MLB Capsules: Healthy again, Red Sox INF Jed Lowrie awaits turn

BOSTON (AP) — First a nagging wrist injury, then mononucleosis. The past three years have been filled with all sorts of health problems for Red Sox infielder Jed Lowrie.

Now he's healthy enough to play every day and manager Terry Francona thinks he could handle that role. There just isn't an opening in Boston's loaded lineup.

"I think it's encouraging" that Francona feels that way, Lowrie said Thursday, "because I have the same feeling about me being an everyday player. As far as what the situation is right now, I don't have a lot of control over that."

The offseason acquisition of first baseman Adrian Gonzalez shifted Kevin Youkilis to third. Former AL MVP and Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia is the second baseman. Marco Scutaro played shortstop last season, and Francona said he's still the starter.

Even if Lowrie could play the outfield, there's not much opportunity there either with Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew as starters. And Lowrie probably doesn't own a catcher's mitt.

"The Red Sox aren't a team that will have a lot of spots open," he said. "The big thing for me is being healthy again, which I am. I'll come to camp and compete and see what happens."

The 26-year-old Lowrie can play all four infield positions and is a switch-hitter with some power.

Francona said Lowrie "gives us something not a lot of teams can say they have, a switch-hitter than can play first, second, third or short and play a lot. He can play for a week, he can play it for a day, he can play it for two weeks. That, at some point, is going to probably save us. How many times have you seen where everybody stays healthy?"

Certainly not last season.

A broken left foot limited Pedroia to 75 games. Youkilis played in 102 before a torn muscle in his right thumb ended his season. Scutaro played 150 games but shoulder problems forced him to finish the season at second base, where the throw to first is shorter.

Lowrie spent the first 94 games last year on the disabled list with mononucleosis, then played in 55 of the remaining 68, starting 45. He hit .287 with nine homers and 24 RBIs.

He said he first experienced symptoms toward the end of the 2008 season when he hit .258 in 81 games as a rookie with Boston.

"I just attributed it to a long season, a very up-and-down season that had some experiences that I had never gone through before," Lowrie said before the Boston baseball writers annual dinner. "I got diagnosed with mono in spring training (last year) so when I actually got it would be pure speculation, but I really felt the (brunt) of it right in spring training."

He had played with an injured left wrist for much of the second half of the 2008 season. He was Boston's opening-day shortstop in 2009 but got off to a 1-for-18 start at the plate. He went on the disabled list on April 12, had surgery nine days later and didn't return to the Red Sox until July 18.

But just a month later, Lowrie went back on the disabled list because of an irritated left forearm and wasn't activated until Sept. 8. He wound up hitting .147 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 32 games.

Then the mononucleosis hit.

Here we go again, he thought.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't have those feelings at some point," Lowrie said, "but I tried not to dwell on them because it wasn't going to do me any good. At that point, I just needed to get healthy."

Now he is.

He's had no offseason health issues for the "first time since I can really remember," he said. "It seems like it's been so long, so it's been exciting because of the quality of work that I've been able to put in."

Lowrie has been working out in Toronto, where his fiance works.

"I feel great," he said. "It's been the most productive offseason that I've had in a long time."

So he's ready to play a lot. And if he doesn't get the chance, at least he's with a perennial playoff contender that added power, speed, hitting and defense when it picked up Gonzalez and Crawford.

"It's nice because a lot of guys don't have that opportunity" to make a run at the World Series, he said. "I remember my first couple of years acquiring guys like Mark Kotsay or Sean Casey who had been in the game for 10, 11, 12 years and had never experienced a postseason."

As a rookie in 2008, Lowrie went 4 for 11 in the AL division series as the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1. Then Boston lost the AL championship series to the Tampa Bay Rays in seven games.

"I was a big part of the postseason team my rookie year," he said. "I think the experience gained and the scrutiny that you're under here only makes you a better player."

Tigers manager Jim Leyland says he’s no lame duck

DETROIT (AP) — Tigers manager Jim Leyland is blunt as he assesses the situation he and his boss, general manager Dave Dombrowski, face entering the final years of their contracts.

