Team Hires Wallach as Hitting Instructor

Jack Clark couldn’t shake the Dodger offense out of its doldrums last season and was fired as the team’s batting instructor in early August. Interim hitting coach George Hendrick had little success igniting Dodger bats in the final two months of 2003 and returned to triple-A Las Vegas after the season.

Now, it will be five-time All-Star Tim Wallach’s turn to try to spark an anemic offense that scored a major league low 574 runs last season.

Wallach, the former Montreal Expo and Dodger third baseman, was hired as Dodger hitting coach Tuesday.

“Tim is a quality baseball man and a quality human being,” Manager Jim Tracy said in a prepared statement.

“I am excited about him joining us and working with our ballplayers. Tim possesses a great deal of hitting knowledge, and he will be a great addition to our staff.”

Wallach, 46, played 17 seasons in the major leagues with Montreal (1980-92), the Dodgers (1993-96) and the Angels (1996), finishing with a .257 average, 260 home runs and 1,125 runs batted in. He is also the Expos’ all-time leader in games played, at-bats, hits, doubles and RBIs.

After his playing career, Wallach, a former Cal State Fullerton standout who led the Titans to the 1979 College World Series championship, served as the Dodgers’ Class-A San Bernardino hitting coach in 1997 and the team’s manager for 2 1/2 months at the end of 1998. Wallach coached at Fullerton in 2000 and managed the Angels’ Class-A team at Rancho Cucamonga in 2001.

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Several weeks of negotiations failed to produce an agreement between the Dodgers and closer Eric Gagne on a 2004 contract, so barring a late-night settlement Tuesday, the sides will go to arbitration today in Phoenix, with the team and player agent Scott Boras arguing their cases before a three-person panel.

The sides are $3 million apart, with Gagne, baseball’s top closer, seeking a salary of $8 million and the Dodgers offering $5 million. The panel will probably render its decision -- choosing one figure or the other but not one in between -- on Thursday.

Gagne’s performance is not expected to be an issue during the hearing because his 2003 season is virtually bullet-proof -- the Cy Young Award-winning right-hander went 2-3 with a 1.20 earned-run average, converted all 55 of his save opportunities, struck out 137, walked 20 and allowed only 37 hits in 82 1/3 innings.

Rather, the Dodgers will probably argue that the market has flattened and $5 million is a sufficient salary for a player in his first year of arbitration. Boras will argue that his client is a “special accomplishments” player who should not be confined by the salaries of those in his service class and is worth $8 million this year.

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If new General Manager Paul DePodesta is planning a major overhaul of the team’s front-office and scouting staff, it would be costly to make drastic changes this season.

Virtually the entire front office, including the organization’s professional scouts, and key personnel such as senior advisor John Boles, special assistants Jeff Schugel and Mark Weidemaier, scouting director Logan White, director of professional scouting Matt Slater, international scouting director Rene Francisco and senior scouting advisor Don Welke, are signed through 2004, and their salaries would have to be paid if they are let go.

Dan Evans, fired Monday as general manager to make way for DePodesta, awarded many baseball operations employees multiyear contracts before the 2003 season, and those deals run through 2004.