Ward wins arbitration case against Angels
Players swept five salary arbitration decisions against major league teams on Tuesday, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went to a hearing against Toronto that will set a record whether the star first baseman wins or loses.
Angels outfielder Taylor Ward won his case along with Baltimore outfielder Austin Hays and pitcher Jacob Webb, Houston utilityman Mauricio Dubón and New York Mets reliever Phil Bickford. The unusual sweep gave players a 5-2 advantage with 11 cases still pending.
Guerrero asked for $19.9 million and the Blue Jays offered $18.05 million when the sides exchanged figures last month. The result will top the previous high awarded from a hearing, topping the $14 million Seattle outfielder Teoscar Hernández received after he lost his hearing last year.
Ward had asked for $4.8 million compared to the team's offer of $4.3 million. The 30-year-old Ward hit .253 last year with 14 homers and 47 RBIs, down from a .281 average with 23 homers and 65 RBIs in 2022. His season ended July 29 when he was hit on the head by a 91 mph fastball from Toronto pitcher Alek Manoah and sustained facial fractures.
Hays was awarded the $6.3 million he asked for over the Orioles' proposed $5.85 million. The 28-yearold Hays hit .275 last year with 16 homers and 67 RBIs, earning $3.2 million. The 2023 All-Star is eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.
Webb will get $1 million instead of the team's $925,000 offer. A 30-yearold right-hander, Webb had a 3.27 ERA in 25 relief appearances last season.
Dubón won his case for $3.5 million over the team's offer of $3 million. The 29-year-old Dubón hit .278 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs in his first full season with Houston, which acquired him from San Francisco in May 2022.
Bickford got the $900,000 he requested rather than the $815,000 the Mets proposed. The 28-year-old right-hander was 5-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 61 games last season for the Dodgers and the Mets, who acquired him on Aug. 1.
• José Altuve and the Houston Astros agreed to a $125 million, five-year contract that covers 2025-29.
Altuve has a $26 million salary for 2024 in the final season of a $163.5 million, seven-year deal. The eighttime All-Star second baseman would have been eligible for free agency after this year's World Series.
His new agreement includes a $15 million signing bonus, payable upon the contract's approval by Major League Baseball, a person familiar with the terms told The Associated Press.
Altuve will have salaries of $30 million annually from 2025-27 and $10 million apiece in 2028 and '29.
A three-time batting champion and the 2017 AL MVP, the 33-year-old Altuve hit .311 with 15 homers, 51 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 90 games last year. He broke his left thumb when hit by a pitch from Daniel Bard while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic and didn't make his season debut until May 19.
Altuve helped the Astros win their first two World Series titles in 2017 and '22.
He was voted the AP Male Athlete of the Year in 2017.
Altuve became the first second baseman guaranteed to top $300 million in career earnings.
Douglas announces return to competition
Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around gymnastics champion, will return to competition for the first time in nearly eight years at the Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, on Feb. 24.
The 28-year-old Douglas, who made the announcement on NBC News NOW, was a teenager when she competed in London and became the first Black woman to win the Olympic title. She hasn't competed since helping the U.S. win team gold at the 2016 Olympics.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist went on an extended sabbatical after the Rio de Janeiro games but returned to training in 2022 and announced last summer she would try to make the 2024 Olympic team.
“I never announced a retirement,” Douglas told NBC. “I didn't want to end this sport like I did in 2016. I wanted to take a step back and work on myself and my mental state.”
Douglas joins a crowded and decorated field hoping to make the fivewoman Olympic squad, including 2016 Olympic champion Simone Biles and 2020 Olympic champion Sunisa Lee. Biles returned to competition last summer after a two-year break and won her record sixth world all-around title last fall.
Douglas said she is “definitely” pointing toward Paris but added she is taking things one day at a time.
Mercury acquire Copper from Sky
The Phoenix Mercury acquired 2021 WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper from the Chicago Sky for four draft picks, including the No. 3 choice this year.
Chicago also will receive Michaela Onyenwere and Brianna Turner from the Mercury.
Copper had agreed to a two-year extension with Chicago last September and solidified herself as the centerpiece of the organization. She averaged 12 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists during her seven seasons with the Sky, including a career-best 18.7 last year.
The 29-year-old guard was stellar the past three seasons, including during the Sky's championship run in 2021 when she averaged 17.7 points and 5.9 rebounds on the way to earning the Finals MVP.
The Mercury will also give Chicago their firstround pick in 2026 and send back the 2025 secondround pick that the Sky had given to Phoenix in an earlier trade. Chicago is also sending Morgan Bertsch to the Mercury.
Turner spent five seasons in Phoenix, appearing in 158 games and earning All-Defensive firstteam selections in 2020 and 2021. Onyenwere, who was the league's Rookie of the Year in 2021, was acquired by Phoenix last season. She averaged 8.9 points and 3.7 rebounds last season.