BASEBALL
Steinbrenner leads nominees
Late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, former managers Lou Piniella, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel, and six players headed by Lee Smith are on the 10-man ballot for the baseball Hall of Fame’s Today’s Game Era committee to consider next month. Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Joe Carter also are on the ballot for the 16-man committee, which meets Dec. 9 at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. The committee considers candidates from 1998 to the present, and a candidate needs at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected. Any candidate picked will be inducted July 21 along with any players elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in a vote announced Jan. 22.
Mets fire two coaches
The New York Mets have fired hitting coach Pat Roessler and bullpen coach Ricky Bones. After meeting last week with Manager Mickey Callaway, new General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen said Monday that bench coach Gary DiSarcina will replace third-base coach Glenn Sherlock, who will shift to first-base coach. Former Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., who had been first-base coach, will become a front office adviser. Van Wagenen, the former agent hired last week to replace Sandy Alderson, said he had asked Alderson’s top three assistants to stay on: assistant general manager John Ricco and special advisers JP Ricciardi and Omar Minaya. Ricco and Minaya were at the annual general managers’ meetings and Ricciardi was en route. Van Wagenen did not specify if all three had decided to stay with the Mets long-term or whether their roles would change,
TENNIS
Nadal: Out for year
Rafael Nadal pulled out of the season-ending ATP Finals because of an abdominal injury and had
surgery on his right ankle Monday. Nadal announced on Twitter that he is done for the year, citing the stomach muscle issue that forced him to withdraw from last week’s Paris Masters. He added that he decided to have the ankle operation so he can start 2019 healthy. John Isner will replace Nadal in the ATP Finals field. Nadal hasn’t competed since he retired from his U.S. Open semifinal because of a painful right knee. He lost his No. 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic on Monday. Because Nadal’s season is over, Djokovic is assured of finishing the year atop the ATP rankings for the fifth time.
BASKETBALL
Calipari to redshirt
Junior guard Brad Calipari will redshirt this season, according to
Kentucky. The 6-foot, 179-pound Calipari, son of Wildcats Coach John Calipari, will practice and travel with the team and have two seasons of eligibility remaining. He has 11 points and 5 rebounds in 27 career games with the No. 2 Wildcats, who open tonight against No. 4 Duke in Indianapolis. Calipari, a two-time Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll member, is scheduled to graduate with a communications degree and plans to enter graduate school.
Alabama’s Norris out
Alabama guard Riley Norris will miss the start of the season after having a procedure done on his heart. Alabama announced Monday that Norris is week to week after having what was deemed a successful cardiac ablation procedure last
week. Norris is expected to make a full recovery. The Crimson Tide open their season tonight against Southern. Norris is Alabama’s most experienced player after seeing action in 110 games and starting 57. He is averaging 6.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game during his career. Tide Coach Avery Johnson said Norris had the procedure because his heart was beating at an accelerated rate. Johnson also said point guard Dazon Ingram is day to day with an ankle injury.
Drew to coach Cavs
Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Larry Drew has agreed to a new contract to be the team’s interim coach for the remainder of this season. Drew had asked the team to restructure his deal if he was going to take over after Tyronn Lue was fired. Drew wanted some guarantees and security during a rebuilding season for the Cavs, who were 1-8 entering Monday night’s game in Orlando. Drew had been serving as the team’s acting coach while his agent negotiated with the Cavs. The awkward situation with Drew came on top of the team’s poor start, All-Star forward Kevin Love undergoing surgery and guard J.R. Smith wanting to be traded. Also, former assistant Jim Boylan filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the Cavs. The team holds an option for next season with Drew, the club’s top assistant since 2016. General Manager Koby Altman said Drew “brings important experience and many qualities that we expect to translate well with our team.”
FOOTBALL
Redskins lose starting guards
Both starting guards for the Washington Redskins, Brandon Scherff and Shawn Lauvao, will have season-ending surgery, as will wide receiver Paul Richardson. Coach Jay Gruden announced Monday that Scherff, a Pro Bowl right guard, tore a pectoral muscle, while Lauvao, a left guard, tore the ACL in his left knee during Washington’s 38-14 loss to the visiting Atlanta Falcons. Richardson has been dealing with a shoulder problem that now needs an operation.
GYMNASTICS
USOC moves to shut down USA Gymnastics
The U.S. Olympic Committee took steps Monday to decertify USA Gymnastics as the governing body for the sport at the Olympic level, choosing the nuclear option for an organization that botched its own rebuilding attempt in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal in- volving former team doctor Lar- ry Nassar.
In an open letter to the gym- nastics community, USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland said “you de- serve better,” and that the chal- lenges facing USA Gymnastics are more than it is capable of overcoming as currently con- structed.
The USOC itself also has faced criticism for not respond- ing quickly and appropriately to sex abuse cases, and though the move was cheered by the gymnast whose own revelations helped propel Nassar’s years of abuse to the fore — “THANK YOU,” tweeted Rachel Denhol- lander — others viewed it as a ploy to shift blame for the scandal.
“Today’s announcement by USOC seeks only to deflect from their total failure over decades
to protect the gymnasts in their care,” said a statement from at- torneys Michelle Simpson Tue- gel and Mo Aziz, who represent Olympian Tasha Schwikert and her sister, Jordan, in their lawsuit against USAG and the USOC.
Even with a new board of di- rectors that started in June, USA Gymnastics made repeated mis- takes while dealing with the af- termath of revelations that the now-imprisoned Nassar molest- ed Olympians while working as a volunteer. Those included the botched hiring of a program co- ordinator and an interim CEO to replace Kerry Perry, who lasted barely nine months on the job af- ter the USOC forced out Steve Penny.
The announcement comes only days after the U.S. team brought home nine medals from the World Championships in the first major meet in the lead-up to Tokyo in 2020. Five of those were individual medals won by Olym- pic champion Simone Biles, who is among the athletes who have not hesitated to criticize the or- ganization.