Bautista agrees to one-year deal to stay with Blue Jays
Jose Bautista is staying with the Toronto Blue Jays after all. The free-agent slugger agreed to an $18-million, one-year contract with Toronto that includes mutual options for more years, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Associated Press. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal, said Bautista passed his physical and the contract was finalized Tuesday night.
Bautista’s deal contains a mutual option for a second season, with a buyout. It could last three years if the outfielder plays a certain amount of games in the first two.
The 36-year-old Bautista hit 22 homers with 69 RBIs last year while batting .234 in an injuryplagued season for Toronto.
He did not accept Toronto’s $17.2-million, one-year qualifying offer this off-season, instead deciding to test the open market.
First baseman Wil Myers and the San Diego Padres finalized an $83-million, six-year contract, the largest deal in the team’s history. The 26-year-old Myers hit 28 homers and drove in 94 runs last season and also stole 28 bases.
The Texas Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training for Josh Hamilton, who will try to land a job at a new position, first base. The 35-year-old Hamilton had his best years in Texas as a five-time All-Star, including trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. If he makes the team, he will make the major league minimum of $535,000. No matter what happens, he also is owed $24 million for the final year of the $125-million, five-year deal he signed with the Angels as a free agent before the 2013 season.
Meanwhile, Texas reliever Jake Diekman, the top lefthander in the Rangers’ bullpen, is expected to miss at least half the season after upcoming surgery to treat colitis, a digestive condition. and Koivu were four-time Olympic medalists for Finland. Selanne, the most valuable player in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, is 11th in NHL history with 684 goals and 15th with 1,457 points.
Former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith and Robert Morris University President Chris Howard have been added to the College Football Playoff selection committee. Beamer, Smith and Howard replace Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.
Creighton point guard and national assists leader Maurice Watson Jr. will miss the rest of the season because of a major knee injury, a huge blow for a team that is off to its best start and has hopes of making a deep postseason run. An MRI exam revealed a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Watson’s left knee. The senior was injured in the seventh-ranked Bluejays’ 72-67 win at Xavier on Monday.
Mississippi guard Rasheed Brooks collapsed from a seizure in the team huddle during a timeout in the Rebels’ game against Tennessee on Tuesday. Brooks was taken to a hospital for evaluation. School officials said he was stable and conscious.
Longtime major league executive Dan O’Brien Sr. died Monday at 87, the Texas Rangers said. The Rangers were one of four major league teams with whom O’Brien held front-office jobs over 45 years in professional baseball. O’Brien was the Rangers’ second general manager, from 1973 to 1978. He began his baseball career in 1955 as a minor league general manager and spent 10 years in the minors before joining the Rangers. He left Texas to become president and later general manager of the Seattle Mariners. He also worked in the front office with the Cleveland Indians, the Angels, the Arizona Fall League and USA Baseball before his retirement in 2000.