Diamondbacks Land Benes for Three Years, $18 Million

The Arizona Diamondbacks, who have yet to play a game, continued to spend as though they intend to contend for a pennant in their first season, signing pitcher Andy Benes to a three-year, $18-million contract Tuesday.

Arizona, which joins the National League West this year, has committed $113 million to only four players: Benes, third baseman Matt Williams ($49.5 million for six years), shortstop Jay Bell ($34 million for five years) and right-hander Willie Blair ($11.5 million for three years).

“We’re thrilled to have Andy Benes,” said Joe Garagiola Jr., Arizona’s general manager. “He is a proven, quality No. 1 major league starter who wants the ball, will take the ball and, once you’ve given him the ball, doesn’t want to give it back.”

Benes, a 30-year-old right-hander, had wanted to stay in St. Louis and continue to play alongside his brother, Alan, but his $30-million, five-year contract with the Cardinals was agreed to about 90 minutes after the Dec. 7 midnight EST deadline and was rejected by baseball officials.

That meant he couldn’t re-sign with St. Louis until May 1, so Arizona became a viable option. He has a lifetime record of 104-94, with a 3.64 earned-run average.

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Thwarted in his attempt to trade pitcher Randy Johnson in the last season of his contract, Woody Woodward, the Seattle general manager, said Johnson probably will remain with the Mariners at least until the July 31 trade deadline.

Johnson, 20-4 in 1997, is eligible for free agency after the season, and Seattle said Nov. 12 it wouldn’t offer a contract extension. Johnson, who will earn $6 million this season, asked to be traded.

The Mariners said they were approached by the Dodgers, New York Yankees, Cleveland and Toronto, but that the offers weren’t substantial enough to make a deal.

That Johnson is said to want “Greg Maddux money” could be part of the problem. Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, agreed last season to a $57.5-million, five-year contract extension.

The Mariners also announced that they had signed reliever Bob Wells to a one-year, $450,000 contract.

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Bob Watson, who spent two seasons as the New York Yankees’ general manager, resigned and was replaced by 30-year-old Brian Cashman, who becomes the second-youngest general manager in major league history and the 16th general manager in George Steinbrenner’s 25 years as owner of the Yankees.

In 1996, his first year with New York, Watson became the first African American general manager to win the World Series.

Three years earlier, he became baseball’s first African American general manager when he was hired by the Houston Astros, for whom he played from 1966-79.

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Second baseman Jeff Frye, who batted .312 last season, and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a $7-million, three-year contract.

Boxing

Mike Tyson, frustrated by his banishment from boxing, has tried to break his contract with promoter Don King and his co-managers, a source said Tuesday.

“Mike went down and met with some guys in Los Angeles and they enticed him by saying they could help him more than his existing deal,” a person close to the parties told the Associated Press on Tuesday night.

Tyson was banned from boxing by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in July after biting Evander Holyfield’s ears during a championship fight in June at the MGM Grand Hotel.

Tennis

The Grand Slam Cup, which features the best performers of the four Grand Slam tournaments, will add a women’s event this year.

The field will consist of the top eight female performers at the four Grand Slam events--the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open--competing in a single-elimination format for a total purse of $2.45 million, with the winner receiving $800,000, the richest prize in women’s tennis.

The men’s draw for the Sept. 29-Oct. 4 event in Munich will be shortened from a 16-man to a 12-man field, with the Grand Slam winners receiving first-round byes and the tournament winner earning $1.3 million.

Sergi Bruguera of Spain rallied to defeat countryman Tomas Carbonell, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in first-round play at the ATP Marseille Indoors tournament in France. Also, top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia had little trouble defeating Juan Albert Viloca, 6-4, 6-3. . . . Boris Becker of Germany, looking to rebound after an injury-plagued season and back on the court after a three-month break, defeated Swedish qualifier Fredrik Bergh, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the Croatian Indoors event in Split. Becker, playing a limited schedule as he eases into retirement, advanced to a match against second-seeded hometown favorite Goran Ivanisevic. . . . Fifth-seeded Irina Spirlea of Romania beat Sung-Hee Park of Korea, 7-5, 6-0, but sixth-seeded Anke Huber of Germany was ousted by Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

Jurisprudence

A temporary restraining order Amy Camacho, the wife of Hector “Macho” Camacho, had obtained against the boxer expired when the couple failed to show up for a family court hearing in Orlando, Fla.