Wells is diagnosed with diabetes

Padres lefthander David Wells, 43, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes two weeks ago and will be meeting with doctors. (FILE/LENNY IGNELZI/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

San Diego Padres lefthander David Wells has Type 2 diabetes, which the team says is controllable.

"It's something he'll have to manage and something we'll have to help him manage," chief executive officer Sandy Alderson said yesterday. "It's not unprecedented by any means."

Wells was diagnosed two weeks ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in yesterday's editions.

Asked if he feels less energy at times, Wells said: "It depends." He declined further comment.

Manager Bud Black said Wells needs to meet with doctors.

"From what I've been told, it'll be manageable," Black said.

The 43-year-old former Red Sox signed a one-year contract in January to return to his hometown Padres as the No. 5 starter. The 6-foot-3-inch, 248-pounder often has battled his weight, and was scratched from a start late last season because of gout in his right foot.

Matt White, the pitcher who made more headlines for his rocks than his lobs during camp this spring was reassigned to the Los Angeles Dodgers' minor league camp.

White, a 29-year-old lefthander, discovered a valuable rock quarry behind a house he bought from an aunt three years ago in Cummington in western Massachusetts.

But while everyone else wanted to talk about his possible fortune, White wanted to stay focused on baseball.

The attention the quarry received wasn't to blame for his reassignment, he said.

Talk of the rock fortune was strange for a week, "but it settled down and I was able to do my job on the mound and that's what they are looking at," White said. "I don't even want to talk about rocks right now, but it wasn't a distraction to my pitching."

The reliever allowed one earned run and two hits in 7 1/3 innings. He said he will be sent to Triple A Las Vegas, where he is likely to be a situational pitcher.

"Just go down and get your work in, keep your focus on what you have been doing since you have been up here," White said the team told him. "I will continue to work on my sidearm pitches and go down and get some innings to get ready to be called up."

If Ken Griffey is ready to play Opening Day, he will be in right field. Cincinnati Reds manager Jerry Narron said he expects to start Ryan Freel in center because Griffey, 37, is still working his way back from a broken left hand. The 10-time Gold Glove winner in center said he was injured in the offseason while wrestling with his kids . . . Atlanta Braves slugger Chipper Jones missed his fourth straight exhibition game with a sore muscle in his right side and might try to return to the lineup tomorrow. Jones first felt soreness during batting practice Friday night. Center fielder Andruw Jones, who missed his second straight game with a sore right shoulder, is likely to play tomorrow . . . New Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez knew long ago Dontrelle Willis likely would be his first Opening Day starter. And throughout spring training, it was assumed the plan hadn't changed. So when Gonzalez finally announced the decision, only one person seemed taken aback. "Of course I'm surprised," Willis said. "I'm excited. I wanted it, but that doesn't mean I'll have it next year. You never want to assume anything in this game." . . . Righthander Thomas Diamond, taken by Texas with the 10th pick of the 2004 draft, will have elbow-ligament replacement surgery today and miss the rest of the season . . . Three years after changing their stadium name to Ameriquest Field, the Rangers severed a 30-year naming rights deal with struggling lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and rebranded their home field as Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.