Off the wire

BASEBALL

Profar out with muscle tear

Texas Rangers second baseman Jurickson Profar will be out an estimated 10-12 weeks with a muscle tear in his right shoulder. Assistant general manager Thad Levine made the announcement Sunday. The 21-year-old Profar, one of baseball’s top prospects, hit .234 in 85 games as a rookie last season. Looking to open a spot for Profar, the Rangers traded second baseman Ian Kinsler to Detroit for Prince Fielder in the offseason.

Veterans Carlos Pena, Chad Tracy and Yorvit Torrealba have been released by the Los Angeles Angels after failing to win roster spots during spring training. The Angels also reassigned left-hander Wade LeBlanc to minor-league camp Sunday. Tracy batted .303 with 7 RBI during 17 spring games with the Angels, but couldn’t win a job as a backup corner infielder.

Yasiel Puig had three hits and two RBI to back a scoreless outing from Hyun-Jin Ryu, and the Los Angeles Dodgers made it 2 for 2 in Australia with a 7-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe also had three hits for the Dodgers, who finished with 13 in beating Arizona starter Trevor Cahill for the first time.

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will start the season on the 15-day disabled list, Manager Buck Showalter announced Sunday. Machado, who had left knee surgery Oct. 14, had visited his Los Angeles-based surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday and was given the go-ahead to resume all activities. However, Showalter doesn’t want to rush the 21-year-old All-Star, who injured his knee at Tampa Bay on Sept. 23. After Machado’s surgery, a 4 to 6 month recovery was forecast.

FOOTBALL Ravens trade for Zuttah

The Baltimore Ravens have acquired offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah from Tampa Bay for an undisclosed draft pick next year. Once the six-year veteran guard-center passes a physical, he will join the Ravens. Zuttah has played his entire career with the Buccaneers, appearing in 90 games, making 76 starts: 30 games at center, 41 at left guard and five at right guard. He was a third-round draft pick in 2008.

Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson is among several players the New York Jets have interest in, Jets owner Woody Johnson said. Speaking at the NFL meetings Sunday, Johnson says “we’re looking at a number of players, including DeSean.” The receiver could be made available by Philadelphia because he has a $10.25 million contract for the 2014 season, a stiff price the Eagles might not be willing to pay. Jackson is signed through 2016. Jackson, 27, led the Eagles last season with 82 receptions for 1,332 yards and had nine touchdowns.

GOLF Hall of Fame makes changes

The World Golf Hall of Fame is changing the criteria, voting process and timing of player inductions. No one has been elected this year while the criteria went through an overhaul. The next induction will be May 2015. Officials have eliminated the PGA Tour and International ballots for men. Instead, the four categories will be for men, women, veterans and lifetime achievement. Active players must have 15 victories on major tours or two majors. The biggest change is the voting. Instead of a panel of media, golf dignitaries and Hall of Fame member, a 16-person panel will do the voting. The majority of that panel is golf administrators, along with three golf writers and four Hall of Fame members. A 20-person panel will nominate potential inductees.

Jeff Maggert became the 17th player in Champions Tour history to win in his debut, shooting a 4-under 68 on Sunday at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic at Fallen Oak. Maggert fell into a tie for the lead with Billy Andrade after making bogey on No. 16, but responded with an astonishing, 50-foot putt for birdie on No. 17 that pushed him back ahead. Maggert’s decisive putt had a large break from left to right and was over a ridge, and the 50-year-old struck it perfectly, shaking his head in disbelief after it fell in the hole.

Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz won the Panama Claro Championship on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 64 for a four-stroke victory. The 22-year-old former North Texas player finished at 12-under 268 at Panama Golf Club and earned $112,500 to jump from seventh to second on the money list with $171,500. Jason Gore was second after a 66. Daniel Berger, Derek Fathauer and Aron Price, the second-round leader, tied for third at 7 under. Berger and Fathauer shot 67, and Price had a 70. Alex Cejka, the winner of the season-opening Colombia Championship and second last week in the Brazil Champions, tied for 11th at 4 under after a 69. He earned $13,750 to push his tour-leading total to $235,150.

Karrie Webb flew up the leaderboard with a course-record 9-under 63, then waited about 90 minutes to see if anyone could catch her in the JTBC Founders Cup in Phoenix. No one could, giving the 39-year-old Australian her second victory of the season and second in four years at Desert Ridge’s Wildfire Golf Club. For the second time in the event, Webb overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round. In 2011 in the inaugural tournament, she shot a 66 for a one-stroke victory. The Hall of Famer had 10 birdies and a bogey, playing the back nine in 6-under 30. She birdied five of the last six holes, finishing with a 20-footer on the par-4 18th. Webb won the Women’s Australian Open for the record fifth time last month and has 41 LPGA Tour victories. Third-round leader Lydia Ko parred the final three holes to finish a stroke back along with 2013 winner Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks), Azahara Munoz, Amy Yang and Mirim Lee.

HORSE RACING

Honor Code to miss Derby

Honor Code will miss the Wood Memorial on April 5 and the Kentucky Derby a month later because of a slight ligament tear. Trainer Shug McGaughey said Sunday the injury to the upper right hind leg will heal and he’ll wait 60 days before re-evaluating the 3-year-old colt. Honor Code finished second in his season debut March 12 at Florida’s Gulfstream Park after winning the Remsen Stakes in November. He had worked out Saturday in preparation to run in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The Kentucky Derby is May 3 at Churchill Downs.

TENNIS

Murray advances at Sony

Andy Murray advanced to the fourth round at the Sony Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., on Sunday by beating Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-1. Roger Federer also advanced easily, beating qualifier Thiemo de Bakker 6-3, 6-3. Murray’s next opponent will be No. 11-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who outlasted Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5. Li Na overcame three set points to overtake American Madison Keys 7-6 (3), 6-3. American CoCo Vandeweghe earned a shot at Serena Williams in today’s fourth round by winning a match that ended at 1:29 a.m. Sunday.

FOOTBALL Busy week awaits NFL owners

As further proof the NFL never is far from the headlines, owners could make plenty of news this week at their spring meetings in Orlando, Fla.

They will consider 13 playing rules proposals and seven bylaws. They will discuss expanding the playoff field from 12 to 14 teams, although a vote on such a move is uncertain.

Some changes would seem to be slam dunks: extending the height of the goal posts 5 feet to help determine if kicks are good; eliminating overtime in preseason games; placing fixed TV cameras on the goal lines, end lines and sidelines to help with replay reviews.

Others seem almost sidebars to the real action, such as from where to enforce defensive penalties when they occur behind the line of scrimmage, or extending pass interference calls to within a yard of the line.

Perhaps the juiciest suggestions came from the Patriots. They want to move the line of scrimmage to the 25 for extra points, and to allow coaches to challenge any calls except on scoring plays, which are automatically reviewed.

Passing those proposals would make for a major change in how NFL games are played.

“We discussed a lot of different scenarios that have been raised,” Rams Coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the influential competition committee, said of longer extra-point kicks. “I will point out … last year we had five tries missed [out of 1,267]. I think four were blocked, one was missed. It’s still a competitive play.

“We are going to propose … to the membership during one of the preseason weeks that we move the extra point back to the 20-yard line and see how that goes. It’s on our radar.”

Sports, Pages 14 on 03/24/2014

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