Reports: Mets agree with former A’s Marte, Canha on multiyear contracts
The New York Mets agreed to sign veteran outfielder Starling Marte to a four-year, $78 million contract, according to multiple media reports Friday evening.
Earlier Friday, reports surfaced that New York was signing outfielder and San Jose native Mark Canha to a two-year, $26.5 million contract and infielder Eduardo Escobar to a two-year, $20 million deal.
The Mets, who have not confirmed any of the contracts, are coming off a 7785 campaign. They have missed the playoffs in five consecutive seasons.
Marte, 33, split last season between the Miami Marlins and the Oakland Athletics. He had a collective batting average of .310 with a .383 on-base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage with 12 home runs, 55 RBIs and a career hightying 47 stolen bases.
Canha also will be coming to New York from Oakland, where he played for the A’s the last seven seasons. The 32-year-old hit .231 with a .358 on-base percentage and .387 slugging percentage last year with 17 homers and a career-high 61 RBIs, plus a personal-best 12 stolen bases.
Escobar played for both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021, hitting .253 with 28 home runs and 90 RBIs. The 32-year-old earned the first All-Star nod of his 11year career.
College men’s basketball
NO. 16 ST. BONAVENTURE LOSES ITS FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON >> AJ Green scored 35 points with four assists to lead Northern Iowa to a 90-80 win over No. 16 St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
Austin Phyfe and Nate Heise each had 15 points as the Panthers (2-3) beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2019 at thenNo. 23 Colorado.
Green did most of his damage from 3-point territory, making a career-best 9 of 15, to match his career high for scoring. The preseason player of the year in the Missouri Valley Conference was 8 of 28 from long range in Northern Iowa’s
first four games.
Kyle Lofton had 21 points, seven assists and four steals for St. Bonaventure (5-1). Dominick Welch scored 20 points and Jaren Holmes had 15. SECOND-RANKED UCLA DOWNS UNLV >> Jules Bernard scored 18 points and had two blocks to lead No. 2 UCLA over UNLV 73-51.
The Bruins (6-1) shot 47% from the field and from 3-point range. Tyler Campbell had 15 points and Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez each added 12 points each.
Bryce Hamilton led UNLV (4-3) with 15 points, while Donovan Williams added 12 points. The Rebels struggled from the field, finishing at 30% and an even smaller 22% from 3-point range.
The Bruins outrebounded UNLV 47-27 for the game.
College women’s basketball
NOTRE DAME HOLDS OFF OREGON STATE >> Maya Dodson and Maddy Westbeld combined for 25 points — sparking Notre Dame to an early lead — but it was barely enough to hold off No. 16 Oregon State 64-62 at the Daytona Beach Invitational.
Oregon State’s (3-2) Talia Von Oelhoffen scored 25 with 20 coming in the last 9:53 as she almost singlehandedly erased what had been a 22-point Fighting Irish lead. Dodson scored 14 with nine rebounds, Westbeld added 11 points for Notre Dame (6-1). Taylor Jones had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Oregon State.
Golf
LAWRENCE WINS 36-HOLE JOBURG OPEN AFTER 3RD
ROUND ABANDONED >> South African golfer Thriston Lawrence won the Joburg Open after the third round was abandoned because of bad weather, meaning the result was called after 36 holes of the inaugural event on the DP World Tour.
The event had been reduced to a 54-hole tournament late Friday to help non-South African resident players, caddies and support staff at the tournament return to their home countries, a move triggered by international travel restrictions being imposed on South Africa because of the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant in the country.
Lawrence had a four-shot lead at the end of the second round, having shot 6565 to be on 12 under par overall. He claimed his first win on what was formerly named the European Tour, earning the No. 503-ranked player full membership.
Play was suspended Saturday — with Lawrence having just started his third round — due to heavy rain and the threat of lightning. Organizers said large parts of the course were unplayable, leaving officials with little option but to abandon the day’s play.
Lawrence had even more reason to celebrate because a first-place finish secured him a place in next year’s British Open at St. Andrews, along with the players in second and third place — fellow South African Zander Lombard (8 under overall) and England’s Ashley Chesters (7 under). Chesters was tied for 7 under with Shaun Norris, who had already earned an exemption into the British Open.
Tennis
GERMANY BEATS DJOKOVIC’S SERBIA; ITALY ADVANCES AT DAVIS CUP >> Not even Novak Djokovic playing backto-back could help Serbia avoid losing to Germany in the Davis Cup finals group phase.
After Djokovic helped Serbia pull even at 1-1 by beating Jan-Lennard Struff, the world’s top-ranked male player immediately joined Nikola Cacic in doubles. But German pair Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz showed more mettle in a tight 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 victory to take the decider and the tie victory 2-1.
“It’s a great performance to beat the team who have the world No. 1,” Germany captain Michael Kohlmann said. “Before the tie, we all thought that we had a good chance. We really believed it and it paid off.”
Serbia could still go through to the quarterfinals, but Germany can seal its spot as the Group F winner with a victory over Austria, which Serbia has already beaten.