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Mariners Sign Pitcher Jeff Weaver

World Series hero Jeff Weaver will join his sixth team in as many seasons.

Weaver and the Seattle Mariners have agreed in principle on one-year contract worth for $8,325,000, a players union source told SI.com.

Weaver's deal could pay him another $1 million in incentives related to innings or games played. The veteran right-hander, a noted innings-eater, will make an additional $300,000 for 180 innings or 28 games, another $300,000 for 190 innings or 30 games and an additional $400,000 for 200 innings or 32 games.

Weaver also is to receive $50,000 for making the All-Star team, $200,000 for winning the Cy Young award, $50,000 for winning the LCS MVP and $100,00 for winning the World Series MVP, which probably doesn't seem so far-fetched after he helped St. Louis win its first World Series title since 1982.

Weaver had a two-year offer from the Cardinals but decided to take Seattle's one-year deal for the same base salary he accepted a year ago from the Anaheim Angels. Weaver apparently would prefer to get back on the free-agent market for a third straight year.

The Mariners have bulked up their starting staff by acquiring three starting pitchers this winter, having previously traded for Horacio Ramirez and signed Miguel Batista. FOXSports.com first reported Weaver was in serious talks with the Mariners.

Weaver has made 240 starts over eight major league seasons -- 34 each in 2004 and 2005, and 31 last year.

He was 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA when the Los Angeles Angels designated him for assignment on June 30, then traded him to the Cardinals five days later. He was 5-4 with a 5.18 ERA with the Cardinals, but starred during the postseason. He was 1-1 in the World Series against Detroit, getting the victory in the Game 5 clincher by allowing two runs -- one earned -- and five hits in eight innings.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Lidle's Crash Prompts Permanent Flight Restrictions

Flight restrictions imposed around Manhattan after New York Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle crashed his single-engine plane into an apartment tower will be made permanent, new government documents show.

This was revealed as the National Transportation Safety Board released papers Monday detailing its investigation of the Oct. 11 crash that killed Lidle and his flight instructor.

Included in the papers are toxicology reports showing that neither Lidle nor instructor Tyler Stanger had drugs or alcohol in their systems. The NTSB also found the airplane's global positioning device and cockpit display unit were too badly damaged by the fiery crash to reveal any information about the flight.

Lidle owned the Cirrus SR-20 plane, and had taken it for a midday trip past the Statue of Liberty and north up the East River. Lidle apparently ran into trouble as he attempted to turn the plane around and head back south.

After the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily ordered small, fixed wing planes not to fly over the river, which runs along Manhattan's East Side, unless the pilot would be in contact with air traffic controllers.

According to the NTSB documents, the Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 12 "indicated that they would be proceeding with a rulemaking action to make the restrictions ... permanently effective."

The restriction remains in place, an FAA spokesman said Monday, but could not immediately confirm that the agency plans to make the rule permanent.

Small planes could previously fly below 1,100 feet along the river without filing flight plans or checking in with air traffic control.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Pujols Becomes US Citizen

Albert Pujols has won an NL MVP award, a Gold Glove and a World Series. He added a perfect 100 on his U.S. citizenship test to his r©sum© this week.

The St. Louis Cardinals' star became a U.S. citizen Wednesday during a ceremony at the Eagleton Courthouse. Pujols' wife, Deidre, arranged to have about two dozen relatives and friends watch U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber swear in Pujols.

Chester Moyer, the officer in charge of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service office in St. Louis, said Thursday that Deidre Pujols served as her husband's tutor. Moyer said Pujols, 27, spent about a year preparing for the citizenship exam.

"He even answered a bunch of additional questions and gave us more answers than we asked," Moyer said. "He clenched his fist and said, 'I got 100 percent!'

"He just had a grin from ear to ear," Moyer said. "He was thrilled to become a citizen."

Pujols' agent and officials with his foundation, the Pujols Family Foundation, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

The ceremony was open to the public, but there was no publicity about Pujols' participation. He was the only person sworn in Wednesday.

Pujols grew up in the Dominican Republic, moved with his father to the Kansas City area when he was 16, and graduated from Fort Osage High School in Independence, Mo., in 1998. He was selected by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 amateur draft after playing baseball at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City.

In six major league seasons, Pujols has 250 homers, 758 RBIs and a .332 batting average. He was the 2005 NL MVP and has finished second three times, including last season, when he hit 49 homers and drove in 137 runs while hitting .331 in leading the Cardinals to their first World Series title in 24 years. The first baseman won his first NL Gold Glove in 2006.

Soon after the citizenship ceremony, Pujols flew to Florida to prepare for the opening of spring training. Pitchers and catchers report Wednesday and begin workouts the next day. Position players are due to report Feb. 19.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2758836

Bernie Williams Turns Down Minor League Offer

Bernie Williams doesn't plan to accept the Yankees' offer to attend spring training on a minor league contract, the outfielder told several reporters Friday night before playing guitar at a benefit concert.

