Major League Baseball
PEORIA, Ariz. – Rickey Henderson and the San Diego Padres agreed on a one-year deal Monday that will pay him $250,000 if he makes the club.
Henderson, the career steals leader who is closing in on other marks, was at the Padres’ complex, general manager Kevin Towers said. The rest of the team had the day off.
Henderson took about 100 swings in the batting cage and ran some sprints in the outfield.
He hadn’t taken batting practice off a machine in 21/2 weeks, he said, but has been taking 300 swings a day off a batting tee with the ball on a string.
“I’ve always thought spring training was too long as it is. I just need enough to get my timing down,” he said.
Henderson is closing in on two major records. He is three walks short of breaking Babe Ruth’s career record of 2,062 and needs to 68 runs to top Ty Cobb’s record of 2,245. He also is 86 hits shy of 3,000.
Henderson was ignored by teams all spring before the Padres, one of his many former teams, offered him a minor league deal.
San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said he envisions Henderson as a backup outfielder or pinch-hitter, but certainly is not ruling out a starting spot in the lineup for the man considered the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history.
DETROIT – Bobby Higginson is still a Detroit Tiger, but he is one step closer to testing the free-agent market after this season.
The Tigers gave Higginson’s agent, Ed Hayes, their latest offer Tuesday afternoon and it was quickly rejected. Higginson, who has one year left on his contract, has said if a contract extension is not completed before the season begins, negotiations will be stopped.
Hayes said he was asking for a little more than $40 million over four years, but the Tigers’ counteroffer was “not even,” worth $36 million over four years. Higginson’s last offer included a two-year out clause “so he would have an opportunity to go with a competitive team if the Tigers were not competitive for any reason,” Hayes said.
The agent said a sticking point could be a no-trade clause that Higginson wants for at least two years. Now it’s clear that money is separating the two sides.
The Tigers have been criticized for cutting about $5 million off their payroll this off-season, one year after opening Comerica Park. Management has said looming labor problems and skyrocketing salaries are the reasons they are being cautious.
However, on Sunday, Ilitch sounded confident that Higginson would be re-signed before the season.
“It’s got to get done,” Ilitch said.
Higginson hit .300 last season with 30 homers and 102 RBIs. In the American League, he has led or has tied for the lead in assists in three of the past four seasons.
DENVER – Pitcher Darryl Kile struggled with his pitching at Coors Field when he was with the Colorado Rockies.
He’ll try his luck there against the Rockies on opening day.
Kile, traded to St. Louis after the 1999 season, will take the mound for the Cardinals April 2 in Denver. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa considered holding his ace out of the entire season-opening, three-game series but decided that would send Kile and the team the wrong message.
The Rockies would have been surprised if Kile didn’t pitch opening day.
“I just assumed you’d pitch your best guy the first game,” said Colorado catcher Brent Mayne.
In 35 starts at Coors Field, Kile has compiled an 11-14 record and a 6.67 ERA. Last April in Denver, Kile lasted 1 2/3 innings and yielded 10 runs in the second, including a two-run home by Todd Helton and a solo homer to Darren Bragg.
After the Rockies traded him to St. Louis, Kile went 20-9 with a 3.91 ERA.
TAMPA, FLA. – Chuck Knoblauch, his career as a second baseman for the Yankees cut short because he can no longer accurately throw to first, worked out in left field.
“We’ll try to fashion a course in Left Field 101 as fast as we can,” Yankees coach Lee Mazzilli said. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m going to take all the blame. If it works out, he’s going to take the credit.”
National Basketball Association
DALLAS – Portland’s Rasheed Wallace received his 38th technical foul of the season Tuesday night, tying the NBA record he set last season.
He was hit with the technical for throwing the ball high in the air after being whistled for a personal foul for shoving Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki in the chest with 5:37 left in the second quarter.
This was Wallace’s second technical in six games, but his 13th in 19 games. The All-Star forward has 15 games left to shatter his own mark.
Wallace, who has been ejected six times, has received a technical in each of three games against the Mavericks this season.
COMPTON, Calif. – Tyson Chandler, Dominguez High School’s 7-foot, 220-pound center, will skip college to enter the June 27 NBA draft.
“I’ve known what I was going to do for a while, but if I had announced this decision a long time ago, it would have made it harder on my teammates,” Chandler told the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram Tuesday.
“I’m very satisfied with the decision. My life is basketball. This is something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time, and now I can actually play the sport full time.”
Chandler, 18, averaged 26 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocked shots for the Dons (31-4) but missed the final two games, including the state championship, because of an ankle injury.
Interim coach Steve Singleton said: “`It was no surprise he was going pro.”
In the last five years, 12 high school players have entered the NBA draft.