"My tail's on the line, Dave's is on the line," Leyland said Thursday at Comerica Park as the team started its winter tour across the state, a few weeks before spring training. "We all know that."

Leyland's deal was extended by two years during the 2009 season, giving him at least one more shot of helping owner Mike Ilitch hoist World Series hardware.

"I came here to give Mr. (Mike) Ilitch a world championship trophy," Leyland said, entering his sixth season as the Tigers' manager. "That's what I'm going to continue to try do as long as I'm the manager. If it got to the point where they don't want me to be the manager anymore, then so be it, that's their business.

"If somebody thinks that I'm going to be intimidated by the fact that this is the last year, I've got all kind of energy, I feel good. I'm really looking forward to it. That's not going to be a topic."

It certainly won't be one that Dombrowski is going to fuel with candor.

Dombrowski was rewarded in 2006 with a four-year extension that runs through 2011 after turning around the franchise in his first five seasons in charge.

"I'm not going to talk about my contract publicly," Dombrowski said. "I've always gone about my job, working the hardest I can, in the same fashion no matter what my situation."

The Tigers hope newcomers Victor Martinez, Brad Penny and Joaquin Benoit will help holdovers such as Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Austin Jackson put them in the postseason for the first time since 2006.

Leyland and Dombrowski might have a lot to lose if that doesn't happen.

"I'm not going to go to spring training and say, 'Oh, I got to do something different, this is the last year of my contract,'" Leyland said. "They know me. I've managed 20 years. I doubt that it takes someone 21 years to figure out if I can manage or not."

Leyland, who helped the Florida Marlins win the 1997 World Series, managed Pittsburgh from 1986-1996, Florida for two seasons and Colorado in 1999 before taking a break.

The Tigers won the American League championship five years ago, in Leyland's first season in their dugout. Since then, they have had two winning seasons, an 88-loss year and are coming off a .500 finish to an up-and-down season.

"Sometimes people act like we haven't done anything here," Leyland said. "We did go to the World Series in 2006. We went to a 163rd game two years ago. It's not like we haven't provided pretty good entertainment for people. It's not like we've been a bunch of donkeys. We did draw 3 million (fans) a couple years. If I remember right, it was 12 years that they didn't come close to .500, so it's not like we haven't done something."

Detroit seems to have a chance to win the highly competitive AL Central with a solid mix of pitching, hitting and defense.

"If we don't win the division, the year will be a disappointment — period," ace Justin Verlander said.

-- Larry Lage

Andruw Jones tries to revive career with Yankees

NEW YORK (AP) — Andruw Jones agreed Thursday to a $2 million, one-year contract with the New York Yankees, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because the deal for the former star outfielder is subject to physical.

Jones can earn an additional $1.2 million in performance bonuses as part of the agreement: $150,000 each for 250 and 275 plate appearances, $200,000 apiece for 300 and 325, and $250,000 each for each of 350 and 375.

The 33-year-old Jones, brought in as a right-handed-hitting backup to Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher, made an impact against New York in his rookie season, homering twice for Atlanta at Yankee Stadium in the 1996 World Series opener.

After hitting a career-best 51 homers for the Braves in 2005 and 41 the following year, his career nose-dived.

His home runs dropped to 26 during his final season with Atlanta and he hit three in 2007, his one injury-decimated season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jones rebounded to hit 17 homers for the Chicago White Sox in 2009 and had 19 last season for the White Sox to go along with a .230 average and 48 RBIs.

-- Ronald Blum

Price wins Spahn Award, hungry for higher goals

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — As part of his experience as the Warren Spahn Award winner, David Price got the chance to autograph a baseball with former pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles will be raising single-game ticket prices in 2011, even though the team is coming off its 13th consecutive losing season.

The increase is between $1 and $8 per seat, with an average of $3. The increase is the first for the team since 2007 — for games not involving the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

Tickets purchased before the day of a game will cost between $9 and $60. On game day, those prices will increase. Games involving the Yankees and Red Sox will cost between $11 and $99. Season-ticket prices are unchanged from 2010.

