Washburn Joins the Mariners

Former Angel Jarrod Washburn and the Mariners agreed to a four-year, $37.5-million contract Monday, giving Seattle the proven starting pitcher it had been seeking.

The 31-year-old left-hander was 8-8 with a 3.20 earned-run average in 29 starts for the Angels last season. He is 75-57 with a 3.93 ERA during his eight-year major league career, all with the Angels. He has won more than 11 games only once, finishing 18-12 in the Angels’ 2002 World Series championship season.

“There’s no question in my mind this team is going to be good,” Washburn said.

Catcher A.J. Pierzynski and the Chicago White Sox agreed to a three-year, $15-million contract, avoiding salary arbitration.

Signed after one year in San Francisco, Pierzynski, 28, helped the White Sox win their first World Series since 1917 last season. He committed one error -- none in his final 119 games -- and batted .257 with a career-high 18 home runs and 56 runs batted in .

The Oakland Athletics agreed to a one-year, $2.4-million contract with left-hander Joe Kennedy, avoiding salary arbitration. Kennedy, acquired from Colorado at the All-Star break last season, was 4-5 with a 4.45 ERA in 19 games with Oakland.

Ryan Freel, 29, avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $3-million deal with the Cincinnati Reds. He batted .271 with 36 steals last season.... The Philadelphia Phillies completed last week’s trade of pitcher Vicente Padilla by acquiring right-handed pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez, 27, from Texas.... Signaling that he might not have the votes for approval, Washington Mayor Anthony Williams asked the District of Columbia Council to delay consideration of a lease agreement for his proposed Nationals stadium on the Anacostia River waterfront.

MOTOR RACING

Andretti Is Expected

to Return to Driving

Michael Andretti will announce today that he will drive in next year’s Indianapolis 500, after a two-year absence, according to the Associated Press.

His team won this year’s race with driver Dan Wheldon, who also won the 2005 championship but said last month he was leaving to drive for Target Chip Ganassi Racing next season. The Andretti Green team also will announce that Marco Andretti, Michael’s 19-year-old son, will run the Indy Racing League schedule in the car vacated by Wheldon.

Formula One champion Fernando Alonso agreed to join the McLaren-Mercedes team, beginning in 2007. Alonso, 24, won seven races with Renault last season, becoming the youngest champion in F1 history as he ended the five-year reign of Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.

GOLF

Majority of the Field

Set for 2006 Masters

Most of the field for the 70th Masters was set when the final world ranking of the year was published. Invitations were extended to 99 players, although eight are former champions who are not planning to compete, including Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Fourteen players are set to make their debuts, including Sean O’Hair, Tour Championship winner Bart Bryant and Augusta, Ga., resident Vaughn Taylor.

Stewart Cink (No. 27) and John Daly (No. 29) became the first Americans in three years to earn a trip by finishing among the top 50 in the world.

Among those who finished outside the top 50 were Stephen Ames (No. 51) and Paul Casey (No. 52). Six players who won PGA Tour events are not yet eligible, including Brad Faxon and Jason Gore.

The final field will be determined March 27.

SOCCER

Heinrichs Hired as Irvine Women’s Coach

April Heinrichs, coach of the U.S. women’s national team for five years, was hired as women’s coach at UC Irvine.

Henrichs, who led the U.S. to the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics and compiled an 87-17-20 record from 2004 to 2005, stepped down in February to be a consultant for U.S. Soccer.

Ronaldinho won his second straight FIFA world-player-of- the-year award for his play with Brazil and FC Barcelona, earning 956 points to beat out England’s Frank Lampard (306) and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o (190) in a poll of national team coaches and captains.

Birgit Prinz of Germany won the women’s award for the third straight year. She got 513 points to finish ahead of Marta (429) of Brazil and American Shannon Boxx (235).

Players on the U.S. team will receive a minimum bonus of nearly $200,000 apiece for advancing to the second round of next year’s World Cup under an agreement that will allow each to earn almost $750,000 if the Americans go unbeaten and win the tournament.

The U.S. Soccer Federation and the national team’s labor union completed a contract in New York that covers the next two World Cups and runs through 2010. Bonuses will rise by 50% from 2002.

JURISPRUDENCE

Mesi Cleared by Judge

to Return to Boxing

Heavyweight Joe Mesi, 32, sidelined since suffering bleeding on the brain after a March 2004 bout, has won a chance in Las Vegas to return to the ring.

Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon ruled in a lawsuit against the Nevada Athletic Commission that Mesi’s medical suspension expired when his Nevada boxing license expired last Dec. 31.

Mesi was 29-0 and the World Boxing Council’s top-ranked contender when he was sidelined after a unanimous decision over Vassiliy Jirov.

He said he would go to Puerto Rico to train for a comeback fight.

MISCELLANY

Stiff Italian Doping Laws

to Remain for Olympics

Doping will remain a criminal offense during the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, allowing for possible police raids on the athletes’ village.

No changes were made to Italy’s tough drug laws after weeks of negotiations with Italian officials and the International Olympic Committee.

Italian law calls for criminal prosecution of sports doping offenders. Under IOC rules, athletes can be disqualified and stripped of their medals but not be charged with a crime.

Martina Hingis, 25, will return to tennis at a WTA hard-court tournament in Royal Pines, Australia, on New Year’s Day.

Hingis, who won five Grand Slam events before she retired in 2002 because of injuries, also hopes to play as a wild-card entry in the Australian Open.