Wong reaches minor league deal with Orioles McIlroy
The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to minor league contracts with infielder Kolten Wong and right-hander Julio Teheran, with invites to major league spring training.
The Orioles said Wednesday the pair of veteran big leaguers will report to major league spring training.
The 33-year-old Wong played in 87 games with Seattle and the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, hitting .183 — his worst batting average since becoming a full-time starter in 2014. Prior to that, the former University of Hawaii standout from Hilo played two years with Milwaukee and eight in St. Louis, where he won Gold Gloves in 2019 and 2020 while starting at second base.
Teheran, 33, is a twotime All-Star. He spent last season with Milwaukee and went 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA, making 11 starts. He spent his first nine major league seasons with Atlanta before a year with the Los Angeles Angels and one with Detroit.
PHILLIES: Bryce Harper is getting settled in as full-time first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Harper hit a hard single in his first spring training at-bat Wednesday, but the two-time NL MVP also flashed some leather at first base in a 7-7 tie against Atlanta. Harper made a diving catch on Jarred Kelenic’s grounder in the first inning, and started a nifty 3-6-3 double play on a 105.3 mph grounder by Kelenic in the third.
“He looks very comfortable and he’s improving every day,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Harper had Tommy John surgery in November 2022 and made his season debut last May 2 as a designated hitter. An outfielder the previous 11 seasons, his return to the field July 21 was at first base, where he started 36 times in the regular season and 13 in the playoffs.
“The sky’s the limit for me because he’s athletic,” Thomson said. “He’s calm, poised. A lot of a lot of good things can happen.”
STACY WAKEFIELD DIES: Stacy Wakefield, the widow of former Boston Red Sox pitcher and twotime World Series champion Tim Wakefield, has died.
Her family said in a statement released through the Red Sox that she died Wednesday at her Massachusetts home, less than five months after her husband died at the age of 57. Stacy was 53, according to online records.
“She was surrounded by her family and dear friends, as well as her wonderful caretakers and nurses,” the statement said. “The loss is unimaginable, especially in the wake of losing Tim just under five months ago. Our hearts are beyond broken.”
The family mentioned a diagnosis but did not provide a cause of death. In September, Tim’s former Red Sox teammate Curt Schilling said on a podcast both of the Wakefields had been diagnosed with cancer. Schilling said Tim had brain cancer and Stacy had pancreatic cancer. The news came with an outpouring of support for the Wakefields and criticism for Schilling disclosing the matter without their permission.
“We will remember Stacy as a strong, loving, thoughtful and kind person, who was as down-to-earth as they come,” the family’s statement continued. “We feel so lucky to have had her in our lives, and we take comfort in the fact that she will be reunited with Tim, the love of her life.”
Stacy and Tim are survived by their children, Trevor and Brianna.
As much as Tim was celebrated for his achievements on the field, both he and Stacy were also regarded in Boston for their work in the community.
Stacy worked alongside her husband in raising money for multiple charitable groups, including the Red Sox Foundation. They also worked with the Jimmy Fund, visiting with patients and raising funds for the childhood cancer charity.
McIlroy — a three-time FedEx Cup champion — will be playing in the Masters for the 16th consecutive year. He lost a four-shot lead in the final round of 2011, played in the final group with winner Patrick Reed in 2018 and his best result was runner-up in 2022, three shots behind Scottie Scheffler.
Gooch has played in the Masters twice. He tied for 14th in 2022 and tied for 34th last year, and has won three times since joining LIV.
But that wasn’t enough to merit an invitation. LIV’s Joaquin Niemann got a special invitation from Augusta National last week after he won the Australian Open in December, finished fifth in the Australian PGA and tied for fourth in the Dubai Desert Classic — four shots behind McIlroy.
“I played with him a few weeks ago in Dubai, and he went down to Australia and won,” McIlroy said about Niemann. “He was in Oman last week. He has been chasing his tail around the world to get this, play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite. I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor.”
If McIlroy wins the Masters,
he would join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as those who have claimed the men’s career Grand Slam.
McIlroy has offered countless comments on LIV and golfers heading there in recent years, ranging from outrage (“I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do,” he said after winning the FedEx Cup in August 2022) to eventually striking a more conciliatory tone (“I can’t judge people for making that decision,” he said in recent months). When Rahm left for LIV in December, McIlroy told Sky Sports that he wants Ryder Cup eligibility rules to be rewritten because “I certainly want Jon on the next Ryder Cup team,” he said.
And on Wednesday, that cycle — someone says something to start something — likely continued. When McIlroy was asked for a response to his former agent Chubby Chandler recently suggesting that he might actually join LIV, the response: “He might know a few things. Who knows?”
It was hard to gauge how serious McIlroy was in that moment. Which seems about right, given how complicated this era of golf has seemed at times.