Braves hit with sanctions
BASEBALL: Hall of Fame 2B Joe Morgan is urging voters to keep “known steroid users” out of Cooperstown. A day after the Hall revealed its 33-man ballot for the 2018 class, the 74-year-old Morgan argued in a letter against the inclusion of players implicated during baseball’s steroid era in a letter to voters with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “Steroid users don’t belong here,” Morgan wrote. “What they did shouldn’t be accepted. Times shouldn’t change for the worse.” ... Yankees OF Aaron Judge, the AL Rookie of the Year, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder and is expected to be ready for spring training. The procedure involved a loose-body removal and cartilage cleanup. ... Commissioner Rob Manfred hit the Braves with heavy sanctions, including the loss of 13 players, for rules violations committed by the team in the international player market. Manfred also placed former Braves GM John Coppolella on the permanently ineligible list. Former Braves special assistant Gordon Blakeley, who was the team’s international scouting chief, is suspended from performing services for any team for one year. Most notable among the players the Braves will lose is Venezuelan IF Kevin Maitan, who signed for $4.25 million in 2016 . ... Will Venable is leaving the Cubs front office to be their 1B coach . ... The Angels named former C Josh Paul their new bench coach.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The Big 12 issued public reprimands to Kansas’ Joe Dineen, Dorance Armstrong Jr., Jeremiah Booker and Daniel Wise, who served as game captains and refused a shake hands with Oklahoma captains before their game on Saturday, and to Sooners QB Baker Mayfield. Mayfield, one of the OU captains, was reprimanded for an inappropriate gesture and yelling profanity toward fans after a third-quarter touchdown.
GYMNASTICS: Dr. Larry Nassar, accused of molesting several girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, will plead guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and face at least 25 years in prison, a person with knowledge of the agreement said. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the agreement ahead of a Wednesday court hearing in Michigan’s Ingham County.
SOCCER: Atlanta United midfielder Miguel Almiron was picked as Major League Soccer newcomer of the year, beating out his teammate Josef Martinez and the Fire’s Nemanja Nikolic for the award . ... Karim Benzema scored twice in the first half and Cristiano Ronaldo added two goals in the second as Real Madrid thrashed APOEL 6-0 to guarantee a spot in the Champions League last 16 . ... Harry Kane and Son Heung-min scored as Tottenham came from behind to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 and book its place in the Champions League last 16 . ... Ange Postecoglou quit as Australia coach a week after the team secured a spot at next year’s World Cup with an intercontinental win over Honduras.
TENNIS: Grand Slam tournaments are planning to return to seeding only 16 players, instead of 32, as of 2019, and now will give a player who is a late withdrawal because of an injury 50 percent of the first-round prize money.
ATLANTA Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred hit the Atlanta Braves with heavy sanctions, including the loss of 13 players, on Tuesday for rules violations committed by the team in the international player market.
Manfred also placed former Braves general manager John Coppolella on the permanently ineligible list. Former Braves Special Assistant Gordon Blakeley, who was the team's international scouting chief, is suspended from performing services for any team for one year.
Manfred said an investigation conducted by Major League Baseball determined the Braves circumvented international signing rules from 2015 through 2017 by moving bonus pool money from one player to boost another player's contract.
Most notable among the players the Braves will lose is Kevin Maitan, an infielder from Venezuela who signed for $4.25 million in 2016.