Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASEBALL AP: Nationals, Marquis agree

Free-agent pitcher Jason Marquis and the Washington Nationals have agreed to a two-year contract, pending a physical, two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday. One person said the agreement is worth about $15 million. Both spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. The Nationals issued a “media alert,” saying that they would holda news conference at their stadium today to announce a free-agent signing. The team did not identify the player in the release. The 31-year-old Marquis is a right-hander who went 15-13 with a 4.04 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 216 innings for the Colorado Rockies in 2009. He made the NL All-Star team last season, thanks to an 11-6 record and 3.65 ERA at that point. But Marquis fizzled down the stretch and wasn’t part of the Rockies’ postseason starting rotation. He is 94-83 with a 4.48 ERA in a major league career that began in 2000. Marquis has played for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, in addition to Colorado.

The World Series champion New York Yankees were hit with a luxury tax of nearly $25.69 million Monday, the penalty for once again crossing the payroll threshold in baseball’s collective bargaining agreement. New York is the only team to pay a tax for this season and has crossed the threshold in all seven years since the tax started.It must send a check to the commissioner’s office by Jan. 31. The Yankees’ regular payroll - using 2009 salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses - finished at $220 million. That was a drop of $2.5 million from 2008 but more than $77.8 million higher than any other team - a gap larger than the payrolls of the bottom 11 clubs. The New York Mets were second at $142.2 million, followed by the equally disappointing Chicago Cubs ($141.6 million).

Major League Baseball and its umpires are nearing agreement ona new contract, two people familiar with the negotiations said Monday. The deal could be reached as soon as today, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcements were authorized. This would mark the second consecutive agreement between the sides reached without acrimony. Recent deals between baseball and its umpires have run for five years.

The Cleveland Indians acquired pitcher Mitch Talbot from Tampa Bay on Monday, completing the trade that sent catcher Kelly Shoppach to the Rays. The 26-year-old Talbot was limited to 10 starts last season at Class AAA Durham because of a strained elbow. The right-hander went 4-4 with a 4.47 ERA. Talbot was drafted by Houston in 2002 and traded to Tampa Bay in 2006 for Aubrey Huff. He appeared in three major league games for the Rays in 2008.

The San Diego Padres have acquired catcher Dusty Ryan from the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named or cash. Ryan appeared in 12 games for the Tigers last year, going 4 for 26 with 4 RBI. He made his big league debut with Detroit in 2008. He’s made 22 career starts.

HOCKEY

Stars’ Fistric on injured list

The Dallas Stars have placed defenseman Mark Fistric on injured reserve with a head injury and recalled Ivan Vishnevskiy from their American Hockey League affiliate. The move made Monday was retroactive to Thursday, when Fistric was injured against Atlanta. He has a goal and three assists in 30 games for the Stars. Vishnevskiy played one game for Dallas when he was recalled in early December. The team’s firstround pick from 2006 has four goals and nine assists in 33 games for theTexas Stars of the AHL.

The Phoenix Coyotes have made a roster switch of defensemen, signing NHL veteran Anders Eriksson and assigning David Schlemko to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League. Eriksson had a goal and two assists in eight games for San Antonio. He has appeared in 552 NHL games with six teams, compiling 22 goals and 149 assists over parts of 11 seasons. Eriksson was a member of Detroit’s 1998 Stanley Cup team. The 22-year old Schlemko had a goal and four assists in 17 games with Phoenix.

TENNIS

Serbia chooses indoor clay

The United States will face Serbia on an indoor clay surface in Belgrade for its first-round Davis Cup match next year. The venues for six of the eight first-round World Group matches on March 5-7 were announced Monday by the International Tennis Federation. The Serbia-U.S. match will be played at the 20,000-seat Belgrade Arena. The ITF said all venues are subject to a site inspection and final confirmation by the international body.

SOCCER

Donovan, Solo win awards

Landon Donovan was voted the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Male Athlete of the Year for the third time Monday, and Hope Solo became the first goalkeeper to win the women’s award. Donovan also won the award in 2003 and 2004. He is the second three-time winner of the male award, joining Kasey Keller (1997, 1999 and 2000). Donovan was voted his first MLS most valuable player of the year award this year and won his sixth Honda Player of the Year honor, given annually to the U.S. national team’s top player. Donovan had three goals and nine assists during the final round of qualifying for next year’s World Cup, and the 27-year-old has an American-record 42 goals in 120 international appearances. Solo was voted MVP of the Algarve Cup in Portugal and was voted WPS Goalkeeper of the Year for the St. Louis Athletica. She allowed one goal in six international matches.

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NASCAR’s Johnson tops AP voting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson has been picked as the Male Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

Johnson received 42 votes from editors at U.S. newspapers which are members of the AP. Tennis star Roger Federer (30 votes) and Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt (29) were the only other athletes with totals over 10.

Although Tiger Woods was named Athlete of the Decade, he received only nine votes for Athlete of the Year. He was tied with Kobe Bryant and AlbertPujols.

For Johnson, the first race car driver to be named the AP’s Athlete of the Year in its 78-year history, the award is the validation he’s been waiting for since he began his historic run in 2006.

“We’d been wondering the last few years, ‘When is this going to hit?’ ” he said. “It seems like the answer is now. The wave is finally peaking, and we don’t know where it’s going to take us. The fourth straight title takes it out of our sport and makes it a point of discussion - like, wow, a race car driver won this thing.”

The 34-year-old Californian again schooled the competition, winning four of his seven races this season when the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship began in September. Two-time champion Tony Stewart dominated the “regular season,” but it was Johnson and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team that turned it up when the stakes were highest.

In the 10 Chase races, Johnson finished outside the top-10 only once: when he wrecked at Texas with Sam Hornish Jr. three laps into the eighth race.

“I’m pretty sure that dude’s Superman,” said teammate Mark Martin (Batesville), who finished second in the NASCAR standings, 141 points behind John-