MADRID (AP) — Vedat Muriqi scored his ninth goal in nine La Liga games as Mallorca beat Sevilla 4-1 to leapfrog its rival and escape the relegation zone on Monday.

Muriqi’s first half penalty put Mallorca ahead and continued his rich vein of form. The 26th-minute strike was his sixth this year and his 15th of the season. It keeps him second in the league goalscoring chart, seven behind Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé.

Neal Maupay leveled for Sevilla on the stroke of halftime but Mallorca took control again soon after the break.

Samú Costa put Mallorca ahead after great work from Jan Virgili on the left wing and 20 minutes later Muriqi helped to set up Sergi Darder to make it 3-1.

Pablo Torre added a fourth in stoppage time to give Mallorca its first four-goal haul of the season and end Sevilla’s encouraging run of four undefeated games.

Sevilla fell to 15th place, just two points above the relegation zone. Mallorca was 14th.

Only four points separate the teams from ninth to 18th in a hyper-competitive mid-table.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Former Cincinnati Reds star Eugenio Suarez is current Cincinnati Reds star Eugenio Suarez, or will be when the ink on his $15 million deal goes dry. The two sides reportedly reunited on Sunday evening, and we’ve spent the last day excitedly wondering just how things are going to shake out as a result.

Suarez, of course, is a 3B by trade, a move decided upon by the Reds back in the day after the former shortstop showed he was much more suited for a role at the hot corner. That’s the role in which he was playing when the Reds signed him to his most recently completed contract back in early 2018, too, meaning this Reds club is pretty much the only team that’s ever talked him into signing big-dollar contracts in his career.

So, there’s already a ton of understanding between the two, something that’s clear given that the Reds other most recent big-money move was to acquire fellow 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes from Pittsburgh last trade deadline and have him on the books through at least 2029 for $36 million. Hayes, who is perhaps the best defender at any position in the sport, is going to defend the hot corner more often than not, so for Suarez to agree to this deal with Cincinnati means there had to be some air-clearing about his role on the upcoming squad.

That will likely be as the DH most days, with the idea that maybe, just maybe, he’ll get time at 3B and 1B here and there (barring an injury that renders all of this moot). That’s a plan that sounds eerily similar to that of top prospect Sal Stewart, too, though Stewart – who has reportedly lost 20 lbs since the end of last season – may end up getting some run at 2B, too. That’s a lot of 1B overlap already, of course, though neither Suarez nor Stewart has ever truly played there much at all – and that’s all despite resident 1B regular Spencer Steer still very much being on the roster, too.

While that seems like a logjam, let’s put some of that into context by using the 2025 Reds and how they shook out under manager Terry Francona.

For one, Gavin Lux has already been dealt away, and he got 57 starts at DH, 23 between 2B/3B, and 49 in LF. He logged 503 PA across all of those spots that someone else is going to get to eat into. It’s also easy to forget that Santiago Espinal (328 PA), Miguel Andujar (110 PA after coming over at the deadline), Austin Hays (416 PA), and Jake Fraley (193 PA) all factored into the equation at corner infield and corner outfield positions.

Connor Joe got 70 PA! Rece Hinds got 44! Christian Encarnacion-Strand somehow got 137 PA last year despite that feeling, in hindsight, more like about 15. The team also somehow managed to get Blake Dunn, Garrett Hampson, Jacob Hurtubise, Tyler Callihan, and Ryan Vilade a combined 115 PA, and that’s all after we easily forget the 91 PA given to Jeimer Candelario before he was mercifully let go.

A full season of Hayes, who got 178 PA after coming over, will consume a good portion of that. A full season at the big league level from Stewart will, too. Still, it seems quite likely that we’ll see Steer effectively assume the role vacated by Lux offensively while also providing better defense than the former at just about every position they both play. That could well lead to new acquisition JJ Bleday sitting on the bench a lot more than we thought he might all of two days ago, but considering he’s a reclamation project (who still has a minor league option), that’s not exactly a bad thing – if anything, it means that a reclamation project brought in by the Reds will now actually have to show he’s worth being reclaimed before simply being handed the role, something that wasn’t at all the case with the likes of Hays, Wil Myers, and others in recent years.

