Padres Place LHP David Wells on 15-Day DL

SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Padres left-hander David Wells was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, two days after cutting his right wrist and left palm in what was described by the team as an accident at home.

Wells, replaced in the rotation by rookie right-hander Justin Germano, wasn't available for comment. He was put on the DL retroactive to Monday, meaning he'll be eligible to be activated on June 1.

General manager Kevin Towers said he believed Wells' story, that he cut himself on some glass at home Sunday night, hours after losing to the Chicago Cubs. Wells didn't make the trip to Pittsburgh, where the Padres opened a 12-game, four-city trip on Tuesday.

Towers said pitcher Andy Ashby, who's sidelined this season while rehabbing his surgically repaired right elbow, went to Wells' home on Monday ``and saw on the kitchen floor the glass and blood. He helped clean up.''

``It definitely happened at his house and it was definitely one person involved,'' Towers said Tuesday.

``I could honestly say that from talking to Ashby and talking to the doctor and where the cuts were at, that glass was involved, at his house. I think it was him and a bottle, him and a water glass, wine glass, I don't know what type of glass, but that's how it happened.''

Towers said Wells received stitches in his right wrist and left palm, and also had minor surgery on the wrist because he sliced a tendon.

Wells, who turns 41 on Thursday, has been involved in off-field altercations in recent years, but Towers said his injuries weren't consistent with those someone might get from being in a fight.

In January 1997, while back in San Diego for his mother's funeral, Wells got into a street fight outside a bar and broke his pitching hand. In 2002, he was punched in the face by a man during an early morning altercation in a New York diner and lost two teeth.

Last year, Wells wrote a book titled: ``Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball.'' Besides detailing how he grew up in the middle of a Hells Angels gang in a gritty San Diego neighborhood, he contended that he was ``half drunk'' when he pitched a perfect game in 1998 for the New York Yankees after partying until just a few hours before the game.

Wells (2-4, 3.78 ERA) will miss scheduled starts Saturday at Philadelphia and May 28 at Milwaukee.

Germano (1-1, 3.18 ERA) was called up from Triple-A Portland on Tuesday to make the start Saturday night, which will be his big league debut. Manager Bruce Bochy said there's a chance left-hander Sterling Hitchcock, on a rehab assignment in the minors, will be ready in time to make Wells' scheduled start at Milwaukee.

Wells is expected to rejoin the Padres when they play a three-game series at Colorado next week.

The injury could cost Wells several hundred thousand dollars. He's earning $1.25 million in salary with a chance to make $5.75 million in incentives if he makes 34 starts.

The incentives escalate in value as he makes more starts. For instance, starts 21-30 will be worth $200,000 each; 31-33, $250,000 each; and a 34th start would pay $500,000.

Wells has made eight starts this year. He made 30 starts with the Yankees last year and 31 in 2002. He led the AL with 35 starts for Toronto in 2000, and made 34 starts in 1999.

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