BASEBALL NOTES

Tony Gwynn, whose contract expires at the end of the season, wants an extension from the San Diego Padres in place before opening day and at a substantial raise.

A season after becoming the 22nd member of the 3,000-hit club, Gwynn will make $4.3 million in the final year of his contract. Despite his status as one of baseball’s best hitters, Gwynn hasn’t been the Padres’ highest-paid player since 1997.

There are four Padre players scheduled to make more than Gwynn in 2000, led by reliever Randy Myers with a base salary of $6.25 million. Myers didn’t throw a pitch last year because of a shoulder injury.

“I hope they take care of me for taking care of them,” Gwynn told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Heck, you get right down to the brass tacks, I carried this organization for a long time, but you never hear me say it, you never hear me toot my own horn, because this is where I want to be and that’s what I’m supposed to do.”

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Cincinnati right-hander Scott Sullivan won his salary arbitration case against Cincinnati when a panel chose his request for a $1.1-million salary instead of the team’s $775,000 offer.

Sullivan, 28, was 5-4 with three saves and a 3.01 earned-run average in 79 relief appearances last season and made $300,000.

Detroit left-hander C.J. Nitkowski also won his case and will get a raise from $300,000 to $950,000. The Tigers had offered $600,000. Nitkowski, 26, was 4-5 with a 4.30 ERA and seven saves last season.

Boston reliever Rich Garces avoided a scheduled hearing by agreeing to a $610,000, one-year contract. Garces, a 28-year-old right-hander, made $300,000 last year, when he had a 5-1 record with a 1.55 ERA. He had asked for $800,000, and the team had offered $525,000.

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The minor league contract Mariano Duncan agreed to with the Devil Rays was voided after the infielder told Tampa Bay he had changed agents and was unhappy with the deal.

Duncan, a former Dodger who hasn’t played in the majors since 1997, signed with the Devil Rays on Jan. 31 and was to begin next season with the club’s minor league affiliate in Mexico City. He is free to negotiate with any major league organization.