Farewell to Some Arms for Dodgers

On a dizzying getaway day the Dodgers made major pitching moves, announcing Wednesday that right-hander Kevin Brown will not start opening day because of his strained right Achilles’ tendon, surprisingly releasing 12-year veteran Ramon Martinez, awarding the fifth spot in the rotation to Eric Gagne and trading former top prospect Mike Judd to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for a player to be determined.

That was all before the Dodgers cleared out the clubhouse to catch a flight for Las Vegas for tonight’s exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers are considering putting Brown, 36, on the 15-day disabled list to protect their $105-million investment.

“I could be out there for opening day,” said Brown, who suffered the injury Friday night. “I’d just have to monitor myself as far as activities with running and [fielding], but that’s what scares them.

“I kind of don’t fault them. They have the best interest of the team to look out for. They don’t want to take any risk of injuring it [further]. Obviously, I’d like to be out there, but I can’t argue with that logic. Obviously, I’m champing at the bit to get out there.”

A second MRI exam of Brown’s Achilles’ tendon will be taken Friday, when the team arrives in Los Angeles.

General Manager Kevin Malone said a decision on whether to put Brown on the disabled list would be made by Sunday morning.

“We don’t see the value in comparison to the risk by pitching him,” Malone said. “If, by giving him three or four or five [days’] or a week or two weeks’ rest . . . we’re just going to give him sufficient rest so we eliminate as much risk as possible.”

Manager Jim Tracy agreed.

“I have no interest whatsoever in risking an entire season in hopes of having him out there on opening day,” he said.

Chan Ho Park will start for the Dodgers against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday at Dodger Stadium and will now have a short outing in tonight’s exhibition.

Park is 3-0 with a 3.52 earned-run average against the Brewers. On Aug. 29 at Milwaukee last season, Park gave up only one hit and struck out a career-high 14.

“I’m just thinking about Brownie,” Park said. “It’s kind of sad that he has to miss it. I just hope he’s going to be back soon. He’s the guy who’s the leader of our rotation. I’ve learned a lot from him.

“My job is to just do my best. I don’t feel excited or nothing different, it’s just a different day against a different team.”

Chad Kreuter, Park’s favorite catcher, will also start.

“He’s excited, especially with his history against Milwaukee,” Kreuter said of Park. “I told him that the way we’re going to approach this is to just run the movie in his mind of his last game against them.”

If Brown is not put on the disabled list, he will most likely start at Dodger Stadium against the San Francisco Giants on April 6. If he is put on the disabled list, which would be retroactive to last Friday, Brown would be eligible to pitch against the Giants on April 8.

With Park getting his first opening-day start, Gagne will slide into the No. 2 spot and Darren Dreifort and Andy Ashby will retain their respective spots as the third and fourth starters. But should Brown go on the disabled list, the Dodgers would recall Luke Prokopec from triple-A Las Vegas to fill out the rotation.

“The thing is [about] roster flexibility and this would give us guys with options--Gagne, Prokopec,” Malone said.

In Martinez’s case, it seems to be about money for a club that is expected to open the season with a payroll of about $110 million.

Martinez, 33, who pitched for the Dodgers from 1988-98 and had two difficult seasons with the Boston Red Sox after undergoing surgery on his pitching shoulder in 1998, signed a one-year, incentive-laden contract on Jan. 18 that guaranteed him $400,000.

The Dodgers had to release Martinez by Wednesday afternoon or give him a $1.1-million bonus. Had he made the opening-day roster, Martinez would have had a base salary of $1.5 million and could have earned as much as $3.5 million if he started 29 games.

The Dodgers could not have traded Martinez without his consent until June 15. He denied the Dodgers’ request for a trade Wednesday and opted for free agency.

Gagne, 25, will make $230,000 this season.

“I said that this spring was an eventful one for me as a first-year manager,” Tracy said, “but this morning [releasing Martinez] was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Tracy and Malone said Gagne earned the roster spot.

“This is hard because we love Ramon,” Malone said. “We love him, he’s a hard worker, he’s part of the Dodger history here. But we felt Eric had won it. Eric has proven that it’s now his time.”

Dave Wallace, the former pitching coach who took a front-office job in his return to the Dodgers this season, would not comment on the move.

First baseman Eric Karros, who played with Martinez in his first stint with the team, believed the right-hander would catch on with another club.

“Ramon is a competitor,” Karros said. “We just happened to be in a situation with Gagne where he threw well this spring and those making the decisions decided it was time to give him a chance.”

Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez, Ramon’s younger brother, was not surprised by the move.

“I never wanted him to [go back to the Dodgers],” he said. “If he followed my advice, he wouldn’t have had to go through this. But it was his choice. I make my decisions and he makes his. Ramon has been in baseball longer than me.”

Gagne, meanwhile, was taken aback by the news.

“Ramon is the greatest guy,” said Gagne, who gave up four runs and 10 hits in six innings of the Dodgers’ 5-3 loss to the New York Mets at Holman Stadium on Wednesday. “He talked to me the whole spring, always encouraged me the whole time. It could have gone the other way.”

As far as Judd was concerned, he was just happy to start over.

“That’s all I want,” he said. “I feel good and I’ve been throwing the ball good in spring training. I’m ready, physically and mentally. It should be a good opportunity.”

Notes

The Dodgers also released utility player F.P. Santangelo, who is guaranteed $850,000 in the second year of a two-year, $1.6-million contract. He was released at his request because he was not going to make the opening-day roster. If a team signs him for the $200,000 major league minimum, the Dodgers would pay him $650,000. “Obviously, I’m not wanted here,” said Santangelo, who struggled with a .197 batting average last year. . . . Tracy said that utility player Hiram Bocachica, catcher Angel Pena and left-handed reliever Jose Antonio Nunez would make the squad, leaving little wiggle room for lefty reliever Jesse Orosco, 43. . . . Mark Grudzielanek and Paul Lo Duca hit home runs in the loss to the Mets.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Kevin Brown, now entering his 13th full season, has avoided major injury. If he goes on the disabled list, it will mark only the sixth time:

TEXAS, 1990

Aug. 14-29

TEXAS, 1993

March 27-April 11

BALT., 1995

(right finger)

June 22-July 17

FLORIDA, 1996

(right leg)

May 13-28

DODGERS, 2000

(right finger)

April 9-25

For Starters

With Wednesday’s release of Ramon Martinez and Kevin Brown’s injury situation, here is Dodgers’ probable season-opening rotation, with 2000 statistics:

*--*

Player Thr W-L ERA Chan Ho Park RH 18-10 3.27 Eric Gagne RH 4-6 5.15 Darren Dreifort RH 12-9 4.16 Andy Ashby RH 12-13 4.92 Kevin Brown RH 13-6 2.58 *Luke Prokopec RH 1-1 3.00

*--*

* Starter if Brown misses beginning of season.