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MLB-DRAFT
Cardinals sign 1st round pick 3B Jordan Walker for $2.9M
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have signed first-round draft pick Jordan Walker for $2.9 million, which comes just under the slot value for the 21st overall pick. Walker is a power-hitting third baseman picked out of high school. The Cardinals continued Tuesday to bring their selections from the first-year player draft under contract. The Cardinals already signed their second-round pick, East Carolina outfielder Alec Burleson; third-round pick Levi Prater, a left-hander from Oklahoma; and fifth-round pick L.J. Jones, an outfielder from Long Beach State.
Elsewhere in the draft:
— The Kansas City Royals have signed all six of their draft picks, including first-rounder Asa Lacy, along with seven undrafted free agents that together give the rebuilding franchise one of the best incoming crops of first-year players in the majors. The club announced the 13 signings on Tuesday with Lacy being the headliner. The big, rangy left-hander out of Texas A&M was widely considered the top college arm in the draft, yet he slid to the Royals at the fourth overall pick.
NBA-CAVALIERS-DRUMMOND OPTION
Cavs’ Drummond picking up $28 million option for next season
CLEVELAND (AP) — Cavaliers center Andre Drummond plans to exercise his $28.7 million player option for the 2020-21 season and stay with Cleveland. Drummond was acquired in a February trade with the Detroit Pistons. He said on an ESPN podcast that he intends to pick up the option. Drummond’s decision had been expected, but this is the first time he’s publicly stated his intentions. Drummond must notify the Cavs in writing about the option by Oct. 17. The NBA’s offseason calendar has been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-SPORTS
Novak Djokovic tests positive for coronavirus
UNDATED (AP) — Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) has tested positive for the coronavirus after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia.
The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia. His wife also tested positive. Djokovic says “the moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive.”
Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country.
Djokovic found himself defending the lax arrangements of the exhibitions, which were meant to raise money to help those affected by the pandemic. The stands were packed and players casually interacted with fans and each other off the court. Djokovic and other players were seen hugging each other and partying in night clubs and restaurants.
In other virus-related sports developments:
— A person with knowledge of the situation says All-Star forward Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets has tested positive for the coronavirus and is quarantining in his native Serbia. Jokic is expected to be back in Denver long before the team leaves for the Disney complex for the restart of the NBA season next month. ESPN and The Denver Post previously reported Jokic’s positive test result.
— The Philadelphia Phillies say two more players and two additional staff numbers have tested positive for COVID-19. That raises the number of total members in the organization who have the virus to 12. The Phillies say all other tests within the organization have come back negative. One of the two players tested positive outside the team complex in Clearwater, Florida. The Phillies shut their spring complex after five players tested positive on Friday for COVID-19. Philadelphia became the first big league team known to be struck by the outbreak. Three staff members at the camp also tested positive. The Phillies didn’t identify any of those affected.
— Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says two unidentified players have tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered. Tomlin says the players tested positive at some point earlier this year. Both players went through what Tomlin called “the appropriate protocol” and have since returned to work. Neither player visited the team facility at any point during the offseason. The Steelers, like the rest of the NFL, have been meeting and training remotely rather than in person since mid-March.
— Pittsburgh is out of the running to be one of the two hubs for the NHL when the league resumes its season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Penguins submitted what the club called an “aggressive” bid to be a hub city and was among the 10 finalists announced by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Penguins President and CEO David Morehouse says simply being a finalist reflected the city’s support of the team and the NHL. Seven of the finalists were in the United States.
— Ontario’s chief medical officer says Major League Baseball hasn’t submitted a plan to local health authorities that is needed for the Blue Jays to play in Toronto amid the pandemic. Dr. David Williams says he has read a Major League Baseball proposal but it doesn’t mention anything about travel to Canada. He says baseball will have to provide a plan. Anyone entering Canada for non-essential reasons must quarantine for 14 days and the U.S. Canada border remains closed to nonessential travel until at least July 21.
