Yankees Bag a Big Moose

The addition of Mike Mussina to a New York Yankee rotation of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez obviously makes the rich even richer. As Mussina put it Thursday after agreeing to a six-year, $88.5-million contract, “We might get to the playoffs next year and I might not even get a chance to pitch. That’s how good these guys are.”

The Yankees, of course, have won three consecutive World Series and four of the last five and now may have the best rotation in their storied history.

If that’s open to argument, this isn’t: The Yankees now boast three--Mussina, Clemens and Pettitte--of the five active starting pitchers with winning marks of 64.5% or better. Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez are the two non-Yankees.

Although that doesn’t automatically translate to another World Series title, it figures to put the Yankees close.

“This is the type of move that gets your adrenaline pumping, and it’s only November,” Clemens said in a statement released by the Yankees.

It may also be the type of move that gets the market moving. Mussina is the first major free agent to sign, possibly freeing the logjam.

The Yankees, with an industry-high payroll of $112 million last year, are in their own economic sphere, of course, and clubs like the pitching-hungry Angels and Dodgers will be eager to learn how the signing of Mussina to a contract averaging $14.75 million a year affects the demands of a group of less-credentialed pitchers that includes Darren Dreifort, Andy Ashby, Rick Reed, Denny Neagle and Kevin Appier.

Baseball’s salary structure is like a constantly moving fault line, one signing elevating another, but Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone and Angel counterpart Bill Stoneman think Mussina and Mike Hampton are in their own class among current free-agent pitchers and that there will be no connection between their contracts and the demands of others.

Wishful thinking?

“I think the agents especially are always looking to build a case, but Mussina is at the top of this market by a long stretch,” Malone said. “He’s a unique entity, a legitimate No. 1, the same as a Kevin Brown, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson. You know what you’re getting, and I don’t think you can draw a link between a guy who’s a No. 1 and a guy who’s a No. 2, 3, 4 or 5.”

Said Stoneman: “The pitchers who we hope are affordable to a club like ours shouldn’t be affected by what Mike Mussina gets. A pitcher is worth what he’s worth, and just because Mussina gets X amount doesn’t mean another pitcher should get more than he’s worth.”

Mussina’s $14.75-million average ranks second among pitchers, behind Brown’s $15-million average with the Dodgers--providing the $30.9-million extension that Clemens received last summer is spread over three years, rather than two.

The Yankees are already committed to paying 13 players more than $77 million next year, with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera among those still to be signed, but President Randy Levine said he is tired of the complaints about his team’s revenue and how it is spent.

He said other teams were willing to spend more for Mussina, so that in this case the complaints translate to “a lot of whining” by people who should reflect on the Yankee leadership and talent instead of “falling back on the excuse that the Yankees are just a high-revenue team.”

Said Commissioner Bud Selig, “I don’t want to be critical of the Yankees. They’re doing what they should be doing. It’s the system that needs to be changed. Very few clubs were in the bidding for Mussina because they couldn’t afford it. It’s a manifestation of the whole disparity problem.”

The Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, with whom he was 147-81 over his 10-year career, came up losers in the Mussina pursuit.

“This decision was all about who wants me, and these people showed more,” Mussina said at a Yankee Stadium news conference. “[Manager] Joe Torre called me only a week after the World Series and even before he went on vacation, and that was a pretty big gesture. I had 10 great years with the Orioles, but they’re in more of a rebuilding mode and this club is at the top and still moving up. I’ll be 32 in a week. This was the best fit.”

Mussina also wanted to remain close to his home in Montoursville, Pa., where “three-fourths of the population roots for the Yankees.” He was 11-15 last season but had the worst run support in the major leagues. He led the American League in innings and was third in strikeouts and earned-run average. Only Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have more wins than Mussina since 1992, and the new big four of the Yankee rotation are 324-190 since 1995.

The Yankees, once interested in right fielder Manny Ramirez as their key free-agent acquisition, are now out of that market. With the signing of Mussina and retention of Paul O’Neill, their main needs have been reduced to a right-handed relief pitcher to replace Jeff Nelson, who is likely to sign elsewhere as a free agent, and a No. 5 starter.

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* GETTING TOGETHER

The Dodgers are expected to meet today with agent for Rodriguez, Dreifort. D15