The New York Yankees planned to make a new contract offer to Jorge Posada on Monday in an effort to re-sign the All-Star catcher before he hits the open market.
New York also was trying to re-sign Mariano Rivera before yesterday, when free agents could start talking money with all clubs.
"Mariano already has been given an improved offer, and Jorge's will be today," senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "We're kind of hoping to get an answer at least on one of the two tonight."
Posada, a five-time All-Star who was 36, said on Sunday he was "really close" to an agreement with the Yankees and his preference is to remain with the only major league team he's played for. His contract is expected to be for three or four years.
"A lot of that now that the players and agents do, it's just spin," Steinbrenner said. "But the bottom line is I think he means it."
Rivera, an eight-time All-Star, was in the Dominican Republic on Monday. Rivera, who turns 38 on Nov. 29, said on Monday if he couldn't reach a deal with New York, he would consider following manager Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The closer is expected to receive a three-year contract.
"The Yankees are my first option," he said in Santo Domingo. "But if that is not possible, there is Joe with the Dodgers."
General manager Brian Cashman said re-signing the pair are his top priorities right now.
"The ball's pretty much in their court now. They've both been made very good offers now, and we'll see where they're at," Steinbrenner said. "We'll see how committed they are."
Steinbrenner said the Yankees still were trying to gauge what the Florida Marlins might want in a trade for All-Star third baseman Miguel Cabrera, who is being made available.
"We got a couple ideas, what they might be asking for, and it's a lot," Steinbrenner said. "I don't know what's going to happen there, but there's still plenty of time on that."
It's also far too early to determine whether the Minnesota Twins will attempt to trade two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, who can become a free agent after next season. Steinbrenner said the Yankees certainly would speak with the Twins if he becomes available.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier