Fast Break
Baseball
Mariners give Bedard a raise
Pitcher Erik Bedard and the Seattle Mariners agreed Tuesday to a $7.75 million, one-year contract that gave him a raise of $750,000 and avoided salary arbitration.
Hours after Bedard’s agreement Tuesday morning, reliever Aaron Heilman and the Mariners agreed to a one-year deal for $1,625,000.
The moves came one day after star right-hander Felix Hernandez got a $3.8 million, one-year contract to avoid arbitration, so Seattle did not have a player go to an arbitration hearing for the sixth consecutive year.
Bedard, eligible for free agency after the 2009 season, is recovering from surgery on his pitching shoulder in September. He went 6-4 with a 3.67 ERA in 15 starts in his abbreviated first season with the Mariners.
•The Mariners acquired right-handed reliever David Aardsma from the Boston Red Sox for a minor league pitcher. It gives Seattle a full, 40-man roster less than a month before pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
The 27-year-old Aardsma pitched in a career-high 47 games last season. He was 4-2 with a 5.55 ERA, with 49 strikeouts in 482/3 innings. A strained right groin had him on the disabled list twice from July into September. Seattle sent 20-year-old Fabian Williamson to Boston.
College athletics
Stanford ponders staff, sports cuts
Stanford’s athletic department is projecting a $5 million loss in revenue over the next three years and is considering cutting staff and eliminating some sports teams, the Associated Press learned.
The school is expected to decide in the next 30 to 60 days on staff cuts, a Stanford employee familiar with the budget issues told the AP on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss the shortfall.
The person also said it wasn’t clear which teams, if any, would be considered for elimination – and it likely wouldn’t be until next season at the earliest in the fall.
“That’s the last thing they want to consider. They don’t want it to affect student-athletes,” the person said, noting another department was looking to eliminate 50 positions from a staff of about 140.
Reducing travel costs also was being discussed.
Stanford has 35 sports teams, 19 for women, 15 for men and one coed squad.
Awards
Whitworth sweep a conference first
For the first time in league history, Whitworth athletes swept the weekly athletes of the week honors for the Northwest Conference.
Sophomore guard David Riley and sophomore post Liz Horiatis were named the basketball players of the week. Sophomore Michael Woodward and freshman Jennifer Benson collected the honors for swimming.