Arbitration May Be His Next Mark

Dodger fans aren’t the only ones closely monitoring the remarkable season of closer Eric Gagne.

The commissioner’s office and players’ union are keeping tabs on Gagne because of his potential effect on baseball’s salary structure in his first year of arbitration, baseball executives and agents said Friday.

Gagne has already broken records for saves to start a season and consecutive saves while converting all 48 of his opportunities. He is on pace to set other all-time marks and has emerged as a candidate for the National League Cy Young Award.

Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was awarded a salary of $4.25 million in arbitration in 1999 -- the highest for a closer in his first year of eligibility. Gagne has a salary of $550,000 this season.

Beginning the season, the Dodgers and agent Scott Boras were expected to use Rivera’s statistics through his first three full seasons in comparisons for their arbitration briefs on Gagne. The sides, however, are reevaluating their plans because of Gagne’s record-setting run.

“You do have to look at it again,” said assistant general manager Kim Ng, commenting only generally about the situation. “To have not blown a save yet this year, I don’t think anyone could have expected that.

“Some of the better closers in the league -- Rivera, [Trevor] Hoffman -- they’ve all blown saves in a season. The season’s not over, but up to this point ... you look at it.”

Likewise, Boras said things change.

“We’re witnessing something unprecedented in the history of the game,” said Boras, who also declined to discuss his Gagne strategy. “Eric is accomplishing things that no closer has before.”

If a hearing occurs, baseball executives expect the Dodgers to concede that Gagne has been phenomenal but argue that the arbitrator should select the salary figure they submit because Gagne has not helped the Dodgers win a World Series. At the time of his record award, Rivera had been a key member of two World Series championship teams.

Agents, however, said that factor might be mitigated by Gagne’s numerous “special accomplishments” and overall dominance. Those factors might embolden Boras, who has pushed the envelope while often losing in arbitration, to compare Gagne to the game’s highest-paid closers despite his limited service time.

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Leadoff batter Dave Roberts was unavailable for Friday’s game against Colorado because of neck stiffness.

Roberts, injured last Saturday when his head slammed into the knee of Colorado second baseman Ronnie Belliard while sliding into second, had problems turning his head during Wednesday’s 8-2 loss to Houston, Manager Jim Tracy said.

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Hideo Nomo hopes to start Tuesday against Arizona despite recently being diagnosed with inflammation on his rotator cuff.

“My shoulder is a little fatigued, but I don’t have any soreness or pain in my shoulder,” Nomo said through an interpreter. “I’m not going to speak any more about my injury until I [pitch].”

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Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez and pitcher Greg Miller were selected the club’s minor league player and pitcher of the year, respectively.

Gutierrez and Miller spent most of the season at Class-A Vero Beach and performed well after earning promotions to double-A Jacksonville.

In 128 games combined, Gutierrez, 20, batted .287 with 24 home runs and 80 runs batted in. He also had 31 doubles and 20 stolen bases.

Miller, 18, was 12-5 with 2.21 earned-run average in 25 starts. The left-hander had 151 strikeouts in 142 1/3 innings.