BASEBALL : Line for Super Salaries Forms on the Left

Acknowledging the current salary structure and the credentials of Roger Clemens and Darryl Strawberry, here’s one man’s ranking of this winter’s Even More Amazing Signings (updated daily):

1. Bud Black, four-year, $10-million contract with the San Francisco Giants: In the context of what followed, Black’s contract might not seem that amazing, but it set a scale and sent tremors through the baseball community. Four years for a 33-year-old pitcher who has averaged eight victories during the last five years and has an 83-82 career record? Lesson I: Teach your kids to throw left-handed.

2. Darren Daulton, three-year, $6.75-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies: Who really wears the tools of ignorance in Philadelphia? Daulton hit .208 in 1988, .201 in ’89 and a heady .268 in ’90. His reward: The most lucrative contract ever given a catcher.

3. Matt Young, three-year, $6.35-million contract with the Boston Red Sox: This could easily be No. 1. Young won five games in 1987, none in ‘88, one in ’89 and eight last year, when he also lost 18. That’s 14 victories in the last four years and a $2-million-a-year guarantee over the next three, after which he will probably go to a National League expansion team at double his current pay. Lesson II: Teach your kids to throw left-handed.

4. Jim Gott, one-year, $1.725-million contract with the Dodgers: A year ago, it was thought that Gott was closer to Venus de Milo than Cy Young. He did not pitch in 1989, and the cautious Dodgers broke policy to give him an incentive-laden contract that carried only a $200,000 guarantee. Gott subsequently pitched the grand total of 62 innings with a 3-5 record and three saves, qualifying on the Dodger bullpen scale for a $1.5-million increase in guarantee.

5. Danny Jackson, four-year, $10.5-million contract with the Chicago Cubs: Another four-year deal for a pitcher who was on the disabled list three times last season while winning six games, matching his 1989 total. Lesson III: Teach your kids to throw left-handed.

6. Kevin Gross, three-year, $6.4-million contract with the Dodgers: Even the mystified Dodgers called him an underachiever on the night they came to terms with him. The bottom line on Gross is that he has had only two winning seasons in eight as a big league pitcher and was 9-12 last year, 11-12 the year before.

7. Tim Leary, three-year, $5.95-million contract with the New York Yankees: Representatives for the pitcher insist he was victimized by poor support last year, losing 19 games and winning nine. Presumably, he was similarly victimized in 1989, when he lost 14 games and won eight, and throughout a career in which he is 54-75. That’s 21 games under .500, good for a raise from $825,000 in 1990 to almost $2 million in ’91.

8. Mike Witt, three-year, $8-million contract with the Yankees: Exhilarated by the signing of Leary, the Yankees promptly conducted a bidding war with themselves for Witt, who later confided that he had no other offers. They ultimately gave him $2 million more than they gave Leary. Did they forget Witt’s sore arm last season, when he was 5-9, or his 9-15 record of the year before or his 13-16 record of the year before that? This one bewildered even that former big spender, George Steinbrenner, whose banishment doesn’t include a gag order--unfortunately.

9. Steve Sax, four-year, $12.4-million extension with the Yankees: It was hard to stop the Yankees once they were on a roll. They gave their second baseman this $3-million-a-year extension even though he was under contract for another year and three years away from another crack at free agency. George Bradley, vice president of player personnel, handled the Sax talks privately and received a belated reward Wednesday, his firing.

10. Dave Valle, three-year, $3.6-million contract with the Seattle Mariners: A colleague on the Times staff spotted the announcement of Valle’s signing moving across the wire and said, “I’ve never even heard of him.” Indeed. No signing more personifies the amazing winter than the Mariners’ anonymous catcher getting more than double his $485,000 salary of last year despite a .214 average in 107 games with 33 runs batted in. Lesson IV: If your kid simply refuses to throw left-handed, buy some catcher’s gear.

Kirk McCaskill will turn 30 on opening day. His best years still might be ahead of him. He is a bright, dedicated credit to the Angel organization, but a raise of more than $1 million--from $967,500 to $2.1 million--after a season in which he won 12 games, completed two and had a second elbow surgery in October is another glaring example of how the system is out of whack and out of control.

Despite the wild and widespread spending, the Major League Players Assn. is concerned that a second level of 32 free agents remains unsigned. It would be impossible to prove collusion, but the union says it is keeping an eye on the situation.

Here’s a lineup of unsigned players: first baseman Ken Phelps; second basemen Willie Randolph, Frank White and Ron Oester; shortstop Tom Brookens; third baseman Darnell Coles; outfielders Candy Maldonado, Glenn Wilson and Fred Lynn; catchers Bob Boone and Rick Dempsey; designated hitters Brian Downing and Ron Hassey; pitchers John Candelaria and Rick Mahler.

A power hitter departing the Teflon-coated confines of the Minneapolis Metrodome might be deflated, but not Gary Gaetti, who is moving to Anaheim as the Angel third baseman.

Gaetti said the Homerdome reputation of the Twins’ ballpark is misleading.

“It may have been a Homerdome once, but then they put in air-conditioning and that changed it quite a bit. Then they raised the fences and that changed it again,” Gaetti said from his home in the Twin Cities.

“Now there are quite a few parks better (for a power hitter), including Anaheim. I’m looking forward to playing 81 home games outdoors.

“The Metrodome was a great place to play, but not a great place to hit.”

Gaetti hit 94 home runs in the last four years--51 on the road, 43 at home. There were 627 homers hit in Anaheim Stadium during that time, 596 in the Metrodome.

Some of that had to do with the structure of the Twins’ and Angels’ lineups, some with the law of physics, according to Gaetti.

Once they air-conditioned the Metrodome, it affected the density, he said, and made it more difficult to hit home runs.

“The same thing happens in Anaheim, to an extent,” he said. “The ball travels real well during the day, when it’s hotter, and not as well at night. But like I said, I’m looking forward to the change.”

Here’s the American League breakdown on home runs by parks in 1990, showing there were 29 more homers hit in Anaheim than Minneapolis:

Toronto 175, Detroit 167, Baltimore 156, Anaheim 144, New York 142, Cleveland 138, Texas 123, Oakland 121, Milwaukee 119, Minnesota 115, Seattle 109, Boston 105, Chicago 94, Kansas City 88.

Eddie Murray of the Dodgers and Dave Winfield of the Angels will be in a daily fight this year for the top spot among active home run hitters.

Murray goes in tied with Dwight Evans, now of the Baltimore Orioles, for No. 1 with 379 career homers apiece. Winfield and Dale Murphy, now of the Phillies, are tied for second place with 378 each. The ranking, based on at-bats per home runs: Murphy 19.3, Murray 21.1, Evans 23, Winfield 23.5.

Orel Report: Orel Hershiser continues on a Dodger Stadium workout schedule that finds him making about 30 pitches off the mound two or three times a week. The Dodgers have not put a radar gun on him, but Hershiser believes he is throwing in the low 80-m.p.h. range. No pain, no strain.

“I don’t think I’ll reach the next plateau, which is the high 80s or low 90s, until I’m in a competitive situation and the adreneline is pumping,” said Hershiser, who leaves unanswered