Veteran infielder Jose Iglesias has agreed to terms on a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres, a source confirmed to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez amid multiple reports.

The contract includes an invitation to major league spring training. He will make $3 million in 2025 if he makes the major league roster.

Iglesias, 35, sparked the New York Mets on and off the field last year on their run to the National League Championship Series.

On the field, he hit .337 with four home runs and 26 RBIs and became the Mets' starting second baseman in September and the playoffs after Jeff McNeil fractured his wrist. After signing a minor league contract with the Mets last offseason, he was called up on May 31 and helped spark a turnaround for the club, which was 10 games under .500 at the time.

Off the field, his hit song "OMG" was embraced in the Mets' clubhouse and by the team's fans. The Mets even had an "OMG" sign in the dugout to celebrate big moments.

A veteran of 12 seasons, Iglesias is a career .283 hitter and has 51 home runs and 392 RBIs.

Emma Raducanu will begin a trial period with Slovakian coach Vladimir Platenik when she plays her first-round match at Indian Wells on Thursday.

The 49-year-old was coaching Lulu Sun when the New Zealand qualifier beat Raducanu in the fourth round of Wimbledon last July.

Platenik worked with compatriot Dominika Cibulkova when she reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2009, and has also coached Russians Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova.

Loughborough Academy coach Tom Welsh agreed to join Raducanu for Indian Wells, but that was billed as a one-off arrangement.

Raducanu, who has been without a permanent coach since Nick Cavaday stood down for health reasons after January's Australian Open, plays Japan's Moyuka Uchijima in her opening Indian Wells match.

"I don't want to rush into anything, but I'm looking, I'm finding options and setting trials up," Raducanu, 22, told BBC Sport before the tournament.

"I think once I have a structure in place, I will feel very set - whereas in the Middle East it was very difficult for me because I didn't really have any direction or [advice on] which tournaments to play, and it was very difficult doing it all on my own.

"I'm that kind of person who needs a plan and needs preparation. That's what I'm building and that's making me feel more comfortable."

Raducanu has won just one match since Cavaday's departure but also had to deal with a man who followed her to four tournaments before being issued with a restraining order by Dubai Police.

South African back row James Venter will join Gloucester from Durban-based Sharks ahead of next season.

The 28-year-old began his career at Lions in Johannesburg before moving to Sharks in 2020, where he has made 46 appearances.

"I'm pleased to have signed for Gloucester Rugby next season. I was really impressed by the vision the club has for the future, and I'm looking forward to playing my part in that," Venter told Gloucester's website., external

"I've heard amazing things about Kingsholm and the incredible support from the fans. That played a huge role in my decision to move to England. I can't wait to experience it all first-hand."

Gloucester are third in the Premiership table, level on points with fourth-placed Leicester Tigers.

They visit leaders Bath when the league returns after the completion of the Six Nations on Saturday, 22 March.

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus says he will make use of assistant Felix Jones' new knowledge of England and their northern-hemisphere rivals, but denied the Irishman's short-lived stint at Twickenham was part of any deliberate ploy.

Jones won back-to-back Rugby World Cup in South Africa's set-up before joining up with England as defence coach in January 2024.

However, he quit after only seven months and his return to South Africa's staff was announced last week.

"I don't want people to think it was at all a plan to get him over there and come back again," said Erasmus.

"We all hoped for him that it would work out and I can't comment on why it didn't work out at England. But getting him back is fantastic, because we never wanted to lose him."

Jones previously had a remit with South Africa that focused on attack and core skills, but Erasmus says the 37-year-old's time concentrating on defence in a different environment would make him an even greater asset to the Springboks.

"Obviously Felix will have learned a lot and we would love him to share some of those things with us," he added.

"We do think there are little things we have missed where we can do better and Felix is going to play a pretty vital role in that. There is not one coach who didn't send me a list of things that he wants Felix to be involved with in in his department."

Fraser Dingwall says playing in a familiar backline surrounded by four Northampton Saints team-mates will make his England return "more special".

Dingwall is set to make his first Test appearance in more than a year after being selected at inside centre for Sunday's Six Nations match against Italy at Allianz Stadium.

The 25-year-old won his first two caps in England's opening wins over Italy and Wales in last year's tournament, but Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence had started together in the centres for the past 13 games.

Dingwall will replace Slade to partner Lawrence in midfield and says he is excited to join a backline which includes Northampton half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith and wingers Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme.

"It's really cool for two reasons," Dingwall, who won the Premiership with Northampton last season, told BBC Sport.

"From the rugby side, we have great connections and I hope I can add to the good stuff they have all been doing.

"But also because those guys are my mates, so to be able to do it with them just makes the whole occasion more special.

"It's a nice reflection for the club as well in what they have been doing and how there are a lot of people developing because the club has had success in recent times."

Marcus Smith's shift to the bench represents a dramatic downsizing of his role in just a few months.

Initially afforded an opportunity by injury to George Ford, he started all three matches in England's summer tour of Japan and New Zealand at fly-half and continued in the role throughout the autumn.

However, he was shifted to a full-back role after England's opening Six Nations defeat, with the hope he could combine his dangerous broken-field running from back field with the ability to step in as an additional playmaker alongside novice fly-half Fin Smith.

Daly scored the decisive late try with a well-timed run in England's win over France and appeared off the bench again in the victory over Scotland, but has not started a match at full-back for his country in four years.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Marcus enter the field when there are potentially some tiring defenders and maybe a bit of space," said Borthwick.

"We had a conversation about the role I was asking him to play this week and he has trained wonderfully well.

"It's a sign of the calibre of person and the character Marcus is. He is a brilliant rugby player and I've talked about him being a game-changer.

"I'm looking forward to seeing him come on and break open some part of Italy's defence.

"Elliot Daly has done well and had a real positive impact off the bench in the last couple of games and he has been terrific in training.

"Now it's Elliot's time with Marcus coming from the bench and it's a really good position to be in."

Lawrence and Slade have been England's 12-13 combination for the past 13 games - a run that stretches back to Dingwall's last start against Wales in February 2024 - however both play the majority of their club rugby at outside centre.

Dingwall has been deployed in both roles but was Northampton's first-choice inside centre in their run to the Premiership title last season.