Dodgers’ Brown breaks $100M mark

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Winning pays and it paid big for Kevin Brown on Saturday.

Brown, the pitching mainstay of the last two National League champions, broke baseball’s $100 million barrier Saturday when he agreed to a seven-year deal worth $105 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The deal pushed baseball’s salary ceiling to once unimagined limits, breaking recently set records for both total dollars and average annual value ($15 million).

Less than two weeks ago, first baseman Mo Vaughn signed with Anaheim for an average $13.33 million to establish the previous high. Brown zoomed past the next logical plateau — $14 million — pushing the price $1 million beyond that.

The contract also shattered the previous high for total dollars set Oct. 23 when catcher Mike Piazza signed a seven-year $91 million contract with the New York Mets. For the same number of years, Brown gets $14 million more.

For Brown, the bonanza deal was the payoff for pitching Florida and San Diego to the last two NL pennants. He was traded by the World Series champion Marlins to the Padres as part of the franchise’s payroll purge and went 18-7 with a 2.38 ERA for San Diego this year.

When he filed for free agency, Brown became a target of the Dodgers, one of the few franchises that can afford that kind of contract.

“We think Kevin Brown is a big part of our future,” Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone said. “We’re comfortable with the terms. We feel like we logically evaluated the marketplace. We needed the player, we wanted the player and we made the commitment to our fans to becoming a winning team.”

Rupert Murdoch’s willingness to break the $100 million barrier is certain to make the Dodgers’ new owner unpopular with this partners. Since purchasing the team from the O’Malley family, Murdoch has spent freely in an effort to get LA back to the World Series for the first time since 1988.

“I never thought we’d see the day of a $91 million player,” said Dodgers senior vice president Tom Lasorda, who is Piazza’s godfather. “There’s only one thing certain in baseball — nothing is certain.”

Brown’s deal pays the pitcher a $5 million signing bonus, $10 million next year and $15 million in each of the following six seasons. As part of the deal, the Dodgers will give him the use of a private plane 12 times per season to commute to Los Angeles from Brown’s home in Macon, Ga. He also gets a no-trade clause.

Also in the running for Brown were Anaheim, Baltimore, Colorado and St. Louis.

Agent Scott Boras was determined to get a seven-year deal for the 33-year-old right-hander.

“Everyone knows the value of a No. 1 pitcher,” Boras said Friday night. “The premium is Kevin Brown has taken a good club and put it in the World Series.”

Since the end of the season, Los Angeles agreed to a $12.4 million, three-year contract with center fielder Devon White and a $6.5 million, three-year contract with reliever Alan Mills.

The Dodgers also acquired catcher Todd Hundley and reliever Mel Rojas from the New York Mets, lost free agent pitchers Scott Radinsky and Brian Bohanon and dealt outfielder Bobby Bonilla to New York.

Several NBA players have signed nine-figure contracts, including Kevin Garnbett’s $126 million, six-year deal with Minnesota and Shaquille O’Neal’s $121 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Associated Press