Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — Nick Swisher has agreed to join the Cleveland Indians.“Hey Cleveland, are you ready? Because I’m coming home,” Swisher posted on his Twitter account today. Swisher, 32, who spent the past four Major League Baseball seasons with the New York Yankees, has agreed to a four-year contract worth $56 million, making him the biggest free-agent signing in Indians history, MLB.com reported. Swisher also has a $14 million option for 2017, it said. Cleveland hired Terry Francona as manager after finishing fourth in the American League Central following a 94-loss season. Francona led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title in 2004, breaking the team’s 86-year championship drought, and again in 2007.The deal with Swisher is pending a physical and probably won’t be officially announced until after Tuesday, MLB.com said. The Indians will lose their second-round pick in next year’s draft as compensation for Swisher and the Yankees will get an extra selection following the first round, ESPN said. A switchhitter, Swisher batted .272 with 24 home runs and 93 RBI last season. “Thank you N.Y. for the kindness and support you’ve shown me the past four years,” Swisher posted on Twitter. “It’s been an amazing experience and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Ryan Freel, a former Major League Baseball player known for his fearless play but whose career was cut short after eight seasons by a series of head and other injuries, was found dead Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.Freel, who was 36, died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted shotgun wound, sheriff’s office spokesman Shannon Hartley wrote in an email Sunday. The medical examiner will make the final determination of the cause of death.The speedy Freel spent six of his eight big league seasons with the Reds and finished his career in 2009 with a .268 average and 143 steals. “Really hurt by his passing!” Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips said on Twitter. “You’ll never will be forgotten.” Freel drew attention in 2006 when he was quoted by the Dayton Daily News as saying he had an imaginary friend, Farney. “He’s a little guy who lives in my head who talks to me and I talk to him,” Freel was quoted as saying. “Everybodythinks I talk to myself, so I tell ‘em I’m talking to Farney.” The Jacksonville native thrilled fans with his allout style, yet it took a toll on his career. During his playing days, he once estimated he had sustained up to 10 concussions. Freel missed 30 games in 2007 after a collision with a teammate caused a concussion. Selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 1995 amateur draft out of Tallahassee Community College, Freel made his big league debut in April 2001 with the Blue Jays after second baseman Homer Bush injured a thumb. Freel appeared in just nine major league games that season, became a free agent and spent all of 2002 at Tampa Bay’s Class AAA farm team.He signed a minor league deal with the Reds that November and made it back to the majors the following April. He stayed with the Reds through 2008, when a torn tendon in his right hamstring caused him to miss the final 103 games of the season. He was traded to Baltimore at that December’s winter meetings and split the 2009 season among the Orioles, Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals.“The Reds family is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ryan Freel,” the Cincinnati Reds said in a statement. “His teammates and our fans loved him for how hard he played the game, and he loved giving back to the community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.” Freel had consecutive seasons of 37, 36 and 37 steals from 2004-2006 but started to slow the following year. After hitting .271 with 8 home runs and 27 RBI in 2006, he gaineda $2,325,000 salary for the following year and then in April 2007 signed a $7 million, two-year deal covering 2008 and 2009. He sustained another head injury that put him back on the DL when he was hit by a pickoff throw to second base from Boston pitcher Justin Masterson during the Patriots Day game at Fenway Park on April 20, 2009. Freel appeared dazed as he walked off, both arms extended over the shoulders of Baltimore’s trainers.Disappointed about conditions surrounding a stress test he was forced to take before beginning a minor league rehabilitation assignment - he insisted he felt fine - Freel was traded to the Cubs on May 8 only to be dealt to Kansas City on July 6. The Royals cut him a month later, and he signed a minor league deal with Texas. The following year, he played in nine games for the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League.Freel also had trouble related to alcohol. He was arrested in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, in April 2005 and was charged with drunken driving, careless driving and driving with an open container in a motor vehicle. A month later, he pleaded guilty. The following January, he was arrested at a pool hall in Tampa, Fla., and charged with disorderly intoxication, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors settled the case by having Freel do community service.

FOOTBALL Vaz named starter Junior Cody Vaz will start atquarterback for No. 13 Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl against No. 23 Texas. Beavers Coach Mike Riley held off making a decision between Vaz and sophomore Sean Mannion until Saturday. Oregon State (9-3) will travel to San Antonio on Sunday to prepare for next week’s game with the Longhorns (8-4). Mannion has thrown for 2,446 yards, 15 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in nine games this season. Vaz has thrown for 1,286 yards, 11 touchdowns and 1 interception in 6 games. Mannion started the first four games of the season, throwing seven touchdown passes and averaging 339 yards, but sustained an injury to his left knee that required surgery. Vaz, who hadn’t started since high school, took over and helped the Beavers win their next two games. He later became the team’s starter. But Vaz sprained his left ankle in the final moments of a loss to Stanford, and Mannion started the final three games. “I have to stress we are choosing between good, not good and bad,” Riley said after practice Saturday.

CYCLING Armstrong sued by paper

Lance Armstrong is being sued for more than $1.5 million by a British newspaper over the settlement of a libel action, which followed doping allegations against the cyclist that it published. The Sunday Times paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds (now about $485,000) in 2006 to settle a case after it reprinted claims from a book in 2004 that he took performance-enhancing drugs.The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded this year that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for life. The Sunday Times announced in an article in its latest edition that it has issued legal papers against Armstrong. “It is clear that the proceedings were baseless and fraudulent,” the paper said in a letter to Armstrong’s lawyers. “Your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false.” The paper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., said its total claim against Armstrong is“likely to exceed” 1 million pounds ($1.6 million). “The Sunday Times is now demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its costs in defending the case,” the paper said.