— U.S. national team players Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath and Christen Press have opted out of the National Women’s Soccer League tournament opening this weekend in Utah. Heath and Press played with Rapinoe on the champion World Cup team last summer in France. The two cited concerns about the coronavirus for their decisions not to play. Rapinoe didn’t publicly give a reason. The monthlong Challenge Cup opens Saturday with a nationally televised game between the Portland Thorns and the defending champion North Carolina Courage.
— Fifteen minor league baseball teams have filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract by insurance providers after being denied claims for business-interruption insurance due to the coronavirus pandemic. Major League Baseball announced Monday that it will attempt to play a 60-game regular season, but its 160 affiliated minor league clubs are unlikely to play at all until at least 2021. Minor league franchises say that even though they continue to pay yearly premiums to insurance providers for business-interruption insurance, they have been denied coverage at a time when minor league clubs have essentially no means of making money.
— Maine’s Bowdoin College and UMass Boston are canceling their fall sports schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bowdoin President Clayton Rose cited limitations on campus attendance in an announcement detailing the school’s plans for the fall semester. UMass Boston interim Chancellor Katherine Newman said in a memo that the school will focus on remote instruction in the fall with no on-ground student activities. Both schools compete in Division III. Bowdoin has 31 varsity teams. UMass Boston has 18.
— Monmouth Park will reopen for simulcast wagering and sports betting on July 2, with live horse racing returning the following day. The complex will operate at 25% capacity as part of New Jersey’s second stage of loosening of restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The racetrack has been closed to the public since March 16 because of the pandemic. The 37-day meet runs through Sept. 27, highlighted by the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 18.
— The U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame has postponed its 2020 induction ceremony to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s induction ceremony had been scheduled for Sept. 19-20 in Frisco, Texas, where the Hall of Fame is located. Members of the 2020 and 2021 classes will be inducted together in a ceremony next year. Voting for the 2020 class was completed earlier this year but not yet announced.
— This year’s karate world championships have been postponed for one year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The World Karate Federation says the championships will now take place from Nov. 16-21, 2021, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Karate was set to make its debut at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo but that event has also been postponed by a year. The karate worlds are held every two years.
— Four players on French soccer team Toulouse have tested positive for the coronavirus. The club says the testing was conducted Monday to ensure the safety of players and staff ahead of the resumption of training.
— Tiffany Hayes has become the second Atlanta Dream guard to announce plans to sit out the 2020 season. The Dream says Hayes, a 2018 all-WNBA first-team selection, has said she won’t play this season. Earlier, Renee Montgomery said she will opt out of the season to focus on social injustice and voter registration. Last week the WNBA announced plans for a 22-game season in Florida without fans in attendance.
NFL-NEWS
Brady continues group workouts despite NFLPA recommendation
UNDATED (AP) — Tom Brady continues to prepare for his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, working out with teammates at a private school despite a union recommendation that players not conduct any more group practices before training camp.
The six-time Super Bowl champion was joined on the field Tuesday by a group of teammates that included tight end Rob Gronkowski, quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin, center Ryan Jensen, cornerback Jamel Dean and safety Mike Edwards.
With NFL training facilities still closed to players because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brady has been leading small voluntary workouts near downtown Tampa for much of the past month.
The latest session came just three days after the Bucs confirmed an unspecified number of “individuals” tested positive for COVID-19 at the team’s training center. The same day, NFL Players Association medial director Dr. Thom Mayer, recommended all NFL players refrain from working out in group settings until training camp begins next month.
In other NFL news:
— The Las Vegas Raiders have opened their new training facility in Henderson, Nevada. About 70 team members were on hand Monday at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, a 335,000-square-foot complex. No players are allowed yet unless they are rehabbing injuries, but coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock were in attendance. It’s the first time the Raiders have gotten their football operations personnel in the same building since NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ordered team facilities shut in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the Raiders’ case, that was their building in Alameda, California.
— New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins says his criticism of Drew Brees’ opposition about kneeling during the national anthem, and Brees’ later apology, is a microcosm of what the country needs. He made the comments Tuesday in an interview with Daily Show Host Trevor Noah. Jenkins was among Drew Brees’ harshest critics when the Saints quarterback made his comments about kneeling earlier this month. He told Noah the video he posted on Instagram criticizing Brees was filmed before he spoke with his teammate. Jenkins said he decided to post the video after they spoke because he thought people needed to see it.
— Martha Firestone Ford is stepping down as principal owner of the Detroit Lions. The Lions announced that Ford’s daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp, is taking over as the team’s principal owner and chairman. The 94-year-old Ford says it’s been a great honor for her family to be associated with the Lions and the NFL, and that Hamp will provide superb leadership. Ford had been in charge of the Lions since 2014, when her husband, William Clay Ford, died. The 68-year-old Hamp has been one of the team’s vice chairmen during her mother’s ownership.
— Eli Manning has won the Pro Football Writers of America’s Good Guy Award for his cooperation with the media. Manning, who retired after the 2019 season, has been lauded for years for his dealings with local and national media. He’s the second member of the New York Giants to win the award, joining Tiki Barber (2006). Manning was the Giants’ starting quarterback for nearly every game in his first 15 years in the league.
FLYERS-LINDBLOM-CANCER
Flyers F Lindblom skates with team, recovering from cancer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom skated with team Tuesday in one of the few times he’s hit the ice since he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
The 23-year-old Lindblom, a native of Sweden, has been ruled out of play should the NHL season resume. Lindblom said he was down to his final chemotherapy treatments. Lindblom suffers from Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancerous tumor that grows in the bones or in the tissue around bones. He had 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games this season. Lindblom has 30 goals in 134 career games over two-plus seasons with the Flyers.
Lindblom was on the ice at the Flyers’ complex in Voorhees, New Jersey, and said it was “unreal” to skate again with some of this teammates and have fun. He said he can see the “light in the tunnel” when it comes to his treatments.
GOLF-2ND PLAYER POSITIVE
Champ becomes 2nd PGA Tour player to test positive for virus
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Cameron Champ is the second PGA Tour player to test positive for the coronavirus. Champ did not play last week at the RBC Heritage. That’s where Nick Watney tested positive. Champ tied for 14th at Colonial in Texas. He was tested when he arrived at the Travelers Championship, and it came back positive. Champ says he feels fine and was surprised to learn of the positive test. He now has to self-isolate for 10 days and will get as stipend from the PGA Tour to pay for the expense. He also had to withdraw from the tournament.
ZANARDI INJURED
Zanardi to remain in coma until at least next week
SIENA, Italy (AP) — Alex Zanardi will remain in a medically induced coma until at least next week. The Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist remains in “stable condition” following a fourth night in intensive care at Santa Maria alle Scotte Hospital in Siena, Italy.
The hospital says in a medical bulletin that “eventual reductions” of the coma will be “taken into consideration starting next week.”
Zanardi has been on a ventilator since he crashed his handbike into a truck near the Tuscan town of Pienza on Friday during a relay event.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASEKTBALL-STEVENS RETIRES
Veteran Bentley U. women’s coach Barbara Stevens retires
BOSTON (AP) — Longtime Bentley University women’s basketball coach Barbara Stevens is retiring after a four-decade run that included more than 1,000 wins, the 2014 NCAA Division II national championship, and recent election to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 65-year-old coach made the announcement Tuesday, ending a 34-year stint at Bentley in which she compiled a 901-200 record, made 31 Division II tournament appearances and 14 in regional championships. Her retirement will become effective on July 31.
Stevens retires as the fourth-winningest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history with a 1,058-291 career record. She trails only Pat Summitt (1,098), Tara VanDerveer (1,094) and Geno Auriemma (1,091) in career victories.
She became the first non-Division I women’s basketball coach, and the fifth overall, to reach the 1,000-win milestone, with Bentley’s 78-66 home victory over Adelphi University on Jan. 17, 2018.
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