Darvish, Padres agree on $108M, 6-year deal
Yu Darvish signed a new contract with the San Diego Padres on Thursday that guarantees the 36-year-old ace an additional $90 million and will keep him with the club through the 2028 season.
The right-hander, who has a baffling array of pitches, will make $108 million over six years, including the $18 million he was already due in 2023 before he was set to become a free agent. He's set to stay under contract with San Diego until he's 42.
Darvish helped the Padres reach the NL Championship Series last season, which was one of the best in his 10-year big league career. He finished the year 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and 197 strikeouts. He was 2-1 in the postseason.
Darvish was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Padres in 2020.
Over his major league career, Darvish has compiled a 95-75 record and 3.50 ERA over 242 games, all starts. He spent his first four-plus seasons with the Texas Rangers, going 52-39 with a 3.42 ERA, before being dealt to the Dodgers at the 2017 trade deadline.
The deal is the latest by the free-spending Padres. Darvish heads a rotation that also includes hometown product Joe Musgrove, who signed a $100 million, five-year deal in July. They signed shortstop Xander Bogaerts to a $280 million, 11-year deal in December even though Fernando Tatis Jr. will be eligible to return April 20 from an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Tatis will move to the outfield.
There could be more big spending ahead for the Padres. All-Star third baseman Manny Machado can opt out of his $300 million, 10-year deal after the 2023 season and the Padres would like to have him finish his career in San Diego.
• The United States' Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, Japan's Shohei Ohtani and Venezuela's Miguel Cabrera and Jose Altuve are among eight Major League Baseball MVPs on rosters for next month's World Baseball Classic.
Canada's Freddie Freeman and the United States' Paul Goldschmidt and Clayton Kershaw also are on the rosters announced Thursday for the 20-nation tournament, to be played from March 8-21.
Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara of the Dominican Republic is also headed to the tournament, to be played in Tokyo; Taichung, Taiwan; Phoenix; and Miami.
The 600 players include 67 major league All-Stars, 35 of them from last season. There are seven Rookies of the Year: Trout, Pete Alonso and Devin Williams of the United States; Ohtani; Venezuela's Ronald Acuña Jr.; the Dominican Republic's Julio Rodríguez; and Mexico's Randy Arozarena.
Japan's roster includes first baseman Munetaka Murakami, winner of the Central League's last two MVPs; right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, winner of the Pacific League's last two MVPs; along with Darvish and Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Former New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Céspedes is on Cuba's roster, which includes active major leaguers for the first time. Among those are Chicago White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada and outfielder Luis Robert, who are joined by outfielder Alfredo Despaigne, a former star in the Japanese major leagues.
South Korea's roster includes outfielder Lee Junghoo, the Korean League's 2022 MVP, along with Cardinals infielder Tommy Edman.
Israel's roster includes Joc Pederson. Brothers Edwin Díaz of the New York Mets and Alexis Díaz of Cincinnati will play for Puerto Rico.
Cabrera and Mexican 41-year-old left-hander Oliver Pérez each will be in their fifth WBC.
This will be the fifth edition of the WBC following wins by Japan in 2006 and '09, the Dominican Republic in 2013 and the U.S. in 2017. A scheduled 2021 tournament was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Oklahoma, Texas off to SEC a year earlier
Oklahoma and Texas are heading to the Southeastern Conference in 2024, a year earlier than originally planned, after Big 12 officials cleared the way for the storied programs to exit their league.
The two schools will leave behind the $50 million each would have received over the next two seasons under the Big 12's media contracts.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormak said the league would only agree to an early departure “if it was in our best interest.”
“By reaching this agreement, we are now able to accelerate our new beginning as a 12-team league and move forward in earnest with our initiatives and future planning,” Yormak said in a statement.
BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston are joining the Big 12 prior to the 2023 football season, giving the league a temporary membership of 14 schools.
The agreement must still be approved by the Texas and Oklahoma boards of regents, but that is considered a formality.
Russia out as host of 2025 worlds
Russia was stripped of hosting the 2025 swimming world championships and Singapore was awarded the event by the governing body of the sport.
Russia had originally been chosen in 2019 to host the event in Kazan, which also held the championships in 2015.
The International Olympic Committee has asked the governing bodies of sports not to stage events in Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
This year's worlds will be in Fukuoka, Japan, and next year's event will be in Doha, Qatar.
World Aquatics previously removed last year's world short-course swimming championships from Russia and gave that event to Melbourne.
Ronaldo scores four goals for Saudi team
Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals for his new Saudi Arabian team, bringing his career tally in domestic leagues to 503.
Ronaldo, four days after his 38th birthday, scored twice in each half to help Al Nassr defeat Al Wehda 4-0 in a Saudi Pro League game in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner who starred for Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United joined Al Nassr after the World Cup.
The Portugal star signed a contract through June 2025.
Ronaldo had a disappointing World Cup where he was benched in the knockout rounds and left the field in tears after Portugal lost in the quarterfinals to Morocco.
Crawford edges Kilde for world super-G title
Canadian skier James Crawford lifted both arms in celebration as soon as he came through the finish at the world championships in Courchevel, France.
Two seconds later, he turned to check the results on the big screen again: Had he really just edged leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by one-hundredth of a second in the men's super-G?
“When I crossed the finish line, I was a little bit surprised,” Crawford said after winning Canada's 11th medal at a world championships and fourth gold. It's been six years since the last Canadian winner, Erik Guay in the super-G.
“It feels pretty surreal to be kind of etched into the history books a little bit as another Canadian world champion. I definitely wasn't expecting anything today.”
Crawford sat in the leader's chair for an hour, shaking his head in apparent disbelief and biting his fingernails as all later starters failed to beat his time.
Alexis Pinturault finished 0.26 seconds behind to take bronze, two days after the Frenchman won the combined race at the worlds in his hometown.
Marco Odermatt, who dominates the World Cup circuit and is the defending overall champion, won four of the six super-Gs this season but finished 0.37 seconds behind in fourth.
Crawford was the next starter after Kilde, one of the pre-race favorites after winning two World Cup super-Gs this season, took the race lead. Crawford trailed the Norwegian halfway through his run but mastered the final section.
Isner wins tiebreaker to advance in Dallas
John Isner extended his record by winning his 499th career tiebreaker, advancing to the quarterfinals of his hometown Dallas Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) win over Daniel Altmaier.
Isner won the final seven points after falling behind 1-0 in the tiebreaker, getting two of his 18 aces. The fifth-seeded American reached the semifinals of the inaugural Dallas event last year.
Another 2022 semifinalist, top-seeded American Taylor Fritz, joined Isner in the quarters with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over wildcard entry Jack Sock of the United States.
The second-round victory came after Isner won both tiebreakers in a straightsets victory over Chun-Hsin Tseng. Roger Federer is second in career tiebreaker victories with 466.
Isner will face Emilio Gomez, who ousted fourthseeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.