National League

Mets finalize deal with Young, add Hairston

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Young traveled to New York while on the San Diego Padres' disabled list last June and had a chance to see Citi Field.

"Looking up at the stadium, the energy in the park, I thought to myself this would be a lot of fun to play here," he said.

Young made it his home Thursday, finalizing a $1.1 million, one-year contract with the New York Mets that gives him the chance to earn an additional $3.4 million in bonuses if he makes 31 starts and pitches 180 innings.

A 6-foot-10 right-hander who went to Princeton, the 31-year-old has spent the last 1½ years trying to regain his health. He left a start against the Los Angeles Angels because of shoulder pain on June 14, 2009, and had surgery that Aug. 17 to repair partial tears in his labrum.

While he said last spring that his arm felt strong and he pitched six shutout innings of one-hit ball against Arizona in his first start April 6, he went on the disabled list six days later because of a strained shoulder. He didn't pitch in the majors again until Sept. 18.

"I think I pushed it a little too fast out of spring training last year," he said.

Young allowed one run or none in each of his September starts, pitching four innings in his first outing and five in each of the next two. He wound up 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA.

"I'm really excited about the way I feel right now," he said. "I feel healthy. I feel strong. I'm hopeful that it will hold up and I expect it to."

Young has never won more than 12 games in a season (12-7 for Texas in 2005) and he is 13-12 with a 4.13 ERA in 36 starts over the last three years.

With Johan Santana expected to be sidelined for at least the first few months of the season following shoulder surgery, Young figures to be in the Mets' rotation with Mike Pelfrey, Jonathon Niese, R.A. Dickey and Chris Capuano. New York prospects Jenrry Mejia and Dillon Gee also are possibilities.

New Mets general manager Sandy Alderson was impressed with Young when they were together in San Diego. Young was an All-Star for the Padres in 2007, when he was 8-3 at the All-Star break before sliding to a 9-8 overall record.

"From my standpoint, our big-game pitcher, when he was available to us," Alderson said. "Unfortunately there were injuries along the way."

Young can make an additional $1,525,000 based on starts 10 through 31, and $1,875,000 based on innings from 70 to 180.

He would get $125,000 each for his 10th and 15th start, $150,000 for his 20th, $75,000 apiece for 21-25 and $125,000 each from 26-31. He also would receive $125,000 for pitching 70 innings, $150,000 for 80 and each additional 10 through 150, $175,000 apiece for 160 and 170, and $200,000 for 180.

NOTES: New York also agreed to a one-year contract with 30-year-old OF Scott Hairston, who hit .210 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs for San Diego last year. Hairston has a .245 average, 68 homers and 198 RBIs in seven big league seasons. ... To make room on the 40-man roster, the Mets designated RHP Tobi Stoner and OF Jason Pridie for assignment.

-- Ronald Blum

Two-sport star Szczur sticking with baseball

CHICAGO (AP) — Two-sport star Matt Szczur has decided to stick with baseball and stay in the Chicago Cubs’ minor league system.

The 21-year-old outfielder was drafted by the Cubs in the fifth round last year. He spent most of his time at Single-A Boise and hit .347 in 25 games.

"I couldn’t turn it down, would never turn it down," Szczur said.

Szczur led Villanova to the 2009 national crown in the Football Championship Subdivision. He ran for 159 yards and was chosen the most outstanding player in the title game.

Szczur (See-zer) missed most of last football season because of a sprained ankle, but returned in the playoffs and accounted for five touchdowns in a quarterfinal victory over Appalachian State.

"It was just, what was a better option for me," Szczur said Thursday at Villanova. "I love both sports. If I chose football, it would have been hard to walk away from baseball. It’s hard to walk away from football, as well."

The Cubs took him in the fifth round (he was selected in the 38th round by the Dodgers out of high school) and Szczur went on a 21-game hit streak spread over various stops in the organization.

