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Sports Briefs: Crawford will return to Rays for 2010 season
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Published: November 10, 2009
Updated: 11/10/2009 12:05 am
The Tampa Bay Rays have exercised their $10 million option on All-Star Carl Crawford.
The team yesterday also declined $2 million options on left-handed reliever Brian Shouse and backup catcher Gregg Zaun.
Crawford was the MVP of this year's All-Star game. The speedy left fielder also is the longest-tenured player in Rays history and the franchise's career leader in hits, runs, steals, triples, RBIs and games. He hit .305 with 15 homers, 68 RBIs and a career-high 60 steals this year.
If the Rays had declined the option, he would have been owed a $1.25 million buyout.
Shouse gets a $200,000 buyout and Zaun receives a $500,000 buyout. Both became eligible for free agency.
More baseball
■ The Red Sox have exercised their $7.7 million option on Victor Martinez and declined options on Jason Varitek and Alex Gonzalez.
They also agreed to a $5 million, two-year contract with 43-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, replacing a perpetual $4 million annual club option.
The moves on the options were expected after Boston obtained Martinez from the Cleveland Indians on July 31 and he replaced Varitek as the starting catcher. The club option for Varitek was worth $5 million, but he can stay with the team if he exercises his $3 million player option.
The Red Sox also could try to keep Gonzalez at shortstop for less than the $6 million option. He receives a $500,000 buyout.
■ The Philadelphia Phillies have declined their $5.5 million 2010 option on third baseman Pedro Feliz.
Feliz hit .266 with 12 home runs and 82 RBIs in 158 games for the National League champion Phillies this season. He'll receive a $500,000 buyout.
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. says he won't rule out bringing back Feliz.
Feliz had the winning hit for the Phillies in the 2008 World Series clincher against Tampa Bay.
■ The Mike Cameron era in center field for the Milwaukee Brewers ended yesterday when the 15-year veteran filed for free agency.
Cameron's spot will be taken by Carlos Gomez, who was acquired Friday from Minnesota for shortstop J.J. Hardy.
Four other Brewers filed for free agency, including outfielders Frank Catalanotto and Corey Patterson, catcher Jason Kendall and second baseman Felipe Lopez.
In other moves, second baseman Rickie Weeks and relievers Mark DiFelice and David Riske were reinstated from the 60-day disabled list. Infielder Adam Heether was added to the 40-man roster, which now stands at 37.
■ The Detroit Tigers have named former infielder Tom Brookens as the team's first base, outfield and baserunning coach.
Manager Jim Leyland said yesterday Brookens is a "perfect fit" for the staff.
Brookens played 12 seasons with Detroit (1979-88), the New York Yankees (1989) and Cleveland Indians (1990). He finished his career with a .246 batting average, 71 home runs and 431 RBIs in 1,336 games.
He spent the past five seasons as a minor league manager in the Tigers organization, compiling a 310-262 record.
■ The pitcher who helped Cuba defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the United States a decade ago is in stable condition after his face was crushed with a blunt object while trying to stop a fight.
The government-controlled Radio Rebelde said yesterday that Norge Luis Vera is "in delicate, stable condition and fully conscious." He is in the intensive care unit of Saturnino Lora Hospital in Santiago, Cuba's second-largest city.
Vera plays for Santiago in Cuba's top baseball league.
■ All 27 active judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may take the unprecedented step of rehearing the baseball drug list case, which could delay a final resolution until at least 2011 and possibly later.
In a one-sentence order last Wednesday, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski asked lawyers to submit briefs by Nov. 25 addressing whether the case should be heard by the full court. That day also is the deadline for the federal government to ask the Supreme Court to review the long-running dispute, although the Justice Department could request an extension.
Because of its large size, the 9th Circuit has used "limited en banc" panels, currently 11 judges, since 1980.
■ The Los Angeles Dodgers have declined a $2.2 million club option on pitcher Will Ohman for next season.
Ohman gets a $200,000 buyout and filed for free agency yesterday.
He went on the disabled list May 29 with a sore shoulder, and didn't make the Dodgers' postseason roster. Ohman, who pitched for Atlanta last year, had a $1.35 million salary this year with the Dodgers, who purchased his contract from Class AAA Las Vegas in April.
■ Baseball's general managers began gathering for their annual meeting yesterday.
They've come to a hotel near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to swap stories and perhaps players, and to start discussions with agents.
Increasing the use video replay among umpires could be a topic when the formal meetings start today, especially after a series of missed calls in the postseason.
High school football
■ A North Carolina high school is forfeiting its first-round playoff game after using an ineligible player.
The NCHSAA says Fayetteville Sanford will have to forfeit games in the regular season in addition to Friday's playoff game against crosstown program Fayetteville Pine Forest.
Sanford was the fourth seed in the Class 4-A East bracket, while Pine Forest gets a bye into the second round as the No. 13 seed.
Golf
■ Thousands of fans lined fairways and TV network helicopters circled overhead as Tiger Woods played his first round of golf in Australia in 11 years today.
Woods joined Australian veteran Craig Parry for a practice round at the Kingston Heath course near Melbourne, site of this week's Australian Masters. The tournament will be Woods' fourth in Australia.
He is being paid almost $3 million in fees for his appearance, but his presence caused tickets to the tournament to sell out within minutes.
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