BASEBALL

Carpenter, Cardinals Agree to $65M Deal

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a five-year deal with 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter yesterday, locking him up through the 2011 season for about $65 million. The deal also includes a club option for 2012 that would bring the total value to $77 million.

“It was important for us to show what we think of him,” the Cardinals’ general manager, Walt Jocketty, said on the first day of baseball’s winter meetings.

Carpenter was 15–8 with a 3.09 ERA last season, finishing third in Cy Young balloting and helping the Cardinals win their first World Series title in 24 years. He was 3–1 with a 2.78 ERA in five postseason starts, including the clincher in the division series against the Padres and eight shutout innings in Game 3 of the World Series against the Tigers.

Mariners Sign Outfielder Jose Guillen

With Jose Guillen and Ichiro Suzuki in the same outfield, Seattle Mariners manager Mike Hargrove has never had two arms so strong side-by-side.

The Mariners and Guillen agreed on a one-year, $5.5 million contract yesterday with a $9 million mutual option for 2008, giving Seattle a starting right fielder and a dangerous bat in the middle of the order.

The deal was the first formal signing of the four-day baseball winter meetings that began yesterday.

Guillen missed much of the 2006 season following reconstructive surgery on his right elbow. The Mariners hope his addition is only a start because they want to upgrade their starting rotation.

HOCKEY

Former Flyers GM Clarke Returns as VP

Bob Clarke returned to the Philadelphia Flyers as a senior vice president yesterday, more than six weeks after he quit as the team’s general manager because of burnout.

“Bob’s experience as a player and general manager over the last 37 years is invaluable,” the Flyers GM, Paul Holmgren, said.

“This is a way to keep Clarkie involved in the organization and utilize the knowledge that he has gained over the years,” he added. “He is a tremendous resource that we can call upon. We should take advantage of that and Bob is certainly willing to help out the organization any way that he can.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Stanford Coach Harris Fired After 1–11 Season

Stanford opened the football season full of optimism based on a renovated stadium, an offense that returned nearly intact and progress that was made in Walt Harris’s first year as head coach.

That quickly ended when the stadium was often half-empty, the skill players went down with injuries and the Cardinal finished with their worst record in more than four decades.

All of that played into the decision yesterday to fire Harris after his second season and begin the search for a new coach who can win under the difficult circumstances at Stanford.

“This has been a tough year,” the athletic director, Bob Bowlsby, said. “In some measure this decision was not made as a result of being 1–11 as much as it was a result of not seeing the progress in some of the critical areas we would have hoped for after two years.”

— Associated Press