"I think if they wanted me, they would have signed me already," Williams was quoted as saying by both The New York Times and Daily News.

"The option to go to spring training and see what happened -- I don't think at this moment it is something I want to consider."

The Daily News also quoted Williams as saying, "I'm working out, but I think the way it looks right now, it doesn't seem like I'm going to be playing with that team this year."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the Times that there was no room for the 38-year-old Williams on the roster.

"We love and respect Bernie, but with the dynamic of our roster, there's not a spot," Cashman said. "We had a lot of conversations with him. I understand that he doesn't want to accept a minor league deal."

Williams, the career leader in postseason home runs (22) and RBIs (80), hit .281 with 12 homers and 61 RBIs in 131 games last season, his 16th with the team. The four-time World Series champion is career .297 hitter.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

That's not the way to treat a guy who's been with the team since he came up through the minors. Put him on the bench as a pinch-hitter or something.

Joe Mauer, Twins Avoid Arbitration

AL batting champion Joe Mauer and the Twins agreed Sunday to a $33 million, four-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration and giving one of the team's young stars the security of a long-term deal.

The 23-year-old catcher hit .347 with 84 RBIs last year to help the Twins rally from a 121/2-game deficit to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season. He played in his first All-Star game last summer.

"I'm real excited to be in Minnesota for the next four years and that I'll be playing at home with my family and friends being there," Mauer said. "I'm excited to be there for the opening of the new stadium."

Selected with the first pick in the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Mauer was eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time. He became the first catcher to lead the majors in batting average and the first AL catcher to win the batting title.

"We're extremely happy, because there is not a player who belongs with the Twins more than Joe Mauer," his agent Ron Shapiro said on Sunday.

Shapiro represented two Hall of Famers, Baltimore's Cal Ripken and Minnesota's Kirby Puckett, who spent their entire careers with the same team. The deal will keep Mauer with the Twins through at least 2010, the year the team is scheduled to begin playing in a new Minneapolis ballpark.

He gets $3.75 million this year, $6.25 million in 2008, $10.5 million in 2009 and $12.5 million in 2010. Mauer has additional award bonuses and gets the right to designate three teams each year that he can't be traded to without his consent.

Mauer would have been eligible for free agency after the 2009 season.

"This is a good day for this organization, and I feel like it's one of those deals which is going to work for both sides," Ryan said. "You have to be comfortable with how a player's going to respond to security. I don't think there's any question how Joe's going to respond to that."

Mauer's rookie season in 2004 was cut short by a knee injury that raised some questions about how his body could handle the physical demands of his position behind the plate. But he has been fine ever since.

"That's one of the good things about this situation," Ryan said. "He is in awful good shape and showed it last year."

Twins pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., by next Sunday. Ryan has one more player left in arbitration, right fielder and cleanup hitter Michael Cuddyer.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Time Warner Agrees to Sell Atlanta Braves

Time Warner Inc. reached a deal to sell the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media Corp. after more than a year of negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The agreement, which must still be approved by Major League Baseball owners, would involve Time Warner transferring the Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash to Liberty in exchange for about 60 million shares of Time Warner, the Journal reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the deal.

Based on the closing price of Time Warner's stock Monday, the market value of those shares would be about $1.27 billion.

Liberty Media spokesman John Orr and Time Warner spokesman Ed Adler declined to comment on the report, which the Journal posted on its Web site Monday.

Liberty currently has about 170 million shares of Time Warner, which is equivalent to a stake of about 4 percent of the media company, whose holdings include Time Warner Cable, HBO, AOL, CNN, Warner Bros. and Time Inc. The deal would reduce the size of Liberty's stake in Time Warner to about 2.6 percent.

Time Warner acquired the Braves when it bought Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting Systems from Ted Turner in the mid-1990s.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Mariano Rivera Blasts Yankees for How They Treated Bernie

Bernie Williams isn't in Yankees camp. But whether he comes or not, it's obvious he's going to be an issue.

Mariano Rivera, the great Yankees closer who'd previously expressed dismay over the team's delay in extending his own contract, told SI.com on Tuesday that the Yankees should be treating Williams better.

Responding to a question about whether he's surprised that Williams didn't receive a guaranteed deal from the Yankees, Rivera responded, "Surprised? Yes ... I think Bernie shouldn't be treated that way. But who am I to say?''

Rivera had declined to discuss Williams' situation on Monday, when he expressed disappointment at having to wait to have his contract addressed, even though he had told the Yankees weeks ago that he was interested in staying beyond 2008. However, Rivera made it clear in an interview with SI.com how he feels about Williams' plight.

"Bernie should be here with his bat,'' Rivera said, emphatically. "He had a great year last year, and he helped us a lot. I guess that's the business side of baseball.''

