PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Braves’ Efforts to Land Santiago For Trade Over, Source Says

The Padres’ negotiations with the Atlanta Braves regarding All-Star catcher Benito Santiago are dead, according to a highly placed Braves source.

The Braves, the front-office source said, never were interested in acquiring Santiago for themselves in the first place. Their interest in Santiago simply was to get him from the Padres and trade him to the Toronto Blue Jays, the source said.

“We never had plans on keeping him,” the source said. “We knew Toronto wanted him, so we were going to trade Santiago for a few of their prospects. But the Blue Jays won’t give up the guys we wanted, so we’re out of it.”

The Padres apparently are left with only the Blue Jays as a potential home for Santiago. The Jays already offered catcher Pat Borders and outfielder Candy Maldonado, but the Padres continue to ask for catcher Ed Sprague.

It’s unlikely Santiago will go anywhere in the next few days. Santiago, who suffered a strained right index finger in Tuesday’s game, was scratched from Wednesday’s game and might miss tonight’s home opener against the Dodgers.

The injury was quite rare for Santiago, who did not miss a single game last year because of injury, and played in 151 games overall, the most by a catcher since Gary Carter caught 152 games in 1982 for the Montreal Expos.

“It happened when I blocked the plate,” Santiago said. “I got my finger caught under his spike when he (Hal Morris) slid into home. I’ll just miss a couple of games, that’s all.”

The injury forced Padre Manager Greg Riddoch to scramble his lineup, and put reserve Dann Bilardello in the eighth spot in the order, moving everyone up one spot.

The Cincinnati Reds received worse news on the injury front when third baseman Chris Sabo was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a right ankle he sprained Tuesday.

The Reds recalled infielder Jeff Branson to replace him on the roster. Branson, who played on the 1988 Olympic team with Padre pitcher Andy Benes, was the Reds’ top draft choice in 1988.

The Padres traded infield prospect Tom Redington to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday for pitcher Lenny Brutcher. Brutcher, 22, a 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher, has been in the minor leagues for four years but has yet to advance past Class A.