Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon agree to deals with Tampa Bay Rays

Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are about to become teammates again, this time in Tampa Bay.

Both free-agent outfielders agreed to one-year contracts with the Rays, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press on Friday night. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreements were subject to physicals and had not been announced.

Damon gets $5.25 million and the chance to earn $750,000 in bonuses based on attendance, the person said. Ramirez gets $2 million.

The moves mark the first major additions for the American League East champions in an off-season in which one prominent player after another has left the team.

Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and Rafael Soriano signed elsewhere as free agents. Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett were traded. A strong bullpen was depleted by the losses of Joaquin Benoit, Grant Balfour, Dan Wheeler, Randy Choate and Chad Qualls.

Ramirez and Damon played together for four years in Boston and helped lead the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series title — ending the team’s 86-year championship drought. Both colorful characters are well past their primes, but if nothing else they could at least provide an attraction at Tropicana Field for a Rays team that drew just 1.86 million fans last year.

Ramirez, 38, began last season with the Dodgers, then was claimed on waivers late in the summer by the Chicago White Sox. He hit a combined .298 with nine homers and drove in 42 runs in the final season of a $45-million, two-year contract.

Damon, 37, spent last season with the Detroit Tigers, batting .271 with eight homers and 51 RBIs, mostly as a designated hitter.

MOTOR RACING

NASCAR appears headed to new points system

NASCAR President Mike Helton strongly indicated that the points system used since 1975 will be scrapped for a simpler scoring method.

“The goal for some time has been to create a points system that is easy to understand, easy to explain, easy to be talked about, but also be credible at the end of the season,” Helton said at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

The current system is a complicated formula that NASCAR says was drawn up on a napkin over drinks at a Daytona Beach bar in 1974. The AP reported this week that NASCAR is informing teams it wants a system that would award points based on finishing position, from 43 points to the winner to one for last place.

“We’re in the middle of the conversations, actually telling the competitors where our mind is,” Helton said. “The main goal is to get one that’s just easier to understand and simpler. And we’re close. We’re getting a lot of great input from the drivers about the tweaks that would go along with something like that.”

NASCAR Chairman Brian France is expected to announce any changes, including potential tweaks to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format, Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C.

ETC.

Armstrong says he will be vindicated

Lance Armstrong said he will be vindicated by a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency investigation of claims raised by a report in Sports Illustrated. Armstrong used Twitter to suggest that USADA could look into allegations published by the magazine this week.

“Great to hear that USADA is investigating some of SI’s claims. I look forward to being vindicated,” the seven-time Tour de France winner said.

Armstrong is competing in the Tour Down Under in Australia and has refused to comment on the Sports Illustrated report, other than to say he has nothing to worry about “on any level” from its claims. He would not speak to reporters after the fourth stage Friday and could not be contacted later in the evening.

Some of Barry Bonds’ former teammates, along with other retired major league players, will have to testify at the Bonds’ upcoming perjury trial, a federal judge said. Lawyers for Bonds argued at a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston that the players should be excluded because of their ties to Bonds’ former trainer Greg Anderson, who is refusing to testify against the slugger.

Illston previously barred much of the evidence relating to Anderson because of his willingness to go to prison on contempt charges rather than testify at the trial set to start March 21. Without his testimony, it could be impossible to prove that urine samples that purportedly tested positive for steroids had been collected from Bonds by Anderson.

Roger Clemens is asking a judge to dismiss his indictment on charges of obstructing a congressional investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. A motion filed Friday night by Clemens’ attorneys argues that the indictment is vague and contains too many separate accusations of lying in one count.

Padraig Harrington was disqualified from the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship after he failed to replace a ball that had moved a fraction of an inch when he picked up his marker during the opening round at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The three-time major winner was called in before the second round to review replays and accepted his disqualification after acknowledging his ball moved slightly on the seventh green.

Harrington was in second place after shooting a 65 on Thursday. A television viewer e-mailed European Tour officials to report an infraction. Under tour rules, the ball must be replaced if the coin causes it to move. A failure to do so results in a two-stroke penalty, and Harrington was disqualified for signing the wrong score after putting down a three.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer led by three strokes after two rounds. On a wet, gloomy day, Kaymer shot a seven-under-par 65 that put him at 12-under 132. He was followed by South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, who shot a 71. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell was a shot behind Schwartzel.

Russ Cochran had two eagles and six birdies in a career-best 10-under 62, taking the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii. He had a two-stroke lead over defending champion Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw.

An attorney representing former USC running back Stafon Johnson scheduled a news conference for Monday to announce the filing of a personal injury lawsuit against USC. Carl Douglas said the lawsuit will seek unspecified damages from USC and Jamie Yanchar, a former assistant strength and conditioning coach at USC.

Johnson was sidelined for nearly all of the 2009 season after suffering what doctors described as near-fatal injuries when a weightlifting bar carrying 275 pounds fell on his neck during a workout on campus Sept. 28, 2009. Johnson had multiple surgeries and therapy and was signed as a free agent by the Tennessee Titans after the 2010 NFL draft. But he suffered a season-ending ankle injury during a preseason game in August.

Johnson declined to comment about the lawsuit. A USC athletic department spokesman also declined to comment.

— Gary Klein

Midfielder Carli Lloyd gave the U.S. women’s soccer team the lead in the 11th minute, but Swedish defender Stina Segerstrom tied it six minutes later and midfielder Kosovare Asllani’s goal 15 minutes into the second half gave Sweden a 2-1 victory at the Four Nations Tournament in Chongqing, China. Sweden is one of the Americans’ three first-round opponents at the World Cup this summer.

“Our speed of play wasn’t good enough.” U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage said. “We need to get much better at moving without the ball. This game today tells us many things that we need to work on, but I am confident that we have enough time.”

The U.S. plays Canada on Sunday.

— Grahame L. Jones

Lindsey Vonn finally put together an error-free run and posted her fifth victory of the season in a super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The American sped down the Olympia delle Tofane course in 1 minute 11.66 seconds.

Overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic won the super-G at Kitzbuehel, Austria, for his fifth World Cup victory in less than three weeks. The Croatian finished his run on the challenging Streifalm course in 1:17.33.

American Ashley Caldwell, 17, earned her first freestyle World Cup medal on her home hill, winning gold Friday in the aerials competition at Lake Placid, N.Y. Qi Guangpu of China won the men’s event.

Washington rewarded Coach Steve Sarkisian with a new five-year contract after he led the Huskies football team to its first bowl game since 2002. The deal guarantees Sarkisian $12.75 million through 2015.