■ BLUE JAYS
Clement agrees to contract
Former All-Star pitcher Matt Clement agreed to a minor league contract with Toronto on Friday as he attempts a comeback from long-term injury. Clement, 34, has not pitched in the majors since 2006 because of shoulder problems. He went 13-6 in his All-Star season in 2005 with the Boston Red Sox. He has also played in the majors with San Diego, Florida and the Chicago Cubs. Clement signed a one-year deal with St Louis for this year but was released after 16 minor league appearances, including four starts. Clement believes he can get back to the majors and contribute for the Blue Jays, who have invited him to spring training.
■ PHILLIES
Ibanez to sign for US$31.5m
Philadelphia have reached a preliminary agreement with outfielder Raul Ibanez on a US$31.5 million, three-year contract. Ibanez will receive a US$2 million signing bonus, payable this year, a US$6.5 million salary next season and US$11.5 million each in 2010 and 2011. The agreement is subject to Ibanez passing a physical, two people familiar with negotiations said on Friday. The 36-year-old, who takes over in left field from Pat Burrell, batted .293 last season for Seattle with 43 doubles, 23 homers and 110 RBIs. Ibanez drove in 100 or more runs in each of the past three seasons in Seattle. Philadelphia also agreed to one-year contracts with infielder Eric Bruntlett (US$800,000) and pitcher Clay Condrey (US$650,000).
■ CUBS
Johnson, Gaudin, Cotts join
Outfielder Reed Johnson and pitchers Chad Gaudin and Neal Cotts agreed to one-year contracts with Chicago in the hours leading up to Friday night’s signing deadline. Johnson gets US$3 million, Gaudin US$2 million and Cotts US$1.1 million. Players on rosters who weren’t offered contracts by Friday become free agents. Johnson, signed by the Cubs after Toronto released him, batted .303 with six homers and 50 RBIs last season. The 32-year-old can make an additional $800,000 in performance bonuses. Gaudin was acquired from Oakland as part of a six-player deal that also brought Rich Harden to Chicago.
■ PIRATES
Vazquez bounces again
Utility infielder Ramon Vazquez agreed to a US$4 million, two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday after batting a career-high .290 for the Texas Rangers last season. Vazquez, who can play all four infield positions, has bounced around from Seattle to San Diego, Boston, Cleveland, Texas and now Pittsburgh. General manager Neal Huntington said Vazquez “provides us depth and protection at all positions in the infield. His ability, versatility and veteran presence is a quality addition to our organization.”
■ WHITE SOX
Chicago signs defector
Chicago have signed Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo to a four-year, US$10 million contract, Major League Baseball said on its Web site on Friday. The 19-year-old third baseman, whose deal included a US$4 million signing bonus, played three seasons with Villa Clara in the Cuban League, batting .296 with 32 home runs and 123 RBI in 233 games. At the age of 15, Viciedo was named Most Valuable Player of the world junior championships in Villahermosa, Mexico. He is likely to start the season in the minor leagues behind expected Chicago regular Josh Fields. Viciedo joins infielder Alexei Ramirez and pitcher Jose Contreras as part of the Cuban contingent on the White Sox roster. The third baseman left his homeland in May.
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