Manfred promoted to MLB COO by Selig
Manfred promoted to MLB COO by Selig
NEW YORK — Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseball’s chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner.
The sport’s No. 2 post had been open for three years. Paul Beeston served in the role from 1997-02, then was replaced by Bob DuPuy, who left in October 2010.
Selig, who has headed baseball since September 1992, said last week he intends to retire in January 2015, though some owners remain skeptical.
The 55-year-old Manfred, a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School, was a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and assisted on baseball’s labor negotiations that led to the 1990 collective bargaining agreement and during the turmoil of the 1994-95 strike.
Cubs fire manager Sveum after 2 seasons
CHICAGO — Theo Epstein is proud of the talent in the Chicago Cubs’ minor league system. The president of baseball operations thinks Dale Sveum is going to be a successful manager one day.
He just doesn’t think Sveum is the right guy to help all those prospects become successful major leaguers.
The Cubs fired Sveum on Monday after finishing last in the NL Central for the first time in seven years, ending a two-year run that produced more losses than any other stretch in the team’s cursed history.
Australian yacht club 1st to challenge Ellison
SAN DIEGO — Australia is back in the America’s Cup for the first time since 2000 after a challenge by winemaker and sailor Bob Oatley was accepted by software billionaire Larry Ellison.
The challenge by the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, located on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, was announced Monday.
It was received by the Golden Gate Yacht Club on Wednesday, right after Ellison’s Oracle Team USA retained the America’s Cup by completing a remarkable comeback against Emirates Team New Zealand on San Francisco Bay.
In 1983, Australia II beat Dennis Conner’s Liberty to end the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak in the America’s Cup.
As defender, Ellison gets to decide where the next cup is contested.
Ellison joked last week that the next America’s Cup will be around the Hawaiian island of Lanai, most of which he owns.
The cup could be back in San Francisco, or it could go to Hawaii or the highest bidder.
Freeman says
he has ADHD
TAMPA, Fla. — Benched Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman said he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and voluntarily entered the NFL substance abuse program more than a year ago after mistakenly taking a medication to treat the condition.
Freeman said Monday night in a statement released by his agent that he has passed all 46 drug tests he’s taken for the league since once using Ritalin instead of Adderall to treat ADHD.
The fifth-year pro was benched last Wednesday after leading the Bucs to an 0-3 start that included a pair of losses on last-second field goals.
Freeman said he has been “prescribed and permitted to take medication” to treat ADHD for the entirety of his NFL career.
AP Source: Texas AD Dodds to retire in 2014
AUSTIN, Texas — Longtime Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds will step down in August 2014 and move into a consulting role at the nation’s wealthiest college athletic program, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Monday.
The school is expected to make a formal announcement Tuesday, according to the person who spoke condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt a statement from university officials.
The Austin American-Statesman first reported Dodds’ decision.
By wire sources