MLB
NEW YORK (AP) - AL MVP Mookie Betts, NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and major league home run champion Khris Davis reached high-priced one-year deals to avoid salary arbitration, while slugger Nolan Arenado and pitchers Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino and Aaron Nola were among 15 players still on track for hearings.
Betts and the World Series champion Boston Red Sox agreed to a $20 million, one-year contract on Friday, a $9.5 million raise that topped pitcher Max Scherzer’s $8.8 million hike from Detroit in 2014.
Betts’ standard didn’t last the day, broken when deGrom and the New York Mets agreed at $17 million, a $9.6 million increase.
Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor, eligible for the first time, got an even bigger raise. His salary went up more than $9.9 million, from $643,200 to $10.55 million.
Davis and the Oakland Athletics reached a $16.5 million deal, a $6 million raise after he hit 48 home runs with a career-high 123 RBIs.
Among the 157 players eligible for arbitration at the start of the day, 142 reached deals on the busiest day of the offseason.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Dodgers reacquired catcher Russell Martin on Friday in a trade with Toronto, days after Yasmani Grandal left for a deal with Milwaukee.
Los Angeles obtained the 35-year-old Canadian from the Blue Jays for minor leaguers Andrew Sopko, a right-hander, and Ronny Brito, an infielder. Toronto is sending cash to offset some of the $20 million Martin is owed in the final season of his contract.
A four-time All-Star, Martin was with the Dodgers from 2006-10 and helped lead Los Angeles to three playoff appearances. He signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent after the 2010 season and spent two seasons in the Bronx before playing two seasons with Pittsburgh and four with Toronto.
NFL
COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) - The Los Angeles Chargers have signed kicker Nick Rose ahead of Sunday’s AFC playoff game against New England.
Rose is expected to handle kickoffs for the divisional-round game. Michael Badgley has made 20 of 22 field goals during the regular season and playoffs but only 15 percent of his kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks (9 of 60), a league low. Rose had a 71 percent touchback rate (32 of 47) in 10 games with the Redskins and Chargers last season.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Gary Kubiak won’t return to run the Denver Broncos offense after all for new head coach Vic Fangio, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Friday.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, said it became apparent over the last 24 hours that Kubiak wasn’t the right fit because of philosophical differences over scheme and staff.
Kubiak had wanted to bring back some of the assistant coaches who have followed him throughout his coaching career along with dusting off schemes that were successful in another era but don’t fit with the Broncos’ quest to modernize their approach.
Kubiak remains under contract with the Broncos and will continue in his role as a senior personnel adviser to general manager John Elway.
-By AP Football Writer Arnie Stapleton.
NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Jets officially have Adam Gase in place.
The team announced the hiring of the former Miami Dolphins coach as their head coach Friday after coming to an agreement on Wednesday night.
Gase will be formally introduced as the Jets’ coach at a news conference Monday at the team’s facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. The 40-year-old Gase was 23-26 in three years with Miami, including a playoff game in the 2016 season, before being fired last week.
NBA
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Stephen Curry made five 3-pointers to move into third place all-time in NBA history behind Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, and the Golden State Warriors rolled past the Chicago Bulls 146-109 on Friday night in their most lopsided win of the season.
Curry moved past Jason Terry with back-to-back 3s early in the third quarter and ended a 28-point night with 2,285 3-pointers in his career, trailing only Allen (2,973) and Miller (2,560).
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Memphis Grizzlies guard/forward Dillon Brooks is expected to miss the remainder of the season because of a ruptured ligament in his right big toe.
The Grizzlies announced that Brooks underwent surgery Friday. The Grizzlies said Brooks should have a full recovery in time for the 2019-20 training camp.
Brooks, 22, appeared in 18 games this season off the bench and averaged 7.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 18.3 minutes.
NHL
Rick Nash has decided to retire at 34 because of unresolved symptoms from a concussion he suffered in March.
Agent Joe Resnick announced Nash’s retirement in a statement Friday. Resnick says Nash decided under advice from doctors that the risk of brain injury was far too great if he returned to play hockey.
