Yankees’ Jeter Settles for One Year at $10 Million

With Derek Jeter’s $118.5-million, seven-year contract on hold, the New York Yankees instead agreed Thursday to a $10-million, one-year deal with their star shortstop.

“I said it before: I’d like to sign a long-term deal, but it’s not up to me, it’s up to the team to make that decision,” Jeter said from Tampa, Fla. “I don’t think the team owes me a long-term deal. That’s not how it works. I have two more years. Then you can start negotiating. Then you can make decisions on your own.”

Jeter, 25, is eligible for free agency after the 2001 season, when he will have six years of major league service.

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John Rocker’s appeal of his suspension will start Wednesday. On Monday, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended the Atlanta Brave reliever until May 1, a period that covers all 45 days of spring training and the first 28 days of the season. He also fined Rocker $20,000 and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training. The union claims baseball doesn’t have “just cause” to punish Rocker for his remarks to Sports Illustrated. . . . Ken Griffey Jr., believing he’s a hated man in Seattle, doesn’t think it would be in his best interests to play the final season of his current contract in Seattle. Griffey wants to be traded to the Cincinnati Reds and won’t sign a contract extension with the Mariners. He is eligible for free agency after the season.

Marty Brennaman, the Reds’ radio announcer, was selected to the Hall of Fame as the latest recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to a broadcaster. He’ll be honored July 23 along with former Red first baseman Tony Perez, who was voted in last month. . . . Richie Phillips and the Major League Umpires Assn., using their last appeal, will ask the National Labor Relations Board to overturn the election that kicked them out in November. . . . Shawon Dunston and Brian McRae were among four free agents who agreed with the St. Louis Cardinals on minor league contracts. . . . Right-hander Ariel Prieto of the Oakland A’s, who hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since April 1998, lost his salary arbitration case and will get $300,000 this year instead of $500,000. . . . Right-hander Chris Holt and the Houston Astros avoided a salary arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $1,025,000. . . . Julian Tavarez pitched five effective innings as the Dominican Republic beat Venezuela, 5-3, and Eduardo Perez drove in three runs to lead Puerto Rico over Mexico, 9-2, in the Caribbean Series at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

College Football

Notre Dame filed an amended lawsuit against several companies, including the architectural firm hired to oversee the expansion of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, claiming a series of design and construction flaws at its football stadium threaten the structure’s integrity. Among the problems listed in the complaint are safety concerns with concrete toppings on ramps and concourses throughout Notre Dame Stadium, failing joints and rusting railings. . . . A.J. Christoff, formerly the defensive coordinator at Colorado and a UCLA assistant coach from 1990-94, was named linebacker coach at USC. Christoff, 51, was Colorado’s defensive coordinator from 1995-98, but didn’t coach last season after deciding not to follow Rick Neuheisel to Washington. . . . Miami quarterback Kenny Kelly, unhappy that he had to share playing time at the end of last season, might give up football to concentrate on baseball with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. . . . Mississippi freshman quarterback Eli Manning, son of former Mississippi and New Orleans Saint quarterback Archie Manning and brother of Indianapolis Colt quarterback Peyton Manning, was jailed briefly after his arrest last weekend in Oxford, Miss., for public drunkenness. . . . Former Mississippi State coach Bob Tyler was hired at Division III Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., where he will return to the sidelines for the first time in 22 years.

Miscellany

Lilia Osterloh, who replaced Australian Open champion Lindsay Davenport in the draw, upset second-seeded Mary Pierce of France, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the $1.08-million Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament at Tokyo. . . . James Weaver captured the pole for Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona Beach, Fla., the second year in a row the Dyson Racing Team has started from the inside spot on the front row. Weaver, last year’s winner and top qualifier, ran a fast lap of 126.889 mph in the inaugural event of the Grand American Road Racing Series.

Midfielder Cobi Jones and defenders Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney of the Galaxy were among 25 players selected for the U.S. roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. . . . Europe’s 14 biggest soccer teams want to get paid to release their players for national-team games, and they want the games scheduled only between mid-May and June and in the second half of October. . . . Finidi George and Julius Aghahowa scored as Nigeria advanced to the quarterfinals of the African Nations Cup by defeating Morocco, 2-0, at Lagos, Nigeria. . . . Ivory Coast’s soccer team left an army base where the military government had detained the players after their elimination from the African Nations Cup. The team had been held at Zambakro, about 20 miles east of the central capital Yamassoukro, since Tuesday. The government claimed it was for the team’s own “protection” from irate fans, but there had been no reported protests or threats.

Egyptian officials say a road rally from Dakar, Senegal, to the pyramids made a mess of the desert and are urging courts to hold organizers of the Dakar Rally responsible.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team will host No. 5 USC tonight at 7 in Pauley Pavilion in the 23rd annual Kilgour Cup.