The hope, obviously, is that the Geno that mashed with Arizona (and who mashed with the Reds the first time around) is who the Reds just signed for the 2026 season. And, if that’s the case, there’s a path to 600+ PA for him without truly impeding anyone who will be better than him offensively in the process. If, for whatever reason, he’s more of the guy who struggled in the awful hitting environment in Seattle, though, the Reds have baked-in a whole lot of extra, quality depth to make sure Suarez’s struggles wouldn’t be enough to singlehandedly sink the Reds ship.

Yeah, there’s a lot of overlap on-paper here. As Steer’s shoulder, TJ Friedl’s wrist and hamstring, Hays’ everything, CES’s wrist, Matt McLain’s oblique/shoulder, and Fraley’s hammies will attest to, having that kind of overlap when you plan to embark upon playing baseball at the highest level every single day for seven months is a very good thing to have. And now, the Reds have the best bubbles in the business squarely in the middle of it all.

This has been a pretty eventful offseason so far for the Pittsburgh Pirates but with many big name free agents still on the market the Pirates are positioned to be a team that can snag one more player before the season starts.

Now that we are in February the market for a lot of these free agents are starting to collapse. You could also see prices drop for some of these players and that is where the Bucs could make their move.  

General manager Ben Cherington has said he wants to do short-term commitments, mid-tier dollars, real upside acquisitions. He does not want to be splashy or reckless. Here are a couple of names that represent opportunities that don’t come along often for a franchise that rarely spends a lot of money.

The Pirates’ biggest roster hole remains painfully obvious: right-handed power, particularly at third base.

Eugenio Suárez, proven 30-homer bat, would have been a huge help. But he went to a division rival instead.

But another piece that would make the offense a whole lot scarier is 35 year old Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna was linked to Pittsburgh in December, but nothing came from that. He is a proven bat and an older veteran player so it shouldn’t be an expensive move especially if he is signed to a short term deal. He hit 21 homers last year and has 100 total dingers his last three seasons combined.

There are also still plenty of pitchers that the Pirates can target for pretty cheap. Relief pitchers like Daniel Coulombe, Scott Barlow and Justin Wilson could also bring much needed depth to the bullpen. While none of those pitchers would be absolute game changers, they would all still make a really good impact on the team. 

Lastly Jose Quintana who was with the Pirates for the 2022 season would be a good fit added to the starting pitching rotation. Quintana just finished last season with the Milwaukee Brewers where he had a 11-7 record and a 3.96 ERA. 

Pittsburgh needs innings and some more stability alongside starting pitchers like Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones. They could sign him to a relatively expensive one year deal and have him be the fourth or fifth pitcher in the rotation and that would make the Pirates one of the deeper starting pitching rotations in the league.

These are all players the Pirates could still target as we get later and later into free agency. With a lot of their markets closing up too, the prices for them could be cheaper than it was in the beginning of free agency. 

In April 2025 — nearly 11 months before the 2026 World Baseball Classic — Mets superstar Francisco Lindor proudly declared his intention to participate in the triennial tournament. Lindor would serve as Puerto Rico’s team captain, an honor he carried during the 2023 event. But the 2026 edition would have added significance for Lindor, with Puerto Rico set to host WBC games in San Juan for the first time since 2013.

But on Friday, less than a week before the WBC roster announcement coming Thursday, news broke that Lindor had been denied the necessary insurance coverage due to a “cleanup procedure” on his right elbow that he underwent following the 2025 MLB season. The issue isn’t expected to hamper Lindor in spring training or beyond, but it was significant enough to preclude his participation in the upcoming WBC.

Predictably, that revelation unleashed a torrent of fury in Puerto Rico, where locals were eager to see their island’s biggest sporting star shine on home soil. The Lindor news came days after the team’s second-biggest draw, Astros infielder Carlos Correa, also failed to secure coverage for reasons related to his injury history. The same was true for a handful of other supplementary players on Puerto Rico’s roster, including José Berríos and Victor Caratini.

