Yankees’ Boone Is Injured

New York Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone injured his left knee playing basketball and might have to miss the baseball season.

Boone was hurt Jan. 16 and might have torn his anterior cruciate ligament. He was examined three days later by Angel team physician Lewis Yocum but the extent of the damage will not be known until swelling subsides. Boone has not been examined by Yankee doctors.

If there is a complete tear, he will require reconstructive surgery that could sideline him until 2005.

“We are currently evaluating the extent of the injury and expect to solicit multiple opinions before providing a complete diagnosis,” General Manager Brian Cashman said Monday.

The Yankees do not have a backup third baseman with full-time major league experience. Enrique Wilson and newly signed Miguel Cairo are options to fill the spot, as is minor leaguer Drew Henson.

Boone, 30, agreed Dec. 1 to a $5.75-million, one-year contract, and the agreement contained a clause saying it would not be guaranteed if he played basketball.

“Concerning his contract, I can confirm that there are certain prohibited activities, which include basketball,” Cashman said.

Boone is eligible for free agency after next season, so if the Yankees successfully converted the deal to a non-guaranteed contract, they could release him and be responsible for only 30 days’ termination pay, $917,553, instead of the full salary, which is paid over a 188-day season.

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Seattle Mariner closer Kazuhiro Sasaki was traveling from Japan to Seattle, where he is expected to terminate the final year of his major league contract.

“We understand he’s going to be showing up with his agent tomorrow morning to sign all the papers,” Mariner President Chuck Armstrong said.

Seattle’s saves leader is walking away from up to $9.5 million, saying he wants to remain in Japan with his wife and two children.

Pro Football

Tom Coughlin added another former Jacksonville assistant to his New York Giant coaching staff, hiring Kevin Gilbride as quarterback coach.

Gilbride spent the last two seasons as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator. He was Coughlin’s offensive coordinator with the Jaguars for their first two seasons.

Pat Flaherty, a former Rutgers assistant, was added as offensive line coach, Dave DeGuglielmo was hired as an assistant offensive line-quality control coach and David Merritt as defensive assistant-quality control coach.

Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson faces a restraining order and lawsuit brought by his former wife’s boyfriend, who accuses Johnson of threatening to kill him and “beat him to a pulp.”

John Mahannah Jr. obtained a restraining order in mid-January against Johnson, who was deactivated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers midway through the season. Mahannah’s attorney said the lawsuit was filed after an alleged assault by Johnson at a funeral.

Johnson’s attorney, Jerome Stanley, said he was not aware of a lawsuit.

Olympics

A synchronized swimmer will spend 90 days in a Sonora, Calif., jail after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a car accident that killed her boyfriend and a 12-year-old boy, but her jail term was postponed, allowing her to swim in this summer’s Athens Olympics.

Tammy Crow, 26, said in court Friday that she lost control of the car early on the morning of Feb. 16, 2003, as she was driving Brett Slinger, 12, and her boyfriend, Cody Tatro, 26, to Dodge Ridge to ski.

Crow will serve 90 days in the county jail, followed by three years of probation, for two counts of vehicular manslaughter. She will also pay nearly $23,000 to Slinger’s family. Tatro’s family did not seek restitution.

The U.S. Synchronized Swimming team, based in Indianapolis, said it could not comment on the case, or on Crow’s possible participation in the Olympics, until officials gathered more information.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes was added to the U.S. women’s basketball team that will compete in the Athens Games.