Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants reach preliminary deal

Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants avoided a potentially divisive salary arbitration hearing, reaching a preliminary agreement Friday on a $23-million, two-year contract that gives the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner a huge raise.

The sides had been scheduled for a hearing Friday, and the lean right-hander with a high leg kick and stringy hair had asked for an arbitration-record $13 million. The Giants offered $8 million to the two-time All-Star, eligible for arbitration for the first time after making $650,000.

Lincecum gets a $2-million signing bonus, $8 million this year, $13 million in 2011 and the chance to earn performance and award bonuses. The agreement is subject to a physical.

On Jan. 19, the same day proposed arbitration figures were exchanged, Lincecum agreed to pay $513 to resolve marijuana charges against him in Washington state. He originally faced two misdemeanor charges of marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession stemming from a traffic stop on Oct. 30. The charges were reduced to a civil infraction.

Frank Thomas announced his retirement following a 19-season career in which he hit 521 homers and won two American League most-valuable-player awards with the Chicago White Sox. The five-time All-Star didn’t play last year.

PRO FOOTBALL

Goodell’s extension

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been given a new five-year contract as the league heads into a key period of labor negotiations that could lead to a work stoppage in 2011.

Goodell replaced Paul Tagliabue on Sept. 1, 2006, and his contract was due to expire this September. The NFL said Friday that owners voted to award the new contract when they met in December, and his new deal runs until March 2015.

“We’re going into a major negotiation. It will be very difficult probably in many ways, and we want to have someone who has his own views, who’s going to have to make some hard decisions that maybe some of us won’t like,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said.

JURISPRUDENCE

Deposition date is set

Michael Michaels, a former would-be sports marketer who reached an out-of-court settlement with Reggie Bush in 2007, is scheduled to be deposed on March 5 as part of his former partner’s civil suit against the New Orleans Saints running back.

Attorney Brian Watkins, who represents Lloyd Lake, said that Michaels’ deposition date was set and that he was still trying to schedule depositions for Bush, his mother and stepfather and former USC coach Pete Carroll, among others.

Lake is suing Bush for nearly $300,000 that he alleges he gave the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner while he was playing for USC in 2004 and 2005.

-- Gary Klein

GOLF

Tiger skips Match Play

Rampant speculation on Tiger Woods’ returning to golf at the Match Play Championship ended quietly when the PGA Tour released its 64-man field minus the No. 1 player.

Woods did not meet the deadline for entering the Match Play Championship next week in Arizona, the tournament where he made his comeback a year ago from knee surgery.

The first round of the Champions Tour’s ACE Group Classic at Naples, Fla., was suspended because of high winds.

CYCLING

Tour route announced

The final leg for the eight-stage Amgen Tour of California this year will be coming home in a sense, starting and ending in Thousand Oaks, where the race’s title sponsor is based, AEG announced Friday.

The largest cycling event in the U.S will be held May 16-23 and again has a top field, including Lance Armstrong and three-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer.