Galaxy’s Landon Donovan won’t go on loan to European team
Galaxy forward/midfielder Landon Donovan said Tuesday that he will not be going on loan to a team in Europe in January but instead will rest and recuperate for the 2011 Major League Soccer season that starts March 15.
At the same time, the Galaxy said that it expects midfielder David Beckham to report to preseason training at the end of January and not to be going on loan elsewhere, as Beckham had suggested Sunday night that he might try to do.
“We are not aware that David is looking to be loaned to any team and we are fully expecting he reports with the rest of his Galaxy teammates in late January for the upcoming season,” the Galaxy said in a statement released Monday.
On Tuesday, the club took the same line with Donovan.
“We think in the best interest of the club and the player that Landon continues his postseason break and begins preparations for what will be a challenging year in 2011 at both the domestic and international levels,” said Bruce Arena, the Galaxy’s coach and general manager. “We expect Landon to join our club for the start of preseason training next month.”
Donovan did not seem particularly upset by the development.
“While I enjoyed my time at Everton last season and still appreciate all the support their fans have given me, I feel that it is important to continue to rest and recover this offseason as opposed to going on loan,” he said.
“I never considered being loaned to a club other than Everton, but I have been playing nearly nonstop for the past two years, and I believe that this decision will allow me to perform at my best for the Galaxy and the national team throughout the coming year.”
-- Grahame L. Jones
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BASEBALL
Rich Harden is rejoining his first major league team.
The right-hander and the Oakland Athletics finalized a $1.5 million, one-year contract after he passed a physical. Harden went 5-5 with a 5.58 earned-run average in 20 appearances and 18 starts last season for the Texas Rangers. But he was designated for assignment after the regular season to give him his unconditional release after he struggled with injuries and control.
The Seattle Mariners traded catcher Rob Johnson to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Johnson had been designated for assignment by the Mariners on Dec. 13 after the Mariners signed designated hitter Jack Cust and needed a spot on the 40-man roster.
Johnson was Seattle’s opening day starter behind the plate in 2010 but his struggles at the plate eventually led to his demotion to Triple-A Tacoma. Johnson, 28, played in 61 games last season with Seattle, but hit just .191. He also struggled with an American League-high nine passed balls in less than a half-season.
The New York Yankees have been hit with an $18-million luxury tax on their major league-leading payroll. It was New York’s lowest tax since 2003. While the Yankees failed to repeat as World Series champions this year, they lowered their tax from nearly $26 million when they won the title last year.
The Boston Red Sox are the only other team that will have to pay despite having failed to make the playoffs. Boston exceeded the payroll threshold for the first time since 2007 and owes almost $1.5 million.
Reliever Bobby Jenks and the Red Sox finalized a $12-million, two-year contract.
The Milwaukee Brewers and infielder Craig Counsell have agreed to a $1.4-million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
ETC.
Tiger Woods had a cortisone shot in his right ankle a week and a half ago to relieve lingering soreness. By Tuesday, he was back to work hitting balls and filming a commercial.
Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said Woods had intended all along to have the shot after the Chevron World Challenge, which ended Dec. 5. Woods has nearly two months off before his next tournament at Torrey Pines.
“This was always the plan,” Steinberg said. “He’s looking at 2011 as a big year for him.”
At this year’s Masters, Woods revealed he ruptured the Achilles’ tendon in his right leg in December 2008 while recovering from knee surgery. Steinberg says it still causes soreness, prompting the cortisone shot.
Steinberg spoke in response to Internet chatter that Woods had torn his Achilles’ while skiing. He said Woods has not skied in more than three years.
The Houston Rockets have asked the NBA for a disabled player salary cap exception in the wake of Yao Ming’s season-ending ankle injury.
Yao has been out since Nov. 10, and the team announced last Friday that he had a stress fracture in his left ankle. The seven-time All-Star, who missed all of last season following reconstructive foot surgery, appeared in only five regular-season games this year before going down again.
The disabled player exception would allow the Rockets to acquire a free agent, or trade for a player without having to match salaries, up to the value of the midlevel exception (about $5.75 million).
Team spokesman Nelson Luis confirmed the Rockets’ decision on Tuesday, a request first reported by the Houston Chronicle. The NBA granted Portland a disabled player exception earlier this month after Greg Oden suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The league granted Houston the same disabled player exception for Yao in 2009, and the Rockets used that money (about $5.7 million) to sign swingman Trevor Ariza. Houston traded Ariza to New Orleans after one season as part of a four-team deal that brought Courtney Lee to the Rockets.
Austrian skier Marlies Schild flew down the Courchevel course in France to win her second World Cup slalom of the season, while overall leader Lindsey Vonn and rival Maria Riesch crashed out in their first runs.
Schild started the second run in second place behind Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen, but a faultless run at breathtaking speed — and with a painful shoulder — saw her finish in 1 minute, 34.95 seconds, putting her .78 ahead of Poutiainen.
It was the two-time Olympic slalom medalist’s 25th World Cup win. Schild won the slalom at Levi, Finland, last month.
Vonn, who won the downhill and super-combined last weekend in imperious style at Val d’Isere, hooked the tip of her ski round a gate having safely negotiated the trickier top section.
Vonn leads with 581 points as she chases her fourth straight overall title, three points ahead of Riesch. Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl stays third on 366.
Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in Zurich in the first of two exhibition matches between the world’s top two tennis players.
Federer sealed the victory on Nadal’s serve with a backhand crosscourt return in front of 10,000 fans at sold-out Hallenstadion arena.
This was the first time they have played each other in Federer’s home country. The match raised money for the Swiss star’s foundation, which backs educational work with children in Africa.
The two rivals will be in Madrid on Wednesday for a return match in the top-ranked Nadal’s home country in support of his foundation.
