Yankees’ Cortes to miss Classic
New York Yankees lefthander Nestor Cortes will miss next month’s World Baseball Classic because of a strained right hamstring but hasn’t ruled out being ready for the start of the season. Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland replaced Cortes on the U.S. roster.
Yu Darvish will receive $30 million this year in salary and signing bonus as part of a new $108-million, six-year contract with the San Diego Padres. The agreement replaced the final season of a $126-million, six-year contract that was due to pay the 36-year-old right-hander $18 million this season. Darvish gets a $6-million signing bonus and salaries of $24 million this year, $15 million in 2024, $20 million in 2025, $15 million in 2026 and $14 million each in 2027 and 2028 . ... Longtime Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner died Sunday of complications from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Md., at the age of 97.
A former Michigan State basketball star pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of a Detroit man. Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said 31-year-old Keith Damon Appling pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and felony firearm in the killing of 66-year-old Clyde Edmonds. Prosecutors said Appling fatally shot Edmonds in May 2021 after the men argued over a handgun. The Detroit Pershing prep star played at Michigan State from 2010 to 2014. Appling also played pro basketball overseas and had two brief contracts with the NBA’s Orlando Magic . ... Michigan State canceled all campus activities, including athletics, for 48 hours after multiple people were wounded in shootings at the school, police said . ... The Western Athletic Conference deemed New Mexico State remaining men’s basketball games as forfeits after the program canceled its season amid hazing allegations.
Conrad Dobler, one of the NFL’s top offensive linemen with the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1970s, died in Pueblo, Colo. He was 72. No cause of death was given. Dobler played left guard on an offensive line that included Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf for a St. Louis team that became known as the “Cardiac Cardinals.” ... Sunday’s Super Bowl was the third most-watched television show in history, with an estimated 113 million people watching the Kansas City Chiefs rally to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35.
Stephen Curry hopes to get back to on-court work during the All-Star break but will miss time afterward as he recovers from a left leg injury. The reigning NBA Finals most valuable player missed his fourth straight game . ... Mikal Bridges’ consecutive games streak lives on, even after he was forced to miss a game last week for the first time in his NBA career. Bridges was acquired by Brooklyn from Phoenix last Thursday in a deal approved by the league too late for him to play that night, so he was listed as “inactive — trade pending.” But the league determined that since Bridges wasn’t eligible to play, it shouldn’t count as a missed game. So his streak, the longest active one in the league, reached 367 games Monday night.
UEFA-appointed investigators have held European soccer’s ruling body mostly responsible for chaotic security failures at the Champions League final in Paris last May. The failed security operation put the lives of Liverpool and Real Madrid fans at risk. The investigation panel wrote in a 220-page document, “it is remarkable that no one lost their life.” The panel concluded UEFA “as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster.”