Gooden Moves Into Clemens’ Neighborhood : Baseball: He signs three-year contract with Mets for $15.45 million. Incentives could make him highest-paid player.

Dwight Gooden wanted to be the highest-paid player in baseball, but he isn’t quibbling after falling a few bucks shy of Roger Clemens.

Gooden, who has a 119-46 record in his career, moved into the second spot behind the Boston Red Sox right-hander Monday by agreeing with the New York Mets to a three-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $15.45 million.

The average annual value of $5.15 million fell shy of Clemens’ yearly take, which averages $5,380,250 during a four-year extension. The two former Cy Young Award winners are the only players with contracts averaging $5 million a year or more.

Jose Canseco is third at $4.7 million, Tony Gwynn fourth at $4,083,333 and Darryl Strawberry fifth at $4.05 million.

“It was important (to be No. 1), but when it’s that close, it doesn’t really matter,” Gooden said.

Gooden’s deal contains $750,000 in performance bonuses that would make his contract worth more than Clemens’.

“It depends on how you look at it (whether he is the highest paid or not),” Gooden said.

Gooden will make $2.25 million this year in the final season of a three-year contract worth $6.7 million. When he agreed to the deal on Feb. 8, 1989, it made him the highest-paid player in baseball. But Clemens passed him one week later with a three-year, $7.5 million contract.

Clemens, who has a 116-51 record, and Gooden have had winning records in their first seven seasons. The last pitcher to do it in his first eight seasons was Hall of Famer Jim Palmer.

Under the new deal, Gooden gets a $2-million signing bonus and salaries of $4 million in 1992, $5 million in 1993 and $3.7 million in 1994. He also is guaranteed $250,000 per year under a joint video-promotion deal with the Mets that is part of the extension.

Finally, Gooden can make a $250,000 bonus each year if he pitches 200 innings. He would pocket the full $750,000 in bonuses if he pitches a total of 500 innings over the three years.

With all the performance bonuses, he would earn $16.2 million over the three years, an average of $5.4 million per season.

The Mets must turn their attention to left-hander Frank Viola, who also wants nearly $5 million a year and is eligible for free agency after this season.

“(Gooden) will be the best-paid player in the National League,” said Al Harazin, the Mets’ executive vice president. “If there’s one player who is the heart and soul of our ballclub, it’s Doc Gooden.”

Gooden, 26, was 19-7 last season with a 3.83 earned-run average. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 1985 with a 24-4 record and a 1.53 ERA, then went 17-6 the next season as the Mets won the World Series.

He missed the start of the 1987 season while undergoing cocaine rehabilitation.