Those unforeseen absences left Puerto Rico’s roster dangerously undermanned and elicited a drastic response from the head of Puerto Rico’s Baseball Federation, José Quiles. In an interview conducted Friday, Quiles threatened to withdraw the entire team from the event if certain insurance decisions weren’t overturned.

Sources with knowledge of the situation told Yahoo Sports that it is extremely unlikely that Puerto Rico backs out, as doing so would lead to significant, lasting sanctions from the WBSC, baseball’s global governing body. However, according to other reports, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and high-ranking MLB Players Association officials have begun lobbying the insurance company to review an unknown number of decisions.Their involvement seems to have precipitated the overturning of some lower-profile denials, but it remains to be seen if the league and union have the sway to greenlight stars such as Correa and Lindor.

This entire saga has thrust the World Baseball Classic’s arcane insurance policies into the spotlight. During an MLB season, all players on a team’s 40-man roster play on guaranteed contracts, meaning they get paid regardless of injury. The World Baseball Classic is a different story.

In order to protect MLB clubs in case of player injury, the WBC organization takes out insurance policies on the contracts of all 40-man-roster players participating in the tournament. If a player gets hurt while playing for his country, the MLB team in question receives financial compensation for any time missed. This dynamic became relevant during the 2023 tournament, when Mets and Puerto Rico reliever Edwin Díaz tore the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating a save in the WBC and missed the entire MLB season. Also, Astros and Venezuela second baseman José Altuve suffered a thumb fracture when he was hit by a pitch and was on the shelf for nearly two months.

National Financial Partners handles the requests for insurance coverage on a case-by-case basis, evaluating whether a player’s injury history is “low-risk,” “moderate” or “chronic.” The “chronic” label means a higher threshold for approval and applies to any player who fits any of the following criteria, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez:

1. Spent at least 60 days on the injured list during the previous season

2. Injured for two of their team’s final three games the previous season

3. Underwent at least two surgeries over the course of their career

4. Underwent surgery following the previous season

A new provision also stipulates that players 37 or older are ineligible for coverage. That rule will likely prevent Dodgers World Series hero Miguel Rojas from suiting up for Venezuela, though it’s unclear whether he would have made the country’s final roster.

Both Lindor (elbow surgery after the 2025 season) and Correa (multiple career surgeries) qualify as “chronic” players. In addition, their relatively large contracts likely played a significant role in NFP’s decision, making it more difficult for their insurance to get approved.

As one person with inside knowledge explained it: “The insurance company is insuring the contract, not the player.” That’s likely why Lindor, with six years and $204.6 million left on his deal, was declined, while an oft-injured player such as Byron Buxton (three years, $45.4 million) was approved. Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is approved to hit in the tournament but won’t pitch, as his two elbow surgeries would’ve made it nearly impossible for him to get the necessary insurance.

Players who fail to get insurance have four options: (1) Don’t participate. (2) Waive insurance and risk forgoing salary in the event of injury. (3) Pay for insurance themselves. (4) Receive a waiver from their MLB club. The fourth option is rarely used, but it did occur in 2023, when a depleted version of future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera hoped to play for Venezuela ahead of his final MLB season. His insurance was predictably declined, but the Detroit Tigers took on the risk, agreeing to pay his salary regardless of possible injury.

More often than not, an uninsured player simply sits out the tournament. That’s what happened in 2023 with since-retired Dodgers hurler Clayton Kershaw. The future Hall of Famer had committed to play for Team USA but changed course after his insurance was denied. His unexpected absence left the 2023 pitching staff without an ace, which played a role in both of the team’s defeats in the tournament. 

Motivated by that frustrating experience, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa adopted a more proactive approach when crafting his roster this time around. Notably, Team USA has focused its recruitment efforts on players more likely to get approved for insurance. That might be why, for instance, Mike Trout, a crucial character in 2023, is unlikely to compete in 2026. It could also help explain why Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper, despite having announced his participation on social media, has yet to be included on MLB’s page of participating players.

