Sportspool.com Sports News

Right-hander Tanner Roark and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a $24 million, two-year contract, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees have agreed to a record $324 million US, nine-year deal, a person familiar with the contract told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

The Toronto Blue Jays can boast about a young core with plenty of potential. The next step for general manager Ross Atkins is surrounding those players with some reliable starting pitchers.

Left-hander Cole Hamels agreed to a one-year, $18-million contract with the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. In other reported moves, Zack Wheeler is headed to Philadelphia and Baltimore dealt fellow pitcher Dylan Bundy to the Los Angeles Angels.

A potential return of Major League Baseball to Montreal is on hold until at least 2028 after the mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., said negotiations to split the Tampa Bay Rays' home dates have ended.

Calgary-born Mike Soroka of the Altanta Braves has won the Tip O'Neill Award as Canadian baseball player of the year. A year ago, fellow pitcher James Paxton claimed the honoure, presented annually by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez was among 56 players who became free agents Monday when their teams declined to offer 2020 contracts rather than make them eligible for salary arbitration. Sanchez was traded to Houston on July 31.

The Giants allowed Kevin Pillar to become a free agent by failing to offer the outfielder a 2020 contract.

Pitchers Phillippe Aumont, A.J. Cole and Justin Miller headline a handful of free agents the Blue Jays signed to minor-league contracts on Monday with invitations to Toronto's major league spring training in Dunedin, Fla.

Retired major league outfielder Ichiro Suzuki tossed 131 pitches in a complete-game shutout in a sandlot-level contest against a team of high school teachers on Sunday in Kobe, Japan.