Ex-Oriole Pedro Álvarez signs deal with Marlins

Former home run champion Pedro Álvarez has signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins and will attend spring training as a nonroster invitee. Álvarez hit 30 homers for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012, 36 in 2013 and 27 in 2015. He led the majors in homers in 2013. Last season, Álvarez batted .180 with eight homers in 45 games for the Orioles. Others signing minor league deals with Miami include outfielder Gabriel Guerrero, the nephew of Hall of Famer and former Oriole Vladimir Guerrero, who batted .293 in the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league system this year.

PRO LACROSSE: Major League Lacrosse announced the hiring of Spencer Ford (Towson University) as its first special assistant to the commissioner for alumni development. Ford, who will continue to serve as the vice president of player personnel for the league’s Atlanta Blaze, will develop initiatives and maintain lines of communication with the league’s alumni. An attackman in MLL during its early seasons, Ford played for the Chesapeake Bayhawks, Rochester Rattlers, Long Island Lizards and Los Angeles Riptide during an eightyear career. . ... The Premier Lacrosse League, set to debut June 1, announced the formation of the PLL Lacrosse Advisory Board, an independent body that will serve the league by providing counsel on all lacrosse-related matters, and Hofstra men’s coach and Team USA assistant Seth Tierney (Johns Hopkins) has been selected as the chairman.

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