Without regard to sentimentality, the Yankees made a calculated roster choice to have 12 pitchers and three first basemen and only extend a non-guarantee, non-roster minor-league invitation to Williams, a Yankees icon. However, they risked upsetting a few longtime teammates of Williams's, particularly since he had a fine 2006 season, hitting .281 with 12 home runs and 61 RBIs.

The problem is that some key Yankees decisionmakers feel that Williams is not equipped for a reserve role, saying that he's no longer above average defensively and that he couldn't excel as a pinch-hitter. Williams, though, did perform admirably as a backup last year, even while learning a new position, right field.

The Yankees also had to know that their decision could upset the very players who led them to four World Series titles, and on Tuesday, Rivera became the first to criticize the team for the call. The decision regarding Williams may also have caused Rivera to feel anxious about his own contractual situation.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Posada, yet another great Yankee heading into the final year of his contract, expressed support for Williams without being critical of the team. "I'm a Bernie fan,'' Posada said. "He's done a lot for this organization, and we all know that.'' Posada expressed hope Williams would accept the minor-league invite, but stopped short of criticizing the team for its decision.

Yankees people were surprised at Rivera's remarks regarding his own talks on Monday, especially since Rivera, a supremely low-maintenance superstar, has hardly ever uttered a critical or anxious word during his reign as one of the greatest closers of all-time. Yankees decisionmakers view the situations of Williams and Rivera far differently, considering Rivera is still one of the top two or three closers in the game.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Sosa Arrives Ready for Spring Training

Sammy Sosa returned to the field Friday after a year away from the game, greeted warmly by fans before his first spring training workout with the Texas Rangers.

The 38-year-old slugger, fifth on baseball's home-run list, got to the complex several hours before the Rangers' first full-squad workout. Sosa has a minor-league deal with his original team, hoping for a chance to get back to the majors.

On his way to the practice field, Sosa passed through a small group of fans, with one yelling, "Good luck, Sammy." He stopped and posed for a picture.

"I just expect Sammy to come in and be Sammy," first-year manager Ron Washington said. "We're going to do everything we can to try to get him going and maybe he can help us win some ballgames."

Sosa completed his physical and greeted teammates in the clubhouse. With a bat in hand, he smiled and said, "Back in business." The Rangers planned an afternoon news conference for the former NL MVP and seven-time All-Star who has 588 homers.

Rangers owner Tom Hicks, who was in camp for Sosa's first day, said he's anxious to see how things are going for Sosa after a few weeks in camp.

"He says all the right things," Hicks said. "He just has to go out and do it now. I think he will."

Sosa was 16 when Texas signed him from the Dominican Republic in 1985. He was still a lanky kid in 1989 when he made his major-league debut and hit his first home run, the only one he had in 25 games for the Rangers before being traded to the Chicago White Sox.

When Sosa's minor-league deal with Texas was announced last month, Sosa was fielding the same steroids questions that dogged him when he left the game after the 2005 season with Baltimore.

If Sosa makes the team, Washington expects him to be primarily a designated hitter and bat in the middle of the lineup behind three-time All-Star shortstop Michael Young and switch-hitting slugger Mark Teixeira.

Sosa will get a $500,000, one-year deal and could possibly earn up to $2.1 million more in performance bonuses if he makes the 40-man roster.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring200 ... id=2776360

Schilling to File for Free Agency

Curt Schilling said he will become a free agent after the season and won't let that distract him during his fourth year with the Boston Red Sox.

General manager Theo Epstein wouldn't rule out in-season discussions for a new contract.

At a brief meeting between the two Wednesday, Epstein told the pitching ace that the team would not give him an extension during spring training, as Schilling had wished.

"Curt's going to be 41, and at that age we've got to be a little more conservative," Epstein said Thursday. "It doesn't mean we don't want him back. I have all the confidence in the world that if Curt wants to pitch in 2008 and he's still pitching effectively, as I expect he will, then we'll find a way to keep him in a Red Sox uniform."

Epstein also said Schilling will be the Opening Day starter April 2 in Kansas City and "I couldn't be happier about that."

Schilling said he didn't warn the Red Sox that it might cost them more to sign him after the season. Even if they want to keep him, he could still leave.

Late last month, Schilling said he wanted to play in 2008 after stating previously that he would retire after the 2007 season. Schilling, who represents himself, also said he would play for the same amount he's making this year, $13 million, but he wouldn't negotiate after Opening Day.

On Thursday, he said he was "disappointed" but understood the club's position. He also said he would not negotiate with the Red Sox during the 15 days following the World Series, when they are the only club allowed to discuss money with him.

"I will file for free agency at the end of the season and they know that," Schilling said. "I'm going to get ready for Opening Day and this is not going to change anything that I do or how I do it."

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2775412