Dodgers get Greinke and Korean pitcher
NOW THAT the Los Angeles Dodgers have new ownership and more money, they're spending it. On Saturday, the Dodgers came to an agreement to sign free-agent righthander Zach Greinke on a 6-year, $147 million contract.
NOW THAT the Los Angeles Dodgers have new ownership and more money, they're spending it.
On Saturday, the Dodgers came to an agreement to sign free-agent righthander Zach Greinke on a 6-year, $147 million contract.
On Sunday, they came to an agreement to sign lefthander Ryu Hyun-jin, a seven-time All-Star in Korea.
The Dodgers bid $25.7 million for a chance to sign the 25-year-old Hanwha Eagles pitcher, and now will pay him $36 million over 6 years.
Ryu is 98-52 with a 2.80 ERA lifetime and helped the Korean team win a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Ryu becomes the first player to go directly from the Korea Baseball Organization to the U.S. big leagues, and he's expected to join a strong rotation that includes 2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.
In other baseball news:
* The Kansas City Royals acquired starting pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis from the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder Wil Myers and a package of minor league prospects. The blockbuster deal is the Royals' most aggressive move yet under general manager Dayton Moore to shore up a starting rotation that has been abysmal for years. But doing so came at the cost of Myers, the minor leagues' top player last season.
Sport Stops *
Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville was hired as Cincinnati's coach. The agreement came after Butch Jones left to become Tennessee's coach.
* The NHL and the locked-out players association are talking again, and a return to the bargaining table could happen soon. After a few days to cool off following an epic collapse in negotiations, the league and the union have been in touch with each other in an attempt to restart conversations that could save the hockey season.
* Lionel Messi broke German great Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old record for most goals in a year by scoring for the 86th time in 2012. The Argentine forward scored twice to lead Barcelona to a 2-1 win at Real Betis in the Spanish league match.
Golf *
Kenny Perry and Sean O'Hair birdied five of the last six holes to win the Franklin Templeton Shootout in Naples, Fla. Rory Sabbatini and Charles Howell III were one back.
* Peter Senior won the Australian Open in Sydney by one stroke, overcoming severe weather conditions that forced a 3-hour suspension because of gale-force winds.
* Scotland's Scott Jamieson won his first European Tour title, beating England's Steve Webster and Spain's Eduardo de la Riva in a playoff after the Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban, South Africa, was reduced to a 36-hole shootout due to rain.
* Charl Schwartzel shot a 7-under 65 for the third time at the Thailand Golf Championship in Chon Buri, wrapping up a dominating victory by 11 shots.