Total clarity is unlikely before the official roster announcements on Thursday. Even so, Puerto Rico’s omissions aside, most of MLB’s best players are expected to appear in next month’s tournament. That includes nine of the top 10 players in MLB Network’s recently released Top 100 Player Rankings (José Ramírez is the only exception), an uptick from 2023, when seven of the top 10 appeared in the WBC.

It’s a reminder that despite recent rancor, the event has only continued to grow in popularity among players. The consensus top two pitchers on Earth, Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes, are both playing for the first time. So, too, are the game’s top two hitters, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto, owners of the two largest contracts in MLB history, will also suit up for the Dominican Republic.

None of that, however, will be any solace to Puerto Rico. Lindor is a generational talent at his professional peak, one of the greatest players in the island’s long and storied baseball history. He currently ranks fifth all time in bWAR among players born on the island; the four legends ahead of him — Roberto Alomar, Iván Rodríguez, Carlos Beltrán and Roberto Clemente — are all Hall of Famers.

The void created by Lindor’s absence in the WBC cannot be filled, leaving Puerto Rican ball fans feeling understandably aggrieved. And nobody, it seems, is at fault. In this instance, there is no obvious villain to blame. Just a sense of disappointment. 

The tournament rolls on regardless.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The NFL will look into New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and his association with Jeffrey Epstein after his name showed up more than 400 times in files released by the U.S. Justice Department regarding Epstein.

“Absolutely we will look at all the facts,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday. “We’ll look at the context of those and try to understand that. We’ll look at how that falls under the (league personal conduct) policy. I think we’ll take one step at a time. Let’s get the facts first.”

Tisch said last week he knew Epstein and that they “exchanged emails about adult women” and “discussed movies, philanthropy and investments.” But Tisch, 76, denied going to Epstein’s island and was never charged in the investigation.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

The documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Habib Diarra turned in a decisive first half performance to set Sunderland on its way to a comfortable 3-0 win over struggling Burnley in the Premier League on Monday.

The midfielder signed from Strasbourg last summer scored one and had another deflected into the net during a commanding first half, and Chemsdine Talbi completed the scoring for the Black Cats.

Sunderland’s unbeaten home run was extended to 12 games — a record for a promoted side — and the team moved above Fulham and Everton into eighth place in the table.

There was a healthy dose of fortune about Diarra’s ninth-minute opener, as his right-foot shot took a nasty deflection to wrong-foot Burnley goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. The touch was later given as an own goal by Axel Tuanzebe, making him the 12th player in Premier League history to score three own goals for three different clubs (Manchester United, Ipswich Town and Burnley).

However, there was nothing lucky about Diarra’s second, which he fired from almost exactly the same position 23 minutes later. Dubravka got a hand to the fierce shot but could not stop it.

Talbi added the third after cutting in from the left and unleashing a superb shot.

Burnley did not have a shot on target and ended the night second-to-last in the table.

Scott Parker’s men have not won in 15 league games since October. The Lancashire side was seven points clear of last-placed Wolves but five behind West Ham and nine adrift of fourth-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Postgame press conferences for head coach JJ Redick have begun to sound like something of a broken record.

While this could apply to multiple aspects of the Lakers as currently constructed, this time, it’s regarding their shooting. On Sunday, the Lakers had their latest stinker from beyond the arc in their loss to the Knicks, finishing 12-42 from the 3-point line with five of those makes coming from Luka Dončić.

After the game, it was a sentiment that Redick has echoed before this season: They got good looks, but couldn’t knock them down.

“I thought we got good looks,” Redick said. “The defense in the first half in our zone, we played 23 possessions of it, held them to 19 points. Did enough throughout the game to play to win at the end. But, yeah, the shooting, their shooting killed us and our shooting didn’t help us.”

