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NEW YORK -- Brian Roberts and the New York Yankees have completed their $2 million, one-year contract, a deal that allows the second baseman to earn $4.Sebastian Vollmer Authentic Jersey .6 million if he becomes a regular starter. The contract was agreed to on Dec. 17 and finalized Tuesday, three days after a spot on the 40-man roster opened when Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the season for violations of baseballs drug agreement and labour contract. The 36-year-old Roberts, an All-Star in 2005 and 2007, is an option to replace Robinson Cano, who signed with Seattle. Roberts, who had spent his entire 13-year major league career with Baltimore, has not played a full season since 2009 because of injuries. He hit .249 with eight homers and 39 RBIs in 77 games last year. In addition to his base salary, Roberts can earn $2.6 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances: $175,000 each for 250 and 300; $250,000 apiece for 350 and 400; $300,000 each for 450 and 500; $350,000 for 550; and $400,000 apiece for 600 and 650. Roberts raises the Yankees luxury-tax payroll to about $165 million, including benefits -- the exact amount is uncertain pending a determination on how Rodriguez will be accounted for. A-Rod originally was listed at $27.5 million, but arbitrator Fredric Horowitz ruled the suspension will cost him 162/183rds of his $25 million salary this year, which comes to $22,131,148. The Yankees hope to be under the $189 million tax threshold this year. Nate Solder Patriots Jersey . Edwin Encarnacion hit two of Torontos season-high five home runs as the Blue Jays capped a two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia by outscoring the Phillies 12-6 on Thursday at Rogers Centre. John Hannah Authentic Jersey . Headlining the 27 players were first-round NHL draftees Rasmus Ristolainen and Teuvo Teravainen. Both players are returnees from the 2013 Finnish World Junior team.MILWAUKEE - Brandon Jennings wouldnt let the Milwaukee Bucks blow another big lead. Jennings scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the Bucks to a 102-81 victory over the winless Washington Wizards on Friday night. "Right now we should really be 3-0," Jennings said. "We were up at halftime against Charlotte, and we lost a lead. And tonight we were up (24) at half and let a team come back. That is something we really need to focus on, especially going on a West Coast road trip. On the road in hostile environments you have got to be able to contain the lead and take over." Jordan Crawford, benched in favour of Nick Young after scoring one point in a loss at Atlanta on Wednesday, led Washington (0-3) with 24 points. John Wall had six points on 1-of-9 shooting and four turnovers. Ersan Ilyasova had 16 points, and Carlos Delfino, who missed the first two games of the season with a sprained right wrist, added 15 off the bench for Milwaukee (2-1). Andrew Bogut had 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Jennings has scored 22, 24 and 22 points in three games this season. "He has been very efficient," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "He is doing a good job in the first half of the games of moving the ball around and seeing people and kind of taking his scoring opportunities as they come. And then as the game has gone on hes gotten a little more aggressive, especially when weve struggled a little bit in those stretches. "Thats what the good players do." The first half went about as badly as it could go for the Wizards - starting with a technical foul called when Roger Mason Jr., who was not on the active list, checked into the game. Mason had come in for Crawford with 3:27 left in the first quarter and scored on a baseline jumper seven seconds later. However, during a timeout at the 2:53 mark, the Wizards were whistled for the technical. The basket was later taken away from Mason and credited to Rashard Lewis. Jennings made the technical free throw to make it 25-18 Milwaukee, and Ronny Turiafs dunk made it 25-20 before the Bucks poured it on. Wizards coach Flip Saunders took responsibility for Mason being disqualified from the game. The Wizards public relations staff also took the blame. The NBA provides a roster to teams to circle who will be inactive for each game. The list excluded Masons name, and neither Saunders nor the PR staff caught the mistake before sending the final active roster to the league office. The Bucks statistical staff noticed the mistake when they tried to enter Masons basket. "Its my fault," Saunders said. "I didnt notice it. I take responsibility for that. I thought he would have given us some help." Said Mason: "It was just human error. Just a mistake. It happens." Milwaukee outscored the Wizards 40-21 the rest of the half to take a 65-41 lead. The Bucks, 222nd in the league in field goal percentage coming in, shot 61. Matthew Slater Authentic Jersey. per cent in the half to Washingtons 34 per cent. Young and Wall combined to go 1 for 11 in the first half. Washington opened the second half on a 15-4 run, holding Milwaukee without a field goal for more than five minutes. The Wizards outscored the Bucks 26-13 in the period and trailed 78-67 after three quarters. Crawford had 12 points in the third. "We are all young and we try to force it," Crawford said. "We all try to do it on our own, which I try to do all the time. Sometimes I want to come back as quick as possible." Washington cut it to nine on a dunk by JaVale McGee to open the fourth, but the Wizards got no closer the rest of the way. They cut it to 88-77 with less than six minutes remaining, but the Bucks -- who had blown double-digit, second-half leads in each of their first two games -- used an 8-0 run to seal it. Bogut said the late comebacks are not concerning, as the team looks ahead to games at Denver, Utah, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix in the next nine days. "We have no excuse for it, but at the same time were not really pushing the panic button," Bogut said. "Were 2-1, and weve got room to improve on that." Meanwhile, the Wizards, and Wall, are just looking for a win. "Very disappointed," Wall said. "I think we could have won these two ones against the Nets and definitely the Bucks. We just didnt bring the energy. There is no way you could make the playoffs when you are not winning the close games and tough games against teams like this." Said Saunders: "Bottom line is we got to figure it out and figure it out quick. We cant have it where we have some guys go out and compete, or if some guys are not playing well offensively it takes away our energy defensively." And he said Wall is one of the problems. "Wasnt good," Saunders said. "John has a tendency to get down on himself when he is not making plays. We got down big, he got down." Notes: Wizards forward Andray Blatche again took to his Twitter page after a loss, this time apologizing to fans for his funk, saying he would focus on his defence and rebounding, and asking them not to give up on the team. . Bucks forward Luc Mbah a Moute missed his third straight game with right knee tendinitis. Mbah a Moute took part in the shootaround. "No idea," Skiles said, when asked how long he will be out. "We thought he was going tonight." Bucks forward Tobias Harris, the teams first-round pick in 2011, also has yet to play for Milwaukee with dehydration issues. . The Bucks assigned rookie guard Darington Hobson to the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Mad Ants of the NBA Development League. Hobson was the 37th overall pick in the 2010 draft out of New Mexico but missed the 2010-11 season after undergoing hip surgery. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
