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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins have agreed with right-hander Mike Pelfrey on an $11 million, two-year contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal, filling another spot in their revamped, veteran-heavy rotation. Logan Ryan Patriots Jersey . The contract was reached over the weekend, pending a physical, the person told The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity because the team had yet to finalize the deal. Pelfrey made $4.1 million last season in a one-year deal with the Twins, including $100,000 in a performance bonus for surpassing 150 innings in his first season back from elbow ligament- replacement surgery. He made only three starts for the New York Mets in 2012 before the injury, but he recovered in time for 2013, taking the mound at Target Field on April 4 just 11 months after the operation. Pelfrey picked up the win that day in his American League debut, but the rest of the year was rough, not an uncommon occurrence for pitchers following Tommy John surgery. Pelfrey finished 5-13 for a 66-96 team, with a 5.19 ERA and 53 walks in 152 2-3 innings. Opponents batted .300 against him over 29 starts. The Twins, though, took an opportunity to buy relatively low and bank on an improvement by a former first-round draft pick who made at least 31 starts for the Mets for four straight seasons from 2008-11. He was 15-9 with a 3.66 ERA over a career-high 204 innings in 2010 with only 12 home runs allowed. Pelfrey still posted a personal-best strikeout rate of six per nine innings, despite his struggles. The soon-to-be-30-year-old is on track to be the Twins fourth starter. Minnesota previously signed right-handers Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes for the top of the rotation, bringing its newly committed money for starting pitching this off-season to $84 million guaranteed over the next four seasons. Kevin Correia, the best of a bad bunch last year, is the only holdover who appears to have a spot. The first four starters will have an average opening-day age of 30. Samuel Deduno, Scott Diamond, Kyle Gibson and Vance Worley, for now, are the front-runners for the final slot. Twins starters had a majors-worst 5.26 ERA last season. Chris Jones Jersey . United released a statement saying Mata will move for a club-record fee "subject to a medical and the agreement of personal terms." Although United didnt give any further details, the club this week made a bid of 37 million pounds ($61 million) for Mata, which would eclipse the 30. Will Smith Jersey . Mata had already been dropped from Spains squad once this season and with the country blessed with so many playmakers, he was in real danger of being overlooked for the trip to Brazil to defend their title. PORTLAND, Ore. -- The semifinal victory over the rival Seattle Sounders was barely over when Portland Timbers supporters started chanting "Beat Salt Lake!" Making their first trip to the playoffs, the Timbers held off the late-charging Sounders 3-2 Thursday night to advance to Major League Soccers Western Conference final. The Timbers, who won the semifinal series against the rival Sounders 5-3 on aggregate, will face Real Salt Lake in the first of the two-leg conference final on Sunday in Salt Lake. RSL defeated the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 Thursday night to win the series 2-1 on aggregate. "Now were locked in," Timbers midfielder Will Johnson said. "Were in the zone." The victory extended Portlands winning streak at Jeld-Wen Field to 16 games. The Timbers went 11-1-5 at home in the regular season with their lone loss on March 9 to Montreal. They had an MLS record 11 shutouts at home this season. Portland pressured Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning from the start. Rodney Wallace booted a shot that went just wide in the third minute, and Darlington Nagbe came close but went wide again in the 15th. Portland broke through when Johnson converted a penalty kick in the 29th minute to go up 1-0. Diego Valeri, who had appeared to injure his shin when he was fouled hard by Seattle defender Marc Burch, came back a few minutes later to score from a seemingly impossible angle just before the break. Valeri, who blew kisses to the crowd after his goal, was Portlands top scorer this season with 10 goals and 13 assists. "We were hoping to get out of the first half at 0-0," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "That one coming right before halftime, the goal right before halftime, the goal right after halftime, is what killed us at the end of the day. For the first 45 minutes, hats off to them, they were much better than us." Futty Danso added a header for Portland in the 47th minute. The Sounders put up a fight, and DeAndre Yedlins goal in the 74th minute avoided the shutout. Eddie Johnson aadded another three minutes later to close the gap. James Develin Jersey. The Sounders have been to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons. The Timbers, who joined MLS in 2011, are making their first trip. "Were getting closer," Portland coach Caleb Porter said. "And this team genuinely believes we have a realistic shot at this." The intense rivalry between the two clubs dates to 1975 when both were part of the North American Soccer league. For nearly a decade the teams have battled with the Vancouver Whitecaps for the supporter-created Cascadia Cup. While it was sweet to defeat the Sounders, Johnson said the Timbers didnt pay much attention to the hype. "To us, it was just another team that was in our way of getting to the next round," Johnson said. In the opening game on Saturday in Seattle, Ryan Johnson flicked in a header early in the first half and Nagbe added a goal in the second for the Timbers. Osvaldo Alonso scored late for the Sounders, who needed to win Thursday by at least two goals to become the fourth team to accomplish the comeback since the league went to the two-leg, aggregate-goal format for its conference semifinals in 2003. Seattle was without forward Lamar Neagle due to yellow card accumulations, but Yedlin started despite an ankle injury and forward Obafemi Martins was listed as a reserve after struggling with a groin injury. The Timbers finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference at 14-5-15 overall. Their 23-point improvement from last season is the biggest turnaround in MLS history. The Sounders, who were 15-12-7, defeated the Colorado Rapids in the knockout round to advance to the semifinals. Schmid said he was aware that some Seattle supporters were calling for a coaching change. "I dont want to walk away. I know theres probably people out there that would like me to walk away," he said. "I think theres a good base of talent, theres a good base of people we can work with next year, but theres improvements, and theres changes we have to make." cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
