Right-hander Joe Blanton signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday.
Blanton pitched as a reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Royals last year after spending the majority of his career as a starter.
The 35-year-old Blanton posted a 2.84 ERA with 16 walks and 79 strikeouts in 76 combined innings last season. He began the year with the Royals, posting a 2-2 record with two saves, and went to Pittsburgh in late July. In 21 games for the Pirates, he had a 5-0 record with a 1.57 ERA Blanton spent the 2014 season out of the majors after struggling to a 2-14 record with a 6.04 ERA as a starter for the Angels in 2013.
—Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is under investigation by Major League Baseball after his brother’s arrest in Japan for operating an illegal gambling ring that took bets on MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball games.
Sho Darvish was arrested in Osaka, Japan, in October after a yearlong investigation, the Japan Times reported. In November, the Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against him. Yu Darvish has not been implicated by Japanese authorities. MLB officials have been informed of the investigation and are cooperating with their Japanese counterparts.
According to police, Sho Davish accepted 1,850 wagers valued at 10,000 yen, which is approximately $85 in U.S. currency, on games in both countries. There was no indication than any of the bets involved Rangers games.
—The New York Yankees reached contract agreements with right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and shortstop Didi Gregorius.
The Yankees avoided arbitration with Eovaldi with a one-year, non-guaranteed contract. No finacial terms were immediately available. Gregorius and the Yankees reached agreement on a one-year, $2,425,000 deal, which was a significant increase from his $553,900 salary in 2015. His contract also is not guaranteed.
—The first pitch of the 2016 MLB season is scheduled to be thrown April 3 at PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals open at 1:05 p.m ET.
The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays will follow at 4:05 p.m. ET and both games will be available on ESPN networks. The “Sunday Night Baseball” opener that night is a World Series rematch between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.
The 2016 regular season ends Oct. 2 with a full slate of games scheduled to start simultaneously at 3 p.m. ET.
—Pete Rose describes his playing days as a Hall of Fame career, and the Cincinnati Reds are ready to validate baseball’s hits leader by inducting him into the team’s hall of fame.
Rose, 74, is permanently banned from baseball since he admitted to gambling on games in 1989. Commissioner Rob Manfred rejected his application for reinstatement in December. With the permission of Major League Baseball, the Reds will welcome Rose into their 85-member Hall of Fame and erect a statue of Rose outside Bank of America Ballpark at a later date. His No. 14 will be retired by the team.
Rose played for the Reds from 1963 to 1978 and returned to the team 1984 to 1986, when he was a player and a manager. He remained as manager from 1987 to 1989. Rose passed Ty Cobb as MLB’s leader in hits in 1985 and finished with 4,256.
—A settlement was reached in the Garber vs. Major League Baseball lawsuit, avoiding trial.
No details were immediately available, but the result of the suit filed in New York could be single-team streaming options — rather than a package offering of all 30 teams — for purchase as early as the 2016 season. The lawsuit argued that MLB violates federal antitrust law by assigning its teams exclusive local broadcast territories.