Park's Deal Puts Dodgers in $100-Million Ballpark

By ROSS NEWHAN

Jan. 19, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Dodgers reached a contract agreement with Chan Ho Park on Thursday, failing, for the time being at least, to lock up the talented right-hander beyond 2001 but avoiding arbitration--an often antagonistic process.

Park, 27, who received $4.25 million in salary and incentives while going 18-7 with a 3.27 earned-run average last season, will get $9.9 million this year, a record contract for a pitcher with only five-plus years of major league service.

The Dodgers also announced that they had completed a one-year agreement with Ramon Martinez, who was cleared by team doctors and returns to Los Angeles guaranteed $1.5 million if he makes the team and $400,000 if he doesn’t. He could earn as much as $5 million, depending on how many games he starts.

“We’re reinvesting in the Dodger tradition of pitching,” General Manager Kevin Malone said. “It’s a priority. We’re committed to having one of the best staffs in baseball.”

The Dodgers will have one of the most expensive.

Including 2001 salary and signing bonuses, the Dodgers will pay their four top starters--Kevin Brown, Park, Darren Dreifort and Andy Ashby--$42.9 million in 2001. If Carlos Perez wins the No. 5 spot over Martinez or Eric Gagne, the total for the rotation will be $50.4 million.

The signing of Park and Martinez puts the Dodgers over the $100-million mark, a plateau Chairman Bob Daly recently said he was confident the club could avoid. The Dodgers are committed to paying 18 players $103.525 million in 2001 salary, with the 25-man roster almost certain to exceed $106 million.

Malone said Park’s signing was probably the last of the significant moves.

Park is coming off his best season, having recorded 217 strikeouts in 226 innings and held opposing batters to a .214 average. If he duplicates that performance in 2001, after which he is eligible for free agency, he is likely to challenge the eight-year, $121-million deal that Mike Hampton recently signed with the Colorado Rockies.

The Dodgers, by acting now, could have tied Park up with a less expensive multiyear contract but sources contend that their recent signing of the sub-.500 Dreifort to a five-year, $55-million contract angered the industry again and they were under pressure from top baseball officials to avoid giving Park a multiyear contract before they have no other choice.

“Chan Ho is a big part of what we think is one of the best rotations in baseball and we’re looking for him to improve,” Malone said. “We hope he has an even better year, and we’re confident that we’ll find a way to get a deal done [after this season]. Chan Ho wants to be with the Dodgers and we’re committed to keeping him with the Dodgers. We’re not concerned [about the possibility that his price could inflate significantly and he could leave as a free agent].”

Agent Scott Boras--who represents three-fifths of the club’s rotation in Brown, Park and Dreifort, and could have a fourth in Gagne--said that considering Park’s age and improvement, “I’m confident the Dodgers realize they’re dealing with someone special and that it will take a special commitment to keep him. However, we’ll confront that when the time comes. Chan Ho’s contract situation was a distraction two years ago, so he’s happy to have this out of the way early. For a great deal of last season, the Dodgers had two No. 1s [in Brown and Park], and I expect they’ll be a 1 and 1A again.”

Besides his record salary, Park is the first Dodger not yet eligible for free agency to have award bonuses included in his contract. He will get $250,000, for instance, if he wins the Cy Young Award, and $250,000 if he is voted the National League’s most valuable player.

Martinez, who last pitched for the Dodgers in 1998, the year he had rotator cuff surgery and was subsequently released and signed by the Boston Red Sox, said in a conference call from the Dominican Republic that he had great memories and was happy to be back, particularly to be reunited with therapist Pat Screnar and former pitching coach Dave Wallace, who is returning to the Dodgers as assistant to Malone.

“Screnar knows everything about my arm and conditioning, and Wallace knows everything about my mechanics,” he said. “I’ve known those guys since I started with the Dodgers and I think it will be very important to me to be back with them.”

NEW WORLD

Joyner says he would be interested in returning to Angels to fill in for Vaughn. D12

BIG BUCKS

Jeter seeks record $18.5 million in arbitration. Yankees offer $14.25 million. D2

Times staff writer Jason Reid contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dodger Rotation

Player (2000) Salary

Kevin Brown (13-6, 2.58 ERA): $15,000,000

Chan Ho Park (18-10, 3.27): $9,900,000

Darren Dreifort (12-9, 4.16): $11,000,000

Andy Ashby (12-13, 4.92): $7,500,000