PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Andersen Might Take Pay Cut to Return

Padre reliever Larry Andersen is ready for the news.

After the season ends, Padre General Manager Joe McIlvaine will inform Andersen that his $2 million option for 1993 will not be picked up. They instead will pay him his buyout of $350,000.

But Andersen also has some news for the Padres: He wants to stay.

He knows he’ll have to take a whopping pay cut. In fact, Andersen knows he might even have to play for the minimum $109,000. But unless some club makes him a surprising offer, Andersen is willing to return to prove he still can pitch.

“I don’t know what their thinking is for sure,” Andersen said, “but I’ll bet the ranch they’re not going to pick up my option. I can’t understand that. I know where the game’s headed. But I want to play, and I’ll play for the minimum if I have to.

“I’ve got a home in San Diego. I like the ballclub. And I think the ballclub definitely have a chance to win, if not this year, in the future.

“When you get to this point in your career, that becomes an important factor.”

Although Andersen surrendered the game-winning homer Thursday to Damon Berryhill in the Padres’ 4-3 defeat to Atlanta, he has yielded only one hit and two baserunners in his last six appearances, lowering his ERA to 3.86.

“I’m changing speeds with my slider, throwing a curveball once in awhile, and doing things different,” Andersen said. “It’s made all the difference in the world.”

Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, who has 12 hits in his last 17 at-bats, on Sunday had his third four-hit game of the season. “(Larkin) was my idol in the minor leagues,” Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield said. “I always wanted to be just like him. He’s a shortstop who can hit, and I patterned my game after him. I know I’m a third baseman now, but I still admire him so much.”

The Reds are expected to place third baseman Chris Sabo on the disabled list Thursday and activate first baseman Hal Morris. It will be the 13th time this season the Reds have had to place a player on the DL. “We’ve been like this all year,” Reds Manager Lou Piniella said. “I don’t even make out our lineup anymore, our damn trainer does.”

Umpire Bob Davidson, after reading that Bip Roberts accused him of having a personal vendetta agains the Reds leadoff hitter: “I’ve got more problems to worry about than that little man.” . . . Just when no one believed that Marge Schott could not get any cheaper, one of the players revealed Sunday that she recently pulled a dandy. When the Reds had their recent sons-daughters game, Schott actually billed the players for their children’s uniforms. . . . Padre rookie Frank Seminara pitched in relief Sunday for the first time since he was in Class A Prince William in 1989. He failed to retire any of three batters he faced, yielding a ground-rule double, a four-pitch walk and a run-scoring single. . . . Second baseman Kurt Stillwell, who has been sidelined with a strained left ankle, played for the first time in eight games. He went hitless. . . . Benito Santiago’s slump continues. He is hitless in his last 16 at-bats, failing to hit the ball out of the infield in nine of his last 10. . . . The injury to Philadelphia center fielder Lenny Dykstra will affect the Padres. The Braves and Reds have six games apiece remaining against the Phillies; the Padres are finished with the Phils.