FOOTBALL
Mayfield on covid-19 list
The Cleveland Browns have placed quarterback Baker Mayfield on the reserve/covid-19 list after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. The team, which is on a bye this week, released a statement Sunday saying it was notified a day earlier of the positive test. Mayfield is believed to have had close contact with the unidentified infected person. He will need to have several negative tests before being allowed to return to the team's facility and participate in any activities. Cleveland's players were off Thursday through Sunday. The Browns are scheduled to host the Houston Texans next weekend. The Browns said that once they return from their bye today, they will "follow the NFL-NFLPA intensive protocol. We will continue to work closely with the league and medical experts on the appropriate next steps with the health and safety of our players, coaches and staff members remaining our highest priority." Mayfield is in his third season with the Browns (5-3). The No. 1 overall pick in 2018 has thrown 15 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
Carroll signs extension
Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll has signed a multiyear contract extension that will keep him tied with the team well past his 70th birthday. The Seahawks did not officially announce the deal, but Carroll spoke about it following the Seahawks' 44-34 loss to Buffalo on Sunday. The new deal is expected to go through the 2025 season and was agreed to earlier this season. Carroll said he didn't feel it appropriate to announce the agreement in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. "For a gesture like this from Jody Allen and the organization and all, and then, at a time when everybody's suffering and struggling and all that," Carroll said. "It was something that has been in the works for a long time. I'm talking about way before all the issues that have happened and so it finally came together. Just didn't feel like it needed to be talked about unless we had to." ESPN first reported the agreement. Carroll is in his 15th NFL season as head coach and 11th in Seattle, where he's led the Seahawks to eight playoff appearances including the Super Bowl championship in the 2013 season. Carroll's previous contract ran through the end of the 2021 season after being extended in 2018.
Air Force-Wyoming canceled
Air Force's scheduled game at Wyoming this Saturday has been canceled due to an "upward trend" of covid-19 cases at the Air Force Academy, the Mountain West Conference announced Sunday. The league said in a statement there was no plan to reschedule the game. Air Force was slated to travel to Army this weekend before that game was postponed because of the virus. The service academies are trying to find a date to make up the contest. "We are disappointed to lose a second consecutive game, but the health and safety of our cadets, staff and community is our No. 1 priority at the Academy," said Nathan Pine, the director of athletics at Air Force. "We have seen continued increase in our covid numbers within the football program and have again eclipsed our threshold for safe competition. "We will pause football practices for now and work with our sports medicine staff to determine when it will be safe to restart again." Both Air Force and Wyoming are 1-2 overall this season.
BASEBALL
Tigers make hires
The Detroit Tigers hired Scott Coolbaugh as hitting coach, George Lombard as bench coach and Chip Hale as third base coach. The Tigers announced the additions to new manager AJ Hinch's staff Saturday. Coolbaugh was the assistant hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox. He's also been a hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Lombard spent the past five seasons as first base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hale comes to the Tigers after three seasons with Washington. He was a bench coach there during the team's World Series run in 2019. He previously managed the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Yanks to move affiliates
The New York Yankees will move minor-league affiliates out of Staten Island and Trenton, N.J., in 2021 as part of a reorganization that is affecting teams across the majors. The Yankees' Class AA Trenton team will shift to Somerset County, N.J. The Class A club that had been in Staten Island since 1999 will move upstate to Hudson Valley, previously an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which was the Yankees' alternate training site during the pandemic-shortened season, will remain as New York's top affiliate. The Tampa affiliate that had been in the high Single-A Florida State League will shift to low Single-A. The Yankees also will keep a Gulf Coast League team in Tampa and a club in the Dominican Summer League. Class A Charleston and Rookie Level Pulaski will not be Yankees affiliates next year.
Ray, Blue Jays agree
Pitcher Robbie Ray and the Toronto Blue Jays reached agreement on a one-year, $8 million deal Saturday, making him the first of 181 free agents to get a new contract. Ray accepted a 15% percent cut from his $9.43 million, one-year deal with Arizona last year, which turned into $3,492,593 in prorated pay in the virus-shortened season. The Diamondbacks traded him to the Blue Jays on Aug. 31, and he pitched in the playoffs for Toronto. The 29-year-old lefty was a combined 2-5 with a 6.62 ERA this year. He is 49-51 with a 4.26 ERA in a seven-year big league career that began with Detroit, and was an All-Star with Arizona in 2017. Ray's contract includes several bonus clauses, including $150,000 for winning the Cy Young award and $50,000 for being an All-Star.
Nationals make pitch to Biden
The Washington Nationals are making their pitch to President-elect Joe Biden. The Nats have invited Biden to toss out the ceremonial first ball next season on opening day. Washington is scheduled to host the New York Mets at Nationals Park on April 1. "We're excited to continue the long-standing tradition of sitting Presidents throwing out the first pitch at the home of the national pastime in our nation's capital," the team posted on Twitter this weekend. Biden last threw out a first ball as vice president, in 2009 when the Baltimore Orioles hosted the New York Yankees on opening day at Camden Yards. The tall right-hander threw a high fastball that brought O's catcher Chad Moeller out of his crouch. Biden, a Little League shortstop who later played center field, has frequently been around ballfields. He saw the Philadelphia Phillies a few times in the postseason, including the 2009 World Series, watched Philadelphia play at Washington in 2012 and has visited the Yankees at spring training. William Howard Taft began the tradition of presidents throwing out the first pitch in Washington in 1910. Since then, every sitting president except Donald Trump has thrown out a first pitch when Washington had a major league franchise. Trump attended Game 5 of the 2019 World Series at Nationals Park and was booed when introduced as Houston played Washington.