MLB
A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Max Fried and the New York Yankees have agreed to a $218 million, eight-year contract, the largest deal for a left-handed pitcher in baseball history. New York made the move two days after outfielder Juan Soto left for a pending $765 million, 15-year contract with the rival Mets. Fried, who turns 31 in January, gets the fourth-highest contract among pitchers behind the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and Washington’s Stephen Strasburg. Fried broke the mark for lefties set by David Price at $217 million.
The Texas Rangers and right-hander Nathan Eovaldi have agreed on a $75 million, three-year contract, a person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday night because the deal is subject to a successful physical. Bringing back Eovaldi was one of the primary goals for the Rangers this offseason. He became a free agent after declining a vested $20 million player option for the 2025 season. The two-time All-Star was the winning pitcher in their World Series-clinching game at Arizona in 2023. He was also part of Boston’s 2018 title.
The Cleveland Guardians pulled off two trades at the winter meetings, first sending three-time Gold Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez to the Toronto Blue Jays. Giménez, considered one of baseball’s best defensive middle infielders, was dealt by the Guardians along with reliever Nick Sandlin to Toronto for infielder Spencer Horwitz and outfielder Nick Mitchell. Cleveland then shipped Horwitz to the Pittsburgh Pirates for three pitchers: right-hander Luis Ortiz and lefties Michael Kennedy and Josh Hartle. Ortiz could slide immediately into a starting slot after going 7-6 with a 3.32 ERA last season. The Guardians re-signed ace Shane Bieber last week, but he may not be ready to pitch until June.
For the second straight Major League Baseball offseason, a norm-shattering contract has been the talk of the winter, with Juan Soto agreeing with the New York Mets on a $765 million, 15-year deal that’s the richest in baseball history. It comes almost exactly one year after the Los Angeles Dodgers forked out a princely sum of $700 million on a 10-year, heavily deferred deal for two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. The way it’s going, a contract approaching $1 billion doesn’t seem out of the question. But several factors are working against it — at least in the near future.
NHL
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala scored, Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Islanders 3-1 for their sixth straight win. The Kings started a seven-game road trip, their longest of the season, with a strong performance. Mikey Anderson added an empty-net goal as Los Angeles improved to 17-8-3 with its eighth victory in 10 games. Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who won their previous two.
Auston Matthews scored with 2:09 left in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. Matthews outskated Devils defenseman Brett Pesce, grabbing a loose puck near center ice in OT and beating New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom on the glove side for his ninth goal of the season. Pontus Holmberg scored short-handed for Toronto at 10:42 of the third period and tied the game at 1. Ondrej Palat gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the second, scoring off an assist from Jesper Bratt.
Mark Scheifele scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a convincing 8-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. Nikita Chibrikov, Mason Appleton, Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi, Kyle Connor and Vladislav Namestnikov scored the other Winnipeg goals. Scheifele now has a 13-game point streak at home, totaling 20 points in that stretch. David Pastrnak replied for the Bruins, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for Winnipeg. Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for Boston.
Travis Konecny scored twice in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a three-game slide with their first victory in December, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3. Noah Cates, Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost also scored for Philadelphia. Matvei Michkov had two assists and Samuel Ersson made 15 saves. Sean Monahan finished with a goal and an assist, Zach Werenski scored with a man advantage, and Kent Johnson added a goal for Columbus, which has lost four of its last five games. Elvis Merzlikins made 19 saves for the Blue Jackets.
Jalen Chatfield scored with 2:39 left, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2. Chatfield caught a high clearing attempt at the top of the right circle, then dropped the puck and pushed a shot at the goal that snuck under Vitek Vanecek’s right arm. It was Chatfield’s third goal of the season. Luke Kunin scored both of San Jose’s goals. Vanecek made 25 saves in the Sharks’ first game since they traded goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to Colorado on Monday. Brent Burns and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 21 shots.
Mikko Rantanen collected his 10th career hat trick and added two assists as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2. Rantanen flipped in a puck over Tristan Jarry late in the first period for his 16th goal of the season. He picked up his 17th early in the second and added an empty netter late to celebrate his 600th game in style. Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and four assists for Colorado, which finished 4-1 on a five-game road trip. Michael Bunting and Cody Glass scored for Pittsburgh, which lost for just the second time in its last seven games.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Kevin Rooney each scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-3 comeback victory over the skidding Nashville Predators. Brayden Pachal and Nazem Kadri also scored and Dan Vladar made 17 saves for the Flames, who had lost six of seven. Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and Tommy Novak had a goal for the Predators, who tied a franchise record with their eighth straight loss. Juuse Saros made 24 saves. Nashville captain Roman Josi did not play in the final two periods due to a lower-body injury.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers won their third straight game, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers (16-10-2) who have won six of their last seven. Jake Guentzel scored for the Lightning (14-10-2) who had their two-game winning streak halted. Stuart Skinner made 21 stops for the Oilers. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 23 saves for the Lightning.