"That’s what was so good about the minor leagues," he said. "All I had to do was focus on one thing. I had such a good season and it was great being there. A big part of me playing so well was that I was focused."

Szczur described a recent dinner with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry as the turning point in his decision. He said Hendry told him they believed in Szczur enough that he could be the starting center fielder in 2014.

"We’ve had the great fortune to get to know Matt the last seven-plus months and are excited by his decision to devote himself completely to baseball and the Cubs," Hendry said.

"We’ve come to know Matt not only as a talented athlete but also as an exceptional person. He had a fantastic pro debut with us last summer and we look forward to supporting and fostering his continued development as a baseball player."

Szczur, a 5-foot-11, 205-pound all-purpose star, was an Associated Press All-America first-team selection as a junior in 2009. He was voted Most Outstanding Player in the FCS National Championship game after he ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns and had another 68 yards receiving in Villanova’s 23-21 victory over Montana.

Szczur wore his national championship ring on a visit to Wrigley Field, where he took batting practice and shook hands with the Cubs on a clubhouse tour. He met since-retired manager Lou Piniella and sat in seats three rows off the field.

He was injured this past season, but said that didn’t affect his decision. Szczur said he was told he would have been a third- or fourth-round pick in the NFL draft.

Szczur gained national attention last year when his donated bone marrow was a match for a girl between 1 and 2 years old and helped save her life.

Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija also picked baseball after playing wide receiver at Notre Dame. He was the Cubs’ fifth-round pick in 2006. Samardzija, a fifth-round pick in 2006, has shuttled between the minors and the majors most of his career and is hoping to join the Cubs’ rotation this spring.

 Thames, Dodgers agree to $1 million deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers and outfielder Marcus Thames have agreed to a $1 million, one-year contract.

Thames had a .288 batting average and a .350 on-base percentage in 82 games, both career highs, last season with the New York Yankees.

The deal calls for Thames to receive $325,000 in bonuses based on plate appearances, including $25,000 for 200 appearances, and $50,000 each for 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 appearances.

Thames would receive $475,000 in bonuses based on innings in the field, including $25,000 each for 275 and 325 innings, $50,000 for 375 innings, and $75,000 apiece for 425, 475, 525, 575 and 625 innings.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti says Thames brings a power bat to the outfield, especially against left-handed pitching.

Thames has a .248 career batting average with 82 doubles, 113 home runs and 294 RBI in 604 games over his nine major league seasons with the Yankees (2002, 2010), Texas Rangers (2003) and Detroit Tigers (2004-09).

He was on the 2006 AL champion Tigers and played in the World Series that season. Thames also appeared in eight postseason games last season with the Yankees.

Giants agree to terms with lefty reliever Lopez

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lefty reliever Javier Lopez and the World Series champion San Francisco Giants have agreed to terms on a one-year contract for $2,375,000.

The 33-year-old Lopez had been eligible for salary arbitration. He had asked for $2,875,000 and the Giants had offered $2 million.

Lopez can earn an additional $50,000 each for pitching 55 or 60 innings in the deal he received Thursday. He went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 27 outings for the Giants, who acquired him at the trading deadline from Pittsburgh.

Lopez made nine appearances in the postseason, two during the Giants’ five-game World Series victory over the Texas Rangers. The franchise won its first title since 1954.

Minor Leagues

Two minor leaguers suspended after positive tests

NEW YORK (AP) — Two minor league pitchers have been suspended 50 games each after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Joselito Adames of the Oakland organization and San Lazaro Solano of the Philadelphia system were penalized Thursday.

Adames is on roster of the Athletics’ team in the rookie Arizona League. Solano was with the Phillies’ team in the Dominican Summer League.

The penalties will start in the 2011 season.

Adames and Solano were the second and third players suspended this year under the minor league drug program.

Elsewhere

Lucchino, Joyce, Washington feted by Boston BBWAA

BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino, who guided the ballclub through two World Series championships and the renovation of Fenway Park, was honored Thursday by the Boston baseball writers with the Judge Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to the sport.