One of the benefits of having Luka and even this version of LeBron James is the open looks they can create. For years, the simple formula to building a contender was surrounding LeBron with four shooters, a memo that seemingly never made its way to Rob Pelinka.

Now, though, the Lakers are creating open looks. And yet, since LeBron’s return, the Lakers are shooting 33.4% on open looks, classified by NBA as the closest defender being between 4-6 feet away, which ranks in the middle of the road. On wide open 3-pointers, where the defender is further than six feet away, they are 37.4%, 10th-worst in the league.

Compare that to the Knicks, who shoot 40.8% on wide open threes (fourth in the NBA) and 35.9% on open looks (seventh) and you can see why Sunday’s game played out the way it did.

“Obviously, 3-point shooting, we couldn’t consistently make shots from the perimeter,” LeBron said. “And then extra possession. They kicked out for [threes] and knocked them down. I think that was the game right there.”

You wouldn’t fault LeBron for having that approach and mindset because, in theory, if you create open looks, they should eventually fall. Except the players on the Lakers getting those open shots aren’t shooters stuck in a slump. They’re players who aren’t shooters.

After Luka and Austin Reaves, the player with the most three-point attempts is Marcus Smart at 4.8 per contest, just one tenth of a point below his career average. He’s shooting 32.6% from range, marginally above his 32.4% career mark.

Gabe Vincent, a career 34% 3-point shooter, is shooting 37% this season, though I doubt many are clamoring for him to get more playing time. Any hope of Jarred Vanderbilt magically finding a 3-point shot is gone as his 30.3% mark this year is a tick above his career mark of 29.2%.

Jake LaRavia and Rui Hachimura are the only outliers on opposite sides. Rui has blossomed into a legit laser from range while LaRavia is having the worst season of his career from range.

Outside of that, though, these Lakers are, more or less, shooting exactly as they’d be expected to shoot based on their career. This is not an issue of the Lakers being in a slump. This is an issue of the Lakers being a team of non-shooters.

With that context in mind, many of Redick’s and LeBron’s comments ring hollow. It’s not their fault. They should believe in the team and, in theory, creating open looks is the best chance for winning.

However, this team is not one that will knock down those shots, leaving the Lakers hoping for shooting improvements that will never come.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

The Seattle Mariners are closing in on a deal to acquire All-Star infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-team trade that also involves the Tampa Bay Rays, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. 

Per the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, the Mariners are sending pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje to the Cardinals and third baseman Ben Williamson to the Rays in return.

Donovan is a former Gold Glove winner who can play multiple positions in the infield and outfield. A four-year MLB pro, he has spent his entire career with the Cardinals and made his first All-Star team last season.

In 118 games in 2025, Donovan slashed .287/.353/.422 with 10 home runs, 50 RBI and 64 runs scored while frequently hitting leadoff. He has played 118-plus games in three of his four MLB seasons and has never played fewer than 95.

Donovan joins a Mariners team looking to build on its 2025 AL West championship and trip to the ALCS, in which it lost in seven games to the Toronto Blue Jays.

[Get more Mariners news: Seattle team feed]

The Mariners lost slugging third baseman Eugenio Suárez in free agency to the Cincinnati Reds. But Donovan will join a lineup that features All-Stars Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena and finished ninth in runs scored last season. 

Donovan could replace Suárez at third base. He offers the Mariners a versatile glove that can fill in at multiple positions, in addition to a reliable bat that can hit near the top of the order.

What the Cardinals, Rays are getting in the deal

Per MLB.com, Cijntje was the No. 7 prospect in the Mariners’ system and the No. 90 prospect in all of baseball. He’s a switch pitcher who’s expected to pitch as a right-hander in the majors. It’s not clear when he’ll be ready to pitch for the Cardinals.

Williamson, 25, split his time between the Mariners and the minor leagues last season. He played in 85 Mariners game in his first season of big-league action, slashing .253/.294/.310 with 1 home run, 21 RBI and 36 runs scored in 295 plate appearances. He could join the Rays’ lineup this season. It’s not clear from reports what the Rays are giving up in the trade.

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