McGriff and Hurst, each of whom have limited no-trade clauses in their contract. . . . Riddoch on pitcher Andy Benes’ frustrations of being sidelined for a week: “I think what hurts him the most is that he can’t play golf. That’s just killing him.” . . . Padre first baseman Guillermo Velasquez did indeed sustain a cracked foot, X-rays revealed, and will be out of action for about two months. He’s expected to play first base for the Padres’ triple-A Las Vegas team this season.