Gagne Wants to Give Them Another Option

In baseball business parlance, pitcher Eric Gagne is out of options, which means he would have to clear waivers before the Dodgers can send him to the minor leagues. This is not necessarily bad for Gagne.

It essentially forces the Dodgers, who have an abundance of rotation and bullpen candidates, to keep Gagne in the big leagues or risk losing the promising young right-hander to a team that claims him off waivers.

But the fact he is virtually assured a big league job, if not in Los Angeles then elsewhere, is of no comfort to Gagne, who had a 6-7 record and 4.75 earned-run average in 33 games--24 of them starts--for the Dodgers last season.

“I want to be here, that’s all I care about,” Gagne, 26, said. “I’ve been in this organization for six years, I have a lot of friends here, it’s like a big family. I hope they don’t want to trade me because I want to be here.”

The Dodgers have had plenty of chances to deal Gagne. The Chicago White Sox asked for Gagne in trade talks about reliever Bobby Howry this winter, but the Dodgers, who have placed a greater emphasis on bolstering the farm system and building from within under new General Manager Dan Evans, turned them down.

If Gagne doesn’t edge out Omar Daal and Odalis Perez for the final rotation spot, he will probably win a relief spot, because the Dodgers know they’d lose him--and get nothing in return--if they tried to pass him through waivers.

“We have to weigh our decisions based on short-term and long-term plans,” Evans said. “We’re going to make decisions based on who the best 11 or 12 pitchers are, but other things do factor in.”

Gagne does not want to win a big-league job by default, though. He added some upper-body mass this winter, and it’s apparent to many in camp that he wants to earn his spot.

“He’s way ahead of everybody right now because he worked out all winter and he’s on a mission,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said.

Gagne compiled some impressive statistics last season. His hits-to-innings-pitched ratio (144 to 1512/3) was good, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio (130-46) was excellent. But he was inconsistent, giving up five or more earned runs in seven starts and failing to pitch five innings in six starts.

“If he was on, he was really on, and if he was off, he was way off,” Colborn said. “He has to learn how to get through it when he’s not on.”

*

Ace Kevin Brown, recovering from elbow surgery, threw 50 pitches off a mound Saturday, a slight increase from his 40-pitch effort Thursday. Brown said he “felt fine” afterward, but Colborn said the right-hander “wasn’t too pleased” with the workout.

“I thought he looked good,” Colborn said. “For me, It’s just what I expect, knowing what his capabilities are and knowing where we are in spring training.”

Kazuhisa Ishii threw off a bullpen mound for the third consecutive day, and Colborn said the left-hander will throw again in the bullpen today, a marked increase in workload from most Dodger starters, who throw every other day. In fact, Colborn said Ishii will probably throw six days a week.... The Dodgers, continuing contract negotiations on a multiyear deal with reliever Matt Herges, made a second two-year offer Saturday. They are also believed to have made an initial multiyear offer to catcher Paul Lo Duca.... Hideo Nomo will pitch in an intrasquad game Wednesday, and Gagne and Perez will likely pitch in the Dodgers’ Grapefruit League opener against Florida on Thursday in Viera, Fla.