SIDELINES : Mets’ Cone Triples His Salary to $1.3 Million by Arbitration

Pitcher David Cone tripled his salary to $1.3 million today when arbitrator Raymond Goetz picked his figure rather than the New York Mets’ offer of $815,000.

Cone’s salary is a 291% increase from the $332,500 he made last season, when he was 14-8 with a 3.52 earned-run average.

“The major factor I think is the fact that he has had an outstanding two seasons with only a minor blemish during a four-start period in 1989,” said Steven Fehr, Cone’s agent. “I thought our number was very reasonable.”

“We gave it our best shot,” Mets Senior Vice President Al Harazin said. “We presented our cases as best we could and we abide by the arbiter’s decisions.”

Fehr said the Mets’ “argument was geared principally to looking at other three-plus and four-plus pitchers and saying that on a one-year basis, he was not better or as good.”