Padres Give Hoffman $32 Million

San Diego Padre closer Trevor Hoffman became baseball’s highest-paid reliever when he agreed to a $32 million, four-year contract extension through 2003, the Associated Press learned. Hoffman, 31, will be paid $4.1 million in 1999, the final year of an $8.4 million, three-year extension he signed in August 1996.

Mark McGwire, who homered in each of the St. Louis Cardinals’ first four games of the regular season last year, hit his second in three at-bats this spring during the Cardinals’ 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros at Jupiter, Fla. McGwire is two for four and has reached base four times in six plate appearances, including a walk and a hit by pitch. He hit his first homer Sunday. . . . Detroit third baseman Gabe Alvarez made five errors, four on poor throws, in the Tigers’ 9-7 loss to Atlanta at Lakeland, Fla.

Newly acquired Arizona Diamondback outfielder Tony Womack will be sidelined six weeks after breaking a bone in his right wrist during Sunday’s exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox. Womack came to the the Diamondbacks 10 days ago in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. . . . Darryl Strawberry, coming back from colon cancer, will start as the New York Yankees’ designated hitter against the Boston Red Sox at Fort Myers, Fla., Wednesday. . . . Andy Pettitte has only a mild muscle strain and tests showed no serious problems with the Yankee pitcher’s left elbow.

Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder Jose Guillen remained in the Dominican Republic after his request for a U.S. visa was denied. U.S. officials are questioning the validity of his marriage last fall. . . . Carl A. Kroch, who owned a small share of the Cincinnati Reds and earned the nickname “Baron of Books” as head of the Kroch’s & Brentano’s bookstore chain, has died. He was 84. . . . Marge Schott met with some of the Cincinnati Reds’ limited partners to brief them on the offer to buy her controlling interest in the team. Schott and the partners declined comment as they left the meeting at a private club downtown. . . Two days past deadline for the Expos to obtain financing for a new stadium, team President Claude Brochu said he doubted a new ballpark will be built in Montreal. After Brochu and baseball Commissioner Bud Selig met as part of an economic study group, Selig reiterated that he won’t extend the deadline.