PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Hoping to Avoid Arbitration, Sheffield Seeks Long-Term Deal

Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield isn’t making any demands or threats, but he sure hopes the Padres are listening.

Sheffield reiterated Tuesday that although he could probably take the Padres to the cleaners in arbitration, he would like to settle his contract amicably in the off-season--preferably with a multi-year deal.

“I really don’t want to go to arbitration,” Sheffield said. “I don’t want to go through any of that. I know what those things are like. You hear things you don’t want to hear. The organization talks bad about you, and you talk bad about the organization. What happens to both sides really isn’t worth the harassment.

“I’ve made a commitment to show them that they made a good trade, and showed them that I can play most of the games injury-free. But whatever they feel is best for them they’ll do, and I’ll keep showing them what I’m worth.”

Determining what Sheffield is worth could be interesting.

“Fred (McGriff) keeps me hungry because he keeps showing me his checks,” Sheffield said. “He looks at my checks, and calls it chump money.”

Sheffield, a contender for the triple crown, is expected to become a wealthy man this off-season no matter how his contract is settled. Padre management would prefer to lock up Sheffield in a multi-year contract, but ownership must approve.

If they risk allowing Sheffield to go to arbitration, he probably would seek a minimum of $3.5 million, If they attempt to sign him to a four-year contract, it probably would be in excess of $15 million.

“We’ll sit back and listen,” said Jim Neader, Sheffield’s agent. “We’re in no hurry. It’s up to them. They know he’s eligible for free agency in two years. Plus, you now have to add the factor of the Giants moving to St. Pete.

“He only lives five minutes away from their stadium.”

Sheffield is benefitting this season from a little ingenuity this past winter. When he signed a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in January, he was signed to a base salary of $450,000. Neader asked if they could throw in a few incentives, and the Brewers had no objections.

The could turn out to be worth as much as $375,000. Sheffield already has earned an extra $150,000 by playing in more in 118 games and can earn another $100,000 by playing in 32 of the Padres’ last 37 games.

Sheffield also would earn $100,000 for winning the MVP award and $25,000 for being the Comeback Player of the Year.

Sheffield is a virtual lock for the comeback award, and he’s the leading candidate with a month to go for MVP.

“Quite truthfully,” Neader said, “that’s why we put those things in. I’m not going to tell you that I’d predict he’d do all these things but we were very optimistic that he’d be able to reach the games’ incentives. He just needed to avoid the injuries.

“I think we all knew what kind of talent he has.”

Todd Helton, the Padres’ first pick in the June Free Agent Draft, said Tuesday that he will enroll in class today at the University of Tennessee, effectively terminating the Padres’ rights to him.

Helton told the Times in an interview three weeks ago that he definitely would attend Tennessee where he will play football and baseball, “but I don’t think the Padres really believed me until now. Really, this will be the best for me.”

Padre reliever Larry Andersen, who has been battling a strained right elbow the past two weeks, underwent a cortisone shot in his elbow and is not expected to be able to pitch again until the weekend.

“It’s been bothering me for a while,” Andersen said, “but they told me I can’t blow anything out. I think I’ll be all right in three to five days. Maybe I should have done this a while back, but I didn’t want to say too much because I didn’t want to go on the DL.”

The diagnosis of Andersen’s elbow revealed that there might be a bone spur, he said, almost like tennis elbow. But with only five weeks remaining in the season, he believes he should be able to continue to pitch.

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn was kept out of the lineup Tuesday for precautionary reasons with his strained flexor muscle of his left elbow, but expects to play today.

Gwynn sustained the injury Sunday while throwing to second base, but a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed no damage to his ligament.

“When I threw it,” he said, “something in my elbow said, ‘Pow!’ I’m all right. I just have to be cautious.”