Blue Jays choose John Farrell as manager

Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos had interviewed 18 candidates for the manager’s job and still couldn’t make up his mind.

In the end, Anthopoulos picked the person he’d felt a bond with right from the start: Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell.

Farrell, 48, was chosen to succeed Cito Gaston, who retired after the season ended. It will be Farrell’s first managerial job.

Anthopoulos declined to reveal the length of Farrell’s contract or other terms of the agreement.

Farrell was Cleveland’s player development director for five years and Boston’s pitching coach the last four seasons.

The New York Yankees fired pitching coach Dave Eiland, the first move in what should be a busy off-season after a disappointing loss in the American League Championship Series.

General Manager Brian Cashman would not divulge a reason for letting Eiland go after his third year as the team’s pitching coach. Cashman says the decision was his and the reason is private.

Eiland was away from the team from June 4 to June 29 to deal with a personal matter.

ETC.

U.S. group to examine swimmer’s death

USA Swimming says it will open its own investigation into the death of open-water swimmer Fran Crippen at a World Cup event in the United Arab Emirates.

The governing body of swimming in the United States said it will examine exactly what happened to Crippen, why it happened and what can be learned to prevent such a death from happening again.

Crippen, a 26-year-old from suburban Philadelphia, died Saturday during a 10-kilometer race. He failed to finish and was found in the water two hours later, about 400 meters from the finish, organizers said.

The president of FINA, the sport’s world governing body, said Sunday that “overexertion” led to Crippen’s death.

The UCLA and USC women’s basketball teams were picked to finish second and third in the Pacific 10 Conference behind Stanford in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

The Bruins, who return four starters from the team that went 25-9 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, have not been picked this high since they were predicted to win the Pac-10 during the 1999-2000 season.

—Ben Bolch

The Chicago Bulls exercised the fourth-year contract option on All-Star guard Derrick Rose and third-year options on two forwards, Taj Gibson and James Johnson.

By exercising the options, the three players will be under contract with the Bulls for the 2011-12 season.

Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Martell Webster will miss the next four to six weeks to recover from back surgery.

A Nevada judge has postponed until Jan. 24 a trial for boxing trainer Roger Mayweather on felony charges that he attacked a female boxer at an apartment he owned.