Classic flock: 13 Cubs, Sox on WBC rosters
Eight White Sox and five Cubs will participate in the World Baseball Classic during spring training, including the Cubs’ Marcus Stroman (Puerto Rico) and Seiya Suzuki (Japan) and the Sox’ Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn and Kendall Graveman for Team USA. Rosters were announced Thursday.
Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert (Cuba), Eloy Jimenez (Dominican Republic), Jose Ruiz (Venezuela) and Nicholas Padilla (Puerto Rico) also were named from the Sox’ roster. Other Cubs include Javier Assad (Mexico), Nelson Velazquez (Puerto Rico) and Miles Mastrobuoni (Italy), with Matt Mervis (Israel) and Owen Caissie (Canada) headlining their group of prospect participants.
The WBC runs March 8-21. There are 20 teams this year split into four pools, with the top two teams from each advancing to an eight-team, single-elimination stage. The championship game is March 21. The tournaments will be played in Miami, Phoenix, Tokyo and Taichung, Taiwan.
Team USA, featuring Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Trea Turner, Pete Alonso, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Anderson, is in Pool C with Canada, Colombia, Great Britain and Mexico. Team USA won the last tournament, in 2017.
♦ The Padres signed veteran right-hander Yu Darvish to a sixyear, $108 million contract extension. He was in the last year of a six-year, $126 million deal he signed with the Cubs in 2018. The contract averages $18 million a year but is front-loaded, and Darvish will earn $30 million in 2023, tying him with Manny Machado for the highestpaid player on the team.
Darvish helped the Padres reach the NLCS last season, when he finished the year 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and 197 strikeouts. He was 2-1 in the postseason.
Darvish was 15-14 with a 3.60 ERA with the Cubs in 2018-20 before being traded to the Padres.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL Wildcats knock off Buckeyes
Boo Buie scored 19 points and reserve Brooks Barnhizer scored a career-high 19 points and visiting Northwestern (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten) beat Ohio State 69-63. Buie now has scored in double figures in 22 of 24 games this season, including 18 straight. Chase Audige scored 12 points in the win. The Buckeyes (1113, 3-10) made just 1 of 12 shots from three-point range.
The Wildcats moved into a fourway tie for second in the conference with No. 18 Indiana, Michigan and 24th-ranked Rutgers.
♦ Braden Smith scored a career-high 24 points and Zach Edey added 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 1 Purdue (23-2, 12-2 Big Ten) to an 87-73 victory over visiting Iowa (15-9, 7-6).
MISCELLANEOUS Texas, Oklahoma to SEC early
Texas and Oklahoma are heading to the SEC in 2024, a year earlier than originally planned, after Big 12 officials cleared the way for them to exit their league. BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are joining the Big 12 before the 2023 football season.
♦ Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre filed lawsuits in Mississippi, accusing the state auditor Shad White and sportscasters Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee of defaming him in public discussions about the misspending of welfare money.
♦ The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown has a broken bone in his face. The Celtics did not offer a timeline for his return.