Nats’ Scherzer out of WBC with injury

NL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer injured a finger on his pitching hand and will miss the World Baseball Classic.

The Nationals announced on Twitter that their right-hander has a stress fracture in the knuckle of his right ring finger.

The team said the ongoing rehabilitation will keep Scherzer off the U.S. team at the WBC, which is in March, but he is still “expected to be a full participant” at spring training, which starts next month.

Scherzer went 20-7 with a 2.96 ERA and 284 strikeouts in 2016, including a record-tying 20 in one game, for Washington, becoming the sixth pitcher in major-league history to win AL and NL Cy Youngs.

Free-agent outfielder Colby Rasmus confirms he agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract with Tampa Bay. Rasmus, 30, batted .206 with 15 homers and 54 RBIs in 107 games for Houston in 2016. Rasmus, who also played for St. Louis and Toronto, hit more than 20 homers in four of his eight big-league seasons.

Former major-league pitcher and pitching coach Jackie Brown has died. He was 73.

Mr. Brown pitched and coached for the Texas Rangers, who said Mr. Brown died Sunday after a long illness. Mr. Brown died in Holdenville, Okla., the community where he was born.

Minor-league umpires are getting an upgrade in hotel accommodations, family leave, refrigerators at ballparks for concussion headgear and pay raises as part of a five-year labor contract. Under the agreement announced Monday, lodging must include interior access to the guest rooms rather than facing parking lots.