Nationals owner Lerner dies at 97
WASHINGTON — Ted Lerner, the billionaire real estate developer whose family bought the Washington Nationals in 2006, has died, the team announced Monday. He was 97.
A Nationals spokesperson said Lerner died Sunday of complications from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Md.
Lerner's group purchased the Nationals from Major League Baseball in 2006 for $450 million after the team was moved to the U.S. capital from Montreal. He was managing principal owner until ceding that role to son Mark in 2018.
Under the Lerners’ ownership, the Nationals went from one of baseball’s worst teams in their first several seasons in Washington to World Series champions in 2019. The Lerners also are credited with revitalizing the city's Navy Yard area since Nationals Park opened in 2008.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Founding Managing Principal Owner Theodore N. Lerner,” the team said in a statement. “The crowning achievement of his family business was bringing baseball back to the city he loved — and with it, bringing a championship home for the first time since 1924. He cherished the franchise and what it brought to his beloved hometown.”
Last year, the Lerners began exploring the possibility of selling the team, which is worth $2 billion, according to Forbes, which estimates the family's net worth is $6.6 billion thanks to the Nationals and Lerner Enterprises, one of the largest property-owning companies in the Washington area.
Hall of Fame SS Jeter joins Fox Sports team
Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have been reunited.
Fox Sports announced Sunday during its Super Bowl pregame show that Jeter will be part of the network's studio coverage for the coming season.
Rodriguez hugged Jeter as he came on stage and presented him with a Fox Sports baseball jersey. Jeter, who was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2020, also joins fellow Hall of Famer David Ortiz and host Kevin Burkhardt as part of the studio team.
“I was on set at the World Series in Philadelphia and (David) Ortiz kept showing me his World Series rings. I figured I would join the team and humble him a little bit,” Jeter joked.
Jeter and Rodriguez were teammates on the New York Yankees for 10 seasons, but their relationship wasn't close. The two were good friends early on during their big league careers, but Jeter acknowledged during his ESPN documentary series “The Captain” last year that they had grown apart after comments Rodriguez made in a 2001 interview with Esquire magazine.
Rodriguez credited Jeter’s teammates for the Yankees' run of four World Series championships in five years from 19962000.
The two, though, have seemed to put things behind them.
Yankees lefty Cortes to miss World Classic
New York Yankees lefthander Nestor Cortes will miss next month's World Baseball Classic due to a strained right hamstring but hasn't ruled out being ready for the start of the regular season.
Colorado lefty Kyle Freeland replaced Cortes on the United States roster.
Cortes said the injury is low grade two strain and there is no timeframe, but he will not pitch for at least a couple of weeks.
Cortes first felt a tweak a week ago while running sprints at home.
“Didn't think of it much,” Cortes said. “I thought it was just a cramp. Later that night went to put on a shoe and kind of felt a little pull there. Once I showed up here it was a little bruised. We’re taking it day by day. We’re seeing how I progress.”
Cortes went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts during an AllStar season last year.
Another Yankees' starter, Frankie Montas, could miss the start of the season with right shoulder inflammation.
Darvish’s deal will earn him $30M in ’23
Yu Darvish will receive $30 million this year in salary and signing bonus as part of a new $108 million, six-year contract with the San Diego Padres.
The agreement, announced Thursday, replaced the final season of a $126 million, six-year contract that was due to pay the 36-year-old right-hander $18 million this season.
Darvish geta a $6 million signing bonus, of which $2 million is payable within 30 days' of the deal's approval by the commissioner's office, $2 million this June 1 and $2 million this Sept 1.
He gets salaries of $24 million this year, $15 million in 2024, $20 million in 2025, $15 million in 2026 and $14 million each in 2027 and 2028.
Darvish's 2028 salary would increase by $1 million for each Cy Young Award he wins from 2023-27.