Matt Boldy was the only scorer in the shootout and lifted the Minnesota Wild to a 5-4 victory over the Utah Hockey Club. Minnesota’s Marco Rossi scored with 43.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Kirill Kaprizov added his 18th goal of the season, and Marat Khusnutdinov and Marcus Johansson also scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson finished with 21 saves. Clayton Keller scored twice in the third period to rally the Utah Hockey Club from a one-goal deficit. Kevin Stenlund and Juuso Valimaki also scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves. Utah lost its fifth straight home game. Minnesota won for the sixth time in seven games.
Dylan Holloway scored 1:40 into overtime and the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3, spoiling the return of Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko from a knee injury. Robert Thomas had a short-handed goal and two assists for the Blues. Zack Bolduc and Jordan Kyrou also scored, and Joel Hofer stopped 22 shots. Vancouver got a goal and an assist from Elias Pettersson. Dakota Joshua and Jake DeBrusk also scored, while Brock Boeser and Conor Garland each had two assists. A two-time All-Star who finished runner-up for the Vezina Trophy last season, Demko made 21 saves in his first start for the Canucks since injuring his knee April 21 at the beginning of the 2024 playoffs.
NBA
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 118-104 on Tuesday night in an NBA Cup quarterfinal. Jalen Williams scored 18 points and Isaiah Hartenstein added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who will play Wednesday’s Golden State-Houston winner in a semifinal. Oklahoma City’s largest lead was 20 points in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference semifinals series that Dallas won 4-2. The Thunder held Luka Doncic to 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting. Naji Marshall and Klay Thompson each scored 19 points and Kyrie Irving added 17 for the Mavericks.
Chaz Lanier scored 22 points, and No. 1 Tennessee beat struggling Miami 75-62 on Tuesday night at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden. Igor Milicic Jr. added 16 and nine rebounds for the Volunteers, who took the top spot in the AP Top 25 this week for the first time since February 2019. Zakai Zeigler added 13 points and nine assists for Tennessee, which pulled away late in the first half and withstood a Miami comeback attempt for its first 9-0 start since 2000-01. Lynn Kidd scored 14 as the Hurricanes (3-8) dropped their seventh straight game.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Syracuse 102 UAlbany 85
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UAlbany 72 Boston 36
UMass Lowell 49 Iona 38
GOLF
Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Tour player of the year in a vote that had about as much drama as some of his victories. Scheffler earned 91% of the vote in winning the Jack Nicklaus Award for the third straight season. He joins Tiger Woods as the only players to win three straight times. Woods won it five times in a row, and three straight times on another occasion. Scheffler won seven times on the PGA Tour against only the strongest fields. He also won the FedEx Cup. He also won the Masters green jacket and an Olympic gold medal.
NFL
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home was broken into during Monday Night Football in the latest home invasion of a pro athlete in the U.S. Authorities said Tuesday no one was injured in the break-in, but the home was ransacked. Deputies weren’t immediately able to determine what items were stolen. Both the NFL and NBA issued alerts to players following prior break-ins, urging them to take precautions. The homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were broken into in October. In the NBA, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. had their homes broken into.
OLYMPICS
Sexual abuse and harassment by coaches and others who held positions of power over women on the U.S. Biathlon team were ignored or excused over decades by officials more concerned with winning medals than holding offenders accountable. That's according to Olympians and other biathletes interviewed by The Associated Press. While the men climbed the sport's ranks, these women say they were forced to end their careers early. The women and others describe a culture of misogyny and say they faced retaliation for speaking up. Three of the men denied allegations they were either part of the abuse or ignored allegations of abuse. A fourth did not respond to AP requests for comment.
SOCCER
Real Madrid’s big stars turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a 3-2 win at Italian league leader Atalanta. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champion in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. In contrast Liverpool leads the way after maintaining its perfect record in Europe this season after a 1-0 win against Girona. Mohamed Salah scored his 50th Champions League goal to seal it for Liverpool.
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