Ishii Proving to Be a Bargain

The contract General Manager Dan Evans negotiated with pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii is even more favorable for the Dodgers than initially believed.

Ishii signed a four-year, $12.2-million contract with the Dodgers after they bid $11.26 million to negotiate with him. However, because $4.5 million of the contract is deferred without interest, the adjusted total is about $9.8 million.

In comparison, Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort have higher average annual salaries--at $15 million and $11 million, respectively--than Ishii will be paid in the length of his contract. The left-hander is earning his money, going 6-0 with a 2.95 earned-run average in six starts since overcoming his anxiety about succeeding in the major leagues after a standout 10-year career in Japan.

The Dodgers made some concessions to Ishii, agreeing to provide him with a sport utility vehicle each regular season, a $25,000 housing allowance, eight round-trip business-class tickets per season to Japan and six tickets for each game he pitches at Dodger Stadium. But considering the former regime gave Kevin Brown use of a plane, it appears the Dodgers are making progress under Evans, who developed a reputation as a shrewd negotiator with the Chicago White Sox.

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Much has been made of right fielder Shawn Green’s defensive positioning late in games because three balls that could have been caught landed in front of him recently.

Some have suggested that Green, who won a Gold Glove award with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1999, plays too deep and needs to change his approach. Manager Jim Tracy has spoken with Green, who is struggling through a season-long batting slump, and the Dodgers believe that too much has been made of the situation.

“We’ve had some miscommunication,” first baseman Eric Karros said. “Some balls have just happened to find holes where neither me or [second baseman Mark Grudzielanek] could get to.”

TODAY

DODGERS’

ODALIS PEREZ

(3-1, 1.75 ERA)

vs.

BRAVES’

KEVIN MILLWOOD

(2-3, 4.28 ERA)

Turner Field, 4 p.m. PDT.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--Perez, sensational to this point in his first season with the Dodgers, faces his former team for the first time. The left-hander--3-0 with a 1.33 earned-run average in his last five starts--was 11-15 with a 5.38 ERA in 52 appearances (33 starts) for Atlanta.