Marisnick signs as arbitration heats up
Outfielder Jake Marisnick has avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.9 million, oneyear contract with the champion Houston Astros.
Marisnick, 26, hit .243 with 16 homers and 35 RBIs in 109 games last year before breaking his right thumb in September and missing the rest of the regular season and Houston’s World Series run.
Among others reaching agreements Thursday were Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin ($7.5 million), New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks ($2.8 million), Cleveland reliever Zach McAllister ($2.45 million), Detroit catcher James McCann ($2.4 million), Los Angeles Angels reliever Blake Parker ($1.8 million) and New York Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle ($1.3 million).
There were 189 players eligible for arbitration after teams offered contracts on Dec. 1 to unsigned players on their 40man rosters; 172 remained as of Thursday evening. Some of the biggest contracts could go to the third basemen: Toronto’s Josh Donaldson, Baltimore’s Manny Machado, Washington’s Anthony Rendon and the Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant, who could set the mark for the highest salary among players eligible for arbitration for the first time.
Most agreements are likely to reached Friday, the busiest day of the offseason.
The White Sox agreed to a $4.75 million, one-year contract to bring back pitcher Miguel Gonzalez after trading him late last season. The 33-year-old right-hander was 8-13 with a 4.62 ERA in 27 starts last season for Chicago and Texas, which acquired him on Aug. 31 for infielder Ti’quan Forbes.
Agent Jason Wood has been fired by CSE Talent agency after an accusation he used a camera to surreptitiously record clients in a shower. Wood was suspended Wednesday by the Major League Baseball Players Association, which CSE told of the allegation earlier in the day. Motors: Christopher Bell guaranteed his chance to defend his Chili Bowl title with a dominating win in Thursday night’s NASCAR qualifying event. Bell advanced into the 55-lap Saturday night main event in Tulsa.
Obituary: Cy Young, a 6-foot-5 farmer — unrelated to the Hall of Fame pitcher of the same name — who became the only American ever to win Olympic gold in javelin, died at 89 on Dec. 6 in Modesto.
His death was reported last month by the Modesto Bee, but it did not become widely known. His daughter, Jenifer Young, said the cause was complications of vascular dementia.
When the javelin-throwing competition began at the Summer Olympics in Helsinki on July 23, 1952, few in the crowd of nearly 70,000 expected a medal for Cy Young, who turned 24 that day. But he beat the heavily favored Finns with a throw of 73.78 meters, or just more than 242 feet, bettering the Olympic record set in 1932 by Finland’s Matti Jarvinen.
Among the American champions with whom Young shared the spotlight at the Helsinki Games was Horace Ashenfelter, who set a world record in the steeplechase and who died Saturday.
After the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Young became a farmer and rancher.