MLB
– Red Sox DH David Ortiz told the Boston Herald that he would like to retire with his current club, even though the team is considering looking for more production from the DH position.
“I want to finish my career here. I think I still have another three or four good years in me. It’s not like I’m going to play until I’m 50, but I can still swing the bat. All I know is that last year I had the worst three months of my career and still almost ended up at 30 and 100.”
– The Pirates have acquired 2B Akinori Iwamura from the Rays for RHP Jesse Chavez. There was a report that a second player would go from Tampa Bay to Pittsburgh, but it turned out to one-for-one. The Pirates will pick up Iwamura’s $4.85M option for 2010 and get themselves a nice one-year stopgap at second base, albeit an expensive one. He’ll likely hit second in their lineup behind OF Andrew McCutchen. The Rays, meanwhile, can go with 2B Ben Zobrist as a full-time second baseman now.
– Red Sox RHP Josh Beckett told WEEI on Tuesday that he had his agent will meet with Red Sox GM Theo Epstein in the coming weeks. Beckett had his $12M option for 2010 vest during the season, but he’ll be a free agent after next year. An extension could cost the Red Sox upwards of $18-20M per year, but it might be worth it, given that Beckett has remained pretty healthy of late.
– Mets OF Jeff Francoeur (thumb) underwent surgery to repair a ligament. He’ll be ready for spring training.
NBA
– The Wolves have picked up the 2010-2011 contract options on F Corey Brewer and F Kevin Love.
– Knicks G Nate Robinson (ankle) is out two weeks.
– SUns G Leandro Barbosa (wrist) is out indefinitely.
– Pacers F Jeff Foster (ankle) is out two weeks.
– Nets F Yi Jianlian (knee) is out indefinitely.
NHL
– A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of the Coyotes to the NHL. The NHL will pay team owner Jerry Moyes $140M for the club.
TNA
– Hulk Hogan spoke to Minnesota’s City Pages newspaper this week and made some interesting things to say about his relationship with Vince McMahon in the 1980s, how much power he’ll have in TNA and what it meant to announce his partnership with TNA at Madison Square Garden.
Hogan claims that Vince “didn’t really understand the business” after buying the company from from his father, Vince McMahon, Sr. “I moved in next door to him in Connecticut and taught him all about lifting weights and riding motorcycles and partying like a mad man; and then I taught him about the wrestling business and making money. And now I’m doing that again with TNA Wrestling.”
Hogan also talked himself up as the savior for TNA. He said the company agreed that he could have a “Vince McMahon role” calling the shots for TNA. Hogan says he will be “unofficially” running the promotion and will have the same if not more influence than he had during his run in WCW.
“All I told these guys was that they should give me a chance. If they didn’t like what I was doing they can tell me to take a hike, but let me have the chance to come in and take a shot at it. Let the fans and the other wrestlers take a look and decide for themselves what they’re in to and I’m confident that I will get this thing rockin’.”
Hogan is already crediting himself with generating the most buzz for TNA in its history and explains the significance of announcing his partnership with TNA Wrestling at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
“The proof is already out there. In the course of a few days we’ve got more buzz going for TNA Wrestling then it’s had in seven years. For example, no other wrestling organization had ever been able to get into Madison Square Garden in New York for like, 100 years, because Vince owns it and his family owned it before him. So I came in and was like, ‘Watch this.; And we did a press conference at Madison Square Garden.
MMA
– M-1 Global and Fedor Emelianenko have sued Affliction and other unnamed parties for breach of contract stemming from the cancellation of “Affliction: Trilogy” after Affliction decided to return to the UFC as a sponsor. Emelianenko’s scheduled opponent, Josh Barnett, pulled out of the fight because of a positive test for anabolic steroids. Affliction cancelled the event after failing to find a replacement fighter. The lawsuit alleges that Brett Rogers, Emeliankenko’s opponent this weekend, was “ready, willing, and able” to fight Fedor at Trilogy and Affliction “elected to serve it’s own financial interests at the expense of its partners.”