Agent for Rodriguez will wait to start contract talks

The agent for Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez won’t start detailed discussions with teams until the winter meetings open in Las Vegas on Dec. 8.

Paul Kinzer doesn’t expect the marketplace to get busy for another 10 days.

“I’ll probably see the Mets at the winter meetings. I don’t have anything else planned,” he said Wednesday.

After saving a major league-record 62 games last season, Rodriguez is seeking a five-year contract averaging about $15 million per season.

Kinzer wouldn’t identify any of the other teams he spoke with. He doesn’t expect Rodriguez to reach an agreement in the next week or two.

--

Kinzer said another one of his clients, shortstop Rafael Furcal, has not been contacted by the Dodgers in the last week.

Furcal, who met with Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane and Manager Bob Geren this week, intends to narrow his choices to two teams by Monday or Tuesday, according to his agent.

The San Francisco Giants are among the “three or four” teams still courting Furcal, Kinzer said.

Of the Dodgers, Kinzer said, “We haven’t written them off, but . . . I don’t know.”

-- Dylan Hernandez

SOCCER

Liverpool among three to advance

Five-time winner Liverpool, Italian champion Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid joined 10 other qualifiers for the last knockout phase of the Champions League.

Steven Gerrard headed Liverpool’s winner in a 1-0 victory over Marseille and Atletico Madrid edged PSV Eindhoven, 2-1, in the other Group D game.

Inter Milan was beaten 1-0 at home by Panathinaikos but still qualified despite winning only one of its three home games.

--

The Galaxy lost midfielder Peter Vagenas to Seattle Sounders FC in the Major League Soccer expansion draft.

--

Ivan Gazidis, the deputy commissioner of MLS, is leaving to become the chief executive of Arsenal, one of the top teams in the English Premier League.

ETC.

Connors charged in altercation

Tennis great Jimmy Connors has been charged with a misdemeanor in connection with an altercation last week before a basketball game between UC Santa Barbara and top-ranked North Carolina. Connors, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, was charged in Santa Barbara Superior Court with disrupting campus activities and refusing to leave a university facility.

His business manager, Karen Scott, said a man tried to pick a fight with Connors and his son before Friday’s game and police asked him to leave. Scott said Connors was arrested after he said he wanted to wait for his son to finish watching the game.

Scott said Connors was “extremely disappointed and embarrassed” about the incident.

--

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Microsoft Corp. have ended a two-year marketing partnership. The collaboration led to only one major project -- a website geared toward children and teens that was launched in 2007 during All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. James’ site at lebron.msn.com has been shut down and lebronjames.com is also vacant.

--

A former University of Illinois gymnastics coach has been charged with secretly videotaping a gymnast in a campus locker room. John Valdez, who coached Justin Spring at the Beijing Olympics, was charged with one count of unauthorized videotaping, Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said.

The charge is a Class 4 felony and carries a potential sentence of one to three years in prison. Valdez resigned from the university in October, citing personal issues.

--

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will open the 2009 ATP season by playing at the Qatar Open.

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick will also take part in the hard-court tournament, which begins Jan. 5.

--

Armand “Bep” Guidolin, who at 16 became the youngest player to skate in an NHL game and later coached Bobby Orr, died of a stroke in Barrie, Canada. He was 82.