Sports News BriefsL Rangers, Cruz have deal
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American League championship series MVP Nelson Cruz agreed Thursday to a $16 million, two-year contract with the Texas Rangers.
The deal includes $500,000 in performance bonuses over the two years. With the agreement, negotiated by agents Sam and Seth Levinson, Cruz avoids an arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for next week.
Cruz, 31, an outfielder, had asked for $7.5 million in arbitration and the team had offered $5.5 million. He made $3.65 million last year.
The deal came one day after Elvis Andrus and the Rangers completed a $14.4 million, three-year contract that avoided a hearing.
The Cincinnati Reds made a couple of moves to improve their depth, finalizing a $2.5 million, one-year contract with outfielder Ryan Ludwick and a minor league deal with left-handed starter Jeff Francis.
• The San Francisco Giants finalized a $1 million, one-year contract with free agent reliever Guillermo Mota to bring him back for a third season.
• Left-handed reliever Craig Breslow and the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a one-year contract worth $1,795,000, a deal that avoided salary arbitration.
• Russell Branyan agreed to a minor league contract with the New York Yankees and will try to win a bench job as a corner infielder in spring training.
• The Baltimore Orioles defeated Brad Bergesen in salary arbitration, giving clubs a 3-2 lead over players this year. Bergesen will receive an $800,000 salary this year rather than his request for $1.2 million.
• The Kansas City Royals and outfielder Alex Gordon avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $4,775,000.
Consultants are recommending that Ohio State hire a vice president to oversee a new office and committee that would monitor ethics and rules compliance across the university system.
• Wisconsin said a third allegation of misconduct surfaced against a former top athletic official. Chancellor David Ward said that university police are investigating a new allegation involving John Chadima, who resigned in January after he was accused of sexually assaulting a male student at a Rose Bowl party.
First Published February 10, 2012 12:00 am
