MLB
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball said only five days remain to salvage March 31 openers and a full season, telling locked out players that games would be canceled if a labor contract is not agreed to by the end of Monday.
After the third straight day of negotiations with little movement, MLB went public with what it had told the union on Feb. 12.
“A deadline is a deadline. Missed games are missed games. Salary will not be paid for those games,” an MLB spokesman said after Wednesday’s bargaining ended. The spokesman spoke on behalf of MLB on the condition the spokesman not be identified by name.
Players have not accepted Monday as a deadline and have suggested any missed games could be made up as part of doubleheaders, a method MLB said it will not agree to.
The union told MLB that if games are missed and salaries are lost, clubs should not expect players to agree to management’s proposals to expand the postseason and to allow advertisements on uniforms and helmets.
— By AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum.
NEW YORK (AP) — Paul O’Neill’s No. 21 will be retired by the New York Yankees on Aug. 21 before their scheduled game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
O’Neill will become the 23rd player or manager to have his number retired by the Yankees.
O’Neill was a four-time World Series champion for New York. Nicknamed “The Warrior” by late owner George Steinbrenner, the outfielder hit .303 with 185 homers and 858 RBIs for the Yankees from 1993-2001. He was a four-time All-Star with the team and won the 1994 AL batting title during a strike-shortened season.
GOLF
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson is taking over as Ryder Cup captain, leading an American side trying to end 30 years without a victory on European soil.
Three people with knowledge of the decision confirmed the move to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the PGA of America has yet to announce Johnson’s selection.
The PGA scheduled a news conference for Monday morning to announce the new captain for the 2023 matches scheduled for Marco Simone in Italy.
The decision is not a surprise. The 45-year-old Johnson has been an assistant captain each of the last two matches, and the U.S. team has moved toward captains with previous involvement.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Solheim Cup is going to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in 2024, the first time it has held a significant women’s event after four times hosting the Presidents Cup.
Europe won the the Solheim Cup at Inverness in Ohio last year. The matches go to Spain in 2023, and then will be played the following year as the LPGA Tour returns to even-numbered years opposite the Ryder Cup.
Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the course, which he considered among his best work.
NFL
GREEN BAY. Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst says he’s not giving Aaron Rodgers any deadlines on when to decide on a possible return and he believes the four-time MVP will reach a resolution soon.
Rodgers has said he hasn’t made up his mind regarding his plans for next season and hasn’t ruled out returning to the Packers, retiring or requesting a trade.
Rodgers, who won his second straight MVP award this past season, has said he’d like to make a decision by the time the free agency period starts next month. He wants to give the Packers enough time to prepare for life with or without him.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Caleb Houstan scored 13 of his career-high 21 points in the second half when Michigan pulled away to beat Rutgers 71-62 Wednesday night without head coach Juwan Howard, who was serving the first of a five-game suspension.
Former longtime Saint Joseph’s coach and current Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli was filling in for Howard. Howard was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and fined $40,000 by the Big Ten Conference after hitting a Wisconsin assistant coach in the head during the handshake line after a loss Sunday. In addition, Michigan players Terrance Williams II and Moussa Diabate were suspended for Wednesday’s game as a result of the fracas.
NHL
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Rodion Amirov has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Wednesday in a statement that the 20-year-old Russian winger is undergoing treatment in Germany and will not return for the remainder of the season. Agent Dan Milstein said Amirov is skating three times a week and working out daily while with his family in Germany having treatment.
The 15th pick of the 2020 NHL draft, Amirov started the season with Salavat Ufa of the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League and was injured 10 games in. Dubas said Amirov developed unrelated symptoms over the course of his recovery that required “ongoing extensive investigations.”
TENNIS
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Third-ranked Alexander Zverev was thrown out of the Mexican Open for violently smashing his racket on the umpire’s chair moments after losing a doubles match.
The incident took place after Zverev and Marcelo Melo lost to Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 on Tuesday night in Acapulco.
Zverev struck the umpire’s chair three times, sat and then got back up and yelled at umpire Alessandro Germani that he “destroyed the whole (expletive) match” and struck the chair once more with his racket as the umpire climbed down.
Minutes earlier, Zverev had received a code violation after yelling and swearing in protest of a shot that was ruled in, setting up match point. Glasspool then ended the match with an ace.
SPORTS BROADCASTING
NEW YORK (AP) — The final scores are in, and NBC is no doubt happy to put the Beijing Winter Olympics in the rear-view mirror.
The games reached an average combined audience of 11.4 million people in prime time on NBC, the USA cable network and Peacock streaming service, the network said. That’s the lowest-ever American audience for any Olympics, and down 42% from the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.
For NBC alone, the prime time telecasts reached an average of 9.3 million viewers, or 48% down from South Korea, the Nielsen company said.
CYCLING
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — British cyclist Jason Kenny, the country’s most decorated Olympian, has retired from racing and taken up a role as sprint coach for Britain’s team.
Kenny won seven gold medals — and nine medals in total — across four Olympic Games. No cyclist has won more.
With the 33-year-old Kenny as coach, Britain’s cycling team will head to the Paris Olympics in 2024 looking to continue its record of finishing on the podium in every men’s sprint event since Beijing in 2008.
OBITUARY
SEATTLE (AP) — Julio Cruz, an original Seattle Mariners player from their inaugural season who later became a Spanish-language broadcaster for the franchise, has died, the team announced Wednesday. He was 67.
Cruz died Tuesday at his home, according to a statement from his family. Cruz played for Seattle and the Chicago White Sox during his career.
Cruz, a switch-hitting second baseman, played 10 seasons total in the majors. He played parts of seven seasons with the Mariners, beginning with their inaugural season in 1977. Cruz made his debut with Seattle on July 4, 1977, after being selected from the California Angels organization during the expansion draft.
Cruz had served as part of the Mariners’ Spanish-language broadcasts since 2003.
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