Nash scored 437 goals and had 368 assists for 805 points in 1,060 regular-season NHL games.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Arizona Coyotes have acquired center Jordan Weal from the Philadelphia Flyers for a minor leaguer and a draft pick.
Weal has three goals and nine points in 28 games for the Flyers this season. Over parts of four seasons, Weal had 19 goals and 42 points in 124 games. Weal was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round of the 2010 draft.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says he’s looking forward to celebrating Clemson’s national champion football team at the White House on Monday.
Trump announced the team’s visit in a tweet Friday, exclaiming “what a game, what a coach, what a team!”
Clemson beat Alabama 44-16 on Monday night in the title game.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Temple has hired Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey as its next football coach, filling a vacancy that abruptly opened in late December after the newly-hired Manny Diaz left to lead Miami.
Athletic director Patrick Kraft says Carey is a proven winner and the right fit to keep the Owls moving forward.
Carey arrives after Geoff Collins departed to Georgia Tech and Temple unexpectedly lost Diaz as its first replacement.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma backup quarterback Austin Kendall has entered the NCAA transfer database portal.
A university spokesperson confirmed Kendall’s entry Friday.
Other schools can now contact Kendall. He has already graduated, so he would be eligible to play immediately.
Kendall was Baker Mayfield’s backup in 2016 and battled Kyler Murray for the starting job into fall camp this past season.
TENNIS
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Gordon Smith, longtime CEO and executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, will retire at the end of 2019 after 12 years on the job.
USTA chairman Patrick Galbraith said Friday that Smith “brought our sport to new levels” and “represented American tennis with class and dignity around the world.”
Under Smith, the national governing body finished the five-year, $600 million transformation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. That included two new stadiums plus a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium.
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
DETROIT (AP) - Tigers minor league pitcher Gregory Soto has been suspended 20 games without pay by Major League Baseball under a provision of the sport’s collective bargaining agreement allowing discipline for conduct detrimental or prejudicial to the sport.
The 23-year-old left-hander’s suspension resulted from an agreement with the players’ association, a person familiar with the discipline told The Associated Press on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because no statement was authorized. The person said the suspension was not related to gambling.
Soto’s discipline also could not be because of drugs or domestic violence, which are covered by other agreements between MLB and the union.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama judge temporarily reinstated Maori Davenport’s eligibility Friday after the high school star had been suspended over what her parents described as a mistake payment from USA Basketball.
Pike County Circuit Judge Sonny Reagan issued an order stopping the Alabama High School Athletic Association from disqualifying Davenport until the court rules on a complaint filed by the teen’s parents. It is unclear when the court will rule on the complaint.
Davenport, a senior at Charles Henderson High School in Troy and a Rutgers signee, had been ruled ineligible for her final season by state high school officials after receiving an $857.20 check from USA Basketball, which has been repaid.
Davenport returned to the court Friday night, scoring 25 points in Charles Henderson High School’s victory over Carroll.
OBITUARY
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) - John Michels, a College Football Hall of Famer whose 27 seasons as a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach included all four of their Super Bowl appearances, has died. He was 87.
Michels’ daughter, Sarah Michels-Dunkel, said Friday that her father died Thursday in Kingsport.
Michels worked on the Vikings’ coaching staff from 1967-93, making him the longest-tenured assistant coach in franchise history. He was the offensive line coach that entire stretch, most of it under coach Bud Grant, aside from one season a running backs coach.
He played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1953 and 1956 before joining the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he played for Grant.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gus Ganakas, who was the coach of Michigan State’s men’s basketball team from 1969-76 and remained part of the athletic department until his retirement in 2000, has died. He was 92.
Michigan State said Ganakas died Friday. Tom Izzo, the men’s basketball program’s current coach, calls Ganakas one of the most selfless and positive people he’s ever been around.
Ganakas became an assistant coach at Michigan State in 1966. After taking over as head coach three years later, he went 89-84 in seven seasons. Jud Heathcote succeeded him and led the Spartans to a national title in 1979.
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