Off the wire
ATHLETICS Vanderbilt hires AD
Vanderbilt hired NBA G League President Malcolm Turner as its new athletic director, going with a business executive over candidates with experience in college athletic administration for the SEC’s only private university. Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos said athletic directors were among the diverse candidates Vanderbilt considered. Zeppos said Turner didn’t come up through college athletics, but he believes Turner is a great fit for the Commodores. He will start Feb. 1 and replace David Williams, the first black athletic director in the SEC, to cap a search that started in September.
BASEBALL Molina to have surgery
St. Louis Cardinals catcher
Yadier Molina will resume his offseason preparation after he has surgery Thursday to address a sore knee. Molina will have a cleanup procedure done to repair a nagging irritation in his left knee — something he described during the season but continued to play through. John Mozeliak, the team’s president of baseball operations, said he was notified of Molina’s surgery in the past week and that he was assured the procedure would not require more than 10 days to recover. Mozeliak suggested Molina would have gone on the disabled list if it was during the season. Molina, 36, missed a month of the season recovering from a violent injury to his groin, and still he returned to catch more than 1,000 innings for the fourth consecutive season. Molina participated in baseball’s All-Star tour of Japan after the season.
Tulowitzki released
Troy Tulowitzki has been released by the Toronto Blue Jays, who owe the oft-injured shortstop $38 million for the remaining two years of his contract. Now 34, Tulowitzki has not played in the major leagues since July 2017. He was limited that year to 66 games because of a hamstring and right ankle injury. The ankle required surgery last spring and he missed the entire season. Tulowitzki was taken by Colorado with the seventh overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft and became a five-time All-Star. The Rockies agreed after the 2010 season to a $157.75 million, 10-year contract that added $132 million over seven seasons, then traded him in July 2015 to Toronto in a deal that brought shortstop Jose Reyes to Colorado. While Tulowitzki helped the Blue Jays reach that year’s AL Championship Series, he slumped the next year and then was derailed by injuries. He is owed $20 million for next year, $14 million for 2020 and a $4 million buyout of the 2021 team option.
ESPN extends Mendoza
Jessica Mendoza will have more of a presence on various ESPN platforms starting next baseball season. Mendoza signed a multiyear extension with ESPN to remain part of the Sunday Night Baseball announcer’s booth and make more studio appearances. In 2015, Mendoza became the first
female analyst for a nationally televised MLB game. She did her first Sunday night game Aug. 30, 2015. Mendoza, who has been with the network since 2007, already has been a fixture on Baseball Tonight for many seasons, but the new agreement means she will appear more regularly on SportsCenter and Get Up! Mendoza’s main assignment will remain Sunday Night Baseball. This will be her fourth full season but only second working alongside Alex Rodriguez, Matt Vasgersian and Buster Olney.
FOOTBALL City sues NFL, Raiders
The city of Oakland has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit trying to recover damages for the Raiders’ upcoming move to Las Vegas. The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Raiders, the NFL and the other 31 clubs seeks lost revenue, money Oakland taxpayers invested in the Raiders and other costs. The suit does not ask the court to prevent the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas but asks for damages that will help pay off the approximately $80 million in debt remaining from renovations on the Coliseum. The city said the defendants violated federal antitrust laws and the league violated its own relocation policies when the teams voted in March 2017 to approve the Raiders’ decision to move to Las Vegas. The NFL and the Raiders didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Vikings fire DeFilippo
The Minnesota Vikings fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, whose first season on the job ended after just 13 games amid a sharp decline in production by the offense over the past six weeks. Quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski was made interim offensive coordinator Tuesday morning, after a 21-7 loss at Seattle on Monday night. Stefanski will take over the play-calling duty from DeFilippo, whose work with new quarterback Kirk Cousins didn’t materialize into consistent success. The Vikings (6-6-1) have been held to under 300 total yards in four of their past five games. They’ve scored an average of 12.8 points in those four games. Stefanski has been an assistant coach with the Vikings since 2006, surviving two head coaching changes.
BASKETBALL Hip sidelines Leonard
Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard didn’t play Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers because of a bruised right hip. Raptors Coach Nick Nurse announced the injury shortly before Tuesday night’s game at Staples Center. He said Leonard got hurt in a loss against Milwaukee on Sunday and the forward is listed as day-to-day. “He did go through shootaround,” Nurse said. “We were hoping he would pass the test and go, but it was a little too sore.” Leonard is averaging 26.1 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Raptors, whose 21-7 record leads the NBA. Toronto came into Tuesday’s game having lost three of four. The Raptors move on to face Golden State today.