Marlin Closer Being Eyed

The Dodgers have expressed interest in Florida closer Antonio Alfonseca, the 29-year-old right-hander who led the National League in saves in 2000 but is being shopped by the Marlins this spring.

A trade could hinge on the Dodgers’ willingness to deal one of their young starting pitchers, but General Manager Dan Evans is reluctant to part with right-hander Eric Gagne or left-hander Odalis Perez.

Alfonseca, a sinker-ball specialist, has an 18-24 career record, 3.77 earned-run average and 102 saves, 45 of them in 2000, but he is the third-highest paid player ($3.55 million) on a team looking to trim its $44-million payroll. The emergence of Braden Looper as a potential closer also makes Alfonseca expendable.

Florida scouted Gagne, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in 12 spring innings, Wednesday against Baltimore. Alfonseca, who had surgery to repair a herniated disk in October, was scratched from Wednesday night’s game against Atlanta after suffering a minor cut on his right hand while cleaning a glass Tuesday.

The Marlins would like to add a left-hander to a rotation that consists of five right-handers, and the Dodgers would like to trade left-hander Omar Daal, but they would have to eat a large chunk of Daal’s $5-million salary. Outfielders Marquis Grissom and Tom Goodwin have also been mentioned in trade talks with Florida.

Though the Dodgers have an excess of starting pitchers, Evans wants to be sure Kevin Brown, who experienced arm stiffness after Sunday’s start, and Andy Ashby have recovered fully from elbow surgery before making a deal.

The Dodgers, who inquired about Boston’s Ugueth Urbina and the White Sox’s Bob Howry, also must determine whether Alfonseca would be an upgrade to their potential closer-by-committee of Matt Herges, Paul Quantrill and Giovanni Carrara.

Alfonseca went 4-4 with a 3.06 ERA and 28 saves in 34 opportunities, but opponents hit .281 against him, the fourth-highest average among NL relievers. And he has never had what Stats Inc. calls a “tough save,” where a pitcher enters a game with the tying run on base and records the save.

Herges was roughed up again Wednesday, giving up four runs--three earned--on five hits and retiring one batter in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 6-5 exhibition loss to the Orioles in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Herges gave up three runs against the Mets on Monday and has a 14.54 ERA in five spring games.

“I’m concerned, because that’s two outings in a row like this,” Herges said. “It’s no time to panic, but there’s two weeks left [in spring training], let’s turn it around. The positive thing is my arm feels great, my [surgically repaired left] knee feels great. [Wednesday] was one of those days where I felt great, and I don’t know what happened.”

Herges has been experimenting with a cut fastball but decided to stop it Wednesday.

“When things started happening for me, it was because I kept things simple; I just used a fastball, curve and changeup,” Herges said. “I don’t know if this whole closer thing made me think I have to be better than I am, but that may be why I felt I needed another pitch. I love the pitch, but I don’t know if now is the time to add it.”

Carrara taught Herges the pitch, and veteran reliever Jesse Orosco showed him the grip, but Orosco advised Herges not to use it if he wasn’t fully confident in it. The cutter, a Mariano Rivera specialty, has the appearance of a fastball but breaks away from right-handed hitters and onto the hands of left-handed hitters.

“It’s OK to try, but as you get close to the season, you’ve got to let it go,” Orosco said. “You don’t want to get away from pitching your game, because when you win 20 games the last two years [like Herges did] you don’t need to mess around that much.”

Though Brown suffered a slight setback this week, he threw a vigorous bullpen session Wednesday morning. The ace was scheduled to pitch today, but he will be pushed back to Friday as long as he comes out of Wednesday’s workout OK.

“We’re going to err on the side of caution, because we’re looking at the long term, not the short term,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “He’s still projected to be our opening-day starter, but if that’s not in our best interests, we won’t do it. We’re not going to lock ourselves into something just to prove a point.”

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Gagne gave up one unearned run on two hits against Baltimore, striking out five and walking none. Goodwin, Grissom and Phil Hiatt each had two hits for the Dodgers.... Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek experienced stiffness in his right hamstring but said it was “nothing major” and shouldn’t prevent him from playing today.