Locked-out players to send counteroffer to MLB
Locked-out baseball players plan to make a counteroffer to management on Monday, 11 days after clubs gave the union a proposal when the snail-paced negotiations resumed following a 42-day break.
The players’ association asked Major League Baseball on Thursday to schedule the negotiating session.
There is dwindling time to reach an agreement in time for spring training to start as scheduled on Feb. 16.
The Tampa Bay Rays’ proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal was rejected by Major League Baseball, principal owner Stuart Sternberg said.
“Today’s news is flat-out deflating,” Sternberg said.
The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed the last several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed.
“Things had progressed nicely and things had been working nicely, and then recently it just sort of took a turn to the south and we don’t precisely know why,“Sternberg said.
Major League Baseball is expanding its automated strike zone experiment to triple A, the highest level of the minor leagues.
MLB’s website posted a hiring notice seeking seasonal employees to operate the Automated Ball and Strike system.
ETC. Surgery to KO Ball 6-8 weeks
Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and is expected to be out six to eight weeks, the team announced.
Ball has missed three games since a 42-point loss to Golden State last week.
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving was fined $25,000 by the NBA for cursing at a fan in Cleveland.
The Sparks re-signed guard Te’a Cooper after she accepted a qualifying offer. In 2021, Cooper played 31 games and averaged 9.1 points and 1.4 assists in 22.0 minutes.
NCAA member schools voted to ratify a new, pareddown constitution, paving the way for a decentralized approach to governing college sports that will hand more power to schools and conferences. The vote was
overwhelmingly in favor, 801195, and was the main order of business at the NCAA’s convention in Indianapolis.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property after he broke a vacuum and other items during an argument, putting his status for Sunday’s divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in question. Gay pleaded not guilty and was expected to be released from jail later in the day . ... The NFL fined Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott $25,000 for comments condoning fans throwing objects at officials after a wild-card loss to San Francisco.
Diogo Jota scored twice to lead Liverpool to a 2-0 win at Arsenal and into a League Cup final against Chelsea.
California football coach Justin Wilcox signed an extension through the 2027 season . ... An arbitrator ruled that Connecticut improperly fired former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie and must pay him more than $11 million, Ollie’s lawyer said. Jacques Parenteau called the ruling from arbitrator Mark Irvings a “total vindication” for Ollie, who was fired in the spring of 2018 after the school reported it was investigating numerous potential NCAA violations in his program.
ESPN said it will not send reporters to next month’s Beijing Olympics because of concerns about rising COVID-19 cases worldwide and China’s strict policy about those who test positive.