Chicago Cubs slugger Cody Bellinger declined his end of a $25 million mutual option for 2024 on Friday and will test the free-agent market coming off a bounce-back season.

The 2019 NL MVP, Bellinger is in line for a huge payday after hitting .307 with 26 homers and 97 RBIs. It was quite a turnaround for a player cut by the Los Angeles Dodgers in November after being limited by injuries and experiencing a drastic decline on offense.

The Cubs signed Bellinger to a $17.5 million, one-year contract, and he helped them stay in playoff contention until late in the year. Chicago finished second in the NL Central at 83-79 after consecutive losing seasons.

Bellinger had a $12.5 million salary this year and gets a $5 million buyout.

The Cubs declined their end of a $5 million mutual option on veteran right-hander Brad Boxberger. He receives an $800,000 buyout.

Boxberger was limited to 22 relief appearances because of a strained right forearm and finished with a 4.95 ERA this season. He had a $2 million salary.

White Sox decline Hendriks option

The Chicago White Sox declined their $15 million club option on closer Liam Hendriks.

The White Sox also said right-hander Mike Clevinger had declined his $12 million mutual option. Veteran outfielders Clint Frazier and Trayce Thompson were outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.

Hendriks is owed a $15 million buyout that will be paid in 10 equal installments from 2024-33. Clevinger receives a $4 million buyout.

Hendriks, a 34-year-old right-hander, returned in May after beginning the season on the injured list to continue his treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

He could miss the 2024 season after he had surgery in August to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Miley declines option

Left-hander Wade Miley declined his part of a $10 million mutual option for 2024 with the Milwaukee Brewers, as first reported by MLB.com, making him a free agent.

Miley went 9-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts this season to help the Brewers win the NL Central title. He struck out 79 and walked 38 in 120 innings.

Miley, who turns 37 this month, gets a $1 million buyout. He had a $3.5 million salary this year and earned a $500,000 bonus for innings pitched.

Turner declines option with Red Sox

Justin Turner declined his $13.4 million player option with the Boston Red Sox

Turner signed as a free agent with the Red Sox last offseason, and hit .276 with 23 home runs.

Also, Boston declined right-hander Corey Kluber's club option. The veteran starter made just nine starts in his only season with Boston, sporting a 7.04 ERA.

Carpenter, Lugo make decisions

First baseman Matt Carpenter exercised a $5.5 million option for 2024 in his contract with the San Diego Padres, and reliever Seth Lugo declined a $7.5 million player option.

Carpenter signed a two-year deal last offseason that guaranteed $12 million. The first baseman/designated hitter batted .176 with five homers and 31 RBIs, down from a .315 average with 15 homers and 37 RBIs in 47 games when he revived his career with the New York Yankees in 2022.

A three-time All-Star with St. Louis from 2011-21, the 37-year-old Carpenter has a .260 career average with 175 homers and 644 RBIs.

Lugo, a 33-year-old right-hander, had a $7.5 million salary with San Diego this year and earned $1.25 million in performance bonuses based on starts. He was 8-7 with a 3.57 ERA in 26 starts.

Lugo was with the New York Mets from 2016-22 and has a 40-31 career record with a 3.50 ERA.

Marlins' Soler hits market

Outfielder Jorge Soler opted out of the final year of his contract with the Miami Marlins to become a free agent, giving up a $13 million salary for 2024.

The 31-year-old Cuban agreed before the 2022 season to a three-year contract guaranteeing $36 million.

Soler hit .269 with 36 homers and 75 RBIs this year, becoming a first-time All-Star. This was his best season since he had an American League-high 48 homers and 117 RBIs for Kansas City in 2019.

Tigers decline retiring Cabrera's option

The Detroit Tigers declined their $30 million option of retiring star Miguel Cabrera and will pay an $8 million buyout that completes a $292 million, 10-year contract.

Half of the buyout is deferred without interest.

A 12-time All-Star and four-time batting champion, Cabrera is a two-time AL MVP. In 2012, he became the first AL Triple Crown winner since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

Narváez sticking with Mets

Mets catcher Omar Narváez exercised a $7 million player option for 2024 rather than become a free agent.

Narváez hit .211 with two homers and seven RBIs as a backup to rookie Francisco Alvarez. The 31-year-old had an $8 million salary in 2023.

An eight-year major league veteran, Narváez has a .255 average with 53 homers and 198 RBIs for the White Sox (2016-18), Seattle (2019), Milwaukee (2020-22) and the Mets. He was an All-Star with the Brewers in 2022, when he hit .266 with 11 homers and 49 RBIs.

Athletics' Rucinski to hit free agency

Drew Rucinski's $5 million option for next season was declined by the Oakland Athletics, allowing the right-hander to become a free agent.

The 34-year-old missed the start of the season with a strained left hamstring, then was 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in four starts in a season cut short on May 15 by a stomach illness. He had a $3 million salary.

Rucinski is 4-8 with a 6.25 ERA in a five-year big-league career that included time with the Los Angeles Angels (2014-2015), Minnesota (2017) and Miami (2018). He pitched in South Korea with the NC Dinos from 2019 to 2022.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Saracens lock Nick Isiekwe has signed a new long-term contract with the club.

He has made 133 appearances for the club since his debut at the age of 18 in 2016, and has 11 caps for England.

"This team took a chance on me at 13 years old and I am truly blessed to be able to call it my home for the future years to come," he said.

"It's a blessing to be able to do what we love, and to do it with a team that you love is amazing, so long may it continue."

Director of rugby Mark McCall added: "Nick is hugely respected by everyone at the club and his resilience and courage to return from heart surgery was truly inspiring.

"He has a deep connection to the club, having started his journey in our pathway at the age of 14. We are thrilled he has committed his future here."

Wales arrived in New Zealand three weeks ago full of confidence off the back of another successful Six Nations campaign.

Things appeared to look good and they had every right to target two wins in their debut WXV1 tournament - most likely against Canada and Australia - with the other game against world champions New Zealand.

But what unfolded was a sobering reminder of the gap that still exists between Wales and the world's top teams as they continue to develop into a professional outfit.

They conceded 137 points over three games - albeit with 70 of those coming against the Black Ferns.

Wales showed glimpses of their potential - as they have done since contracts came in almost two years ago - but they are yet to find that elusive 80-minute performance which would claim a big scalp.

Discipline and taking chances were once again key themes in defeat.

Canada, a team Wales played in a friendly last summer, were first up in Wellington.

Wales went toe-to-toe with last year's World Cup semi-finalists for 40 minutes before losing the physical battle in the second half which left the final score an unflattering 42-22.

Then followed the demolition in Dunedin, where Wales conceded a record 70 points against New Zealand who ran in tries for fun, with Ruby Tui alone scoring four inside the first half. It was a harsh lesson on how to play expansive rugby.

Wales then set their sights on Australia, a team similarly ranked to them and a team they only just lost out to in last year's World Cup. It was another impressive first-half display and they should have put the game to bed when Australia had a player red-carded and another sent to the bin, but it was Wales who leaked the tries in a 25-19 defeat.

It was a disappointing end to a campaign which promised so much but ended with Wales finishing bottom of the table. They will get another shot at it again next year with no demotion from tier one for the first two years, unlike WXV2 and WXV3.

"Naturally it's disappointing having three losses, but for me we're going to take far more learnings from being in this competition than possibly winning by 40 or 50 points in another competition," said Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham.

"This is where we need to be, they are harsh lessons at the moment but it's the right direction for the next World Cup [in 2025].

"It's been a challenge but we've stayed strong as a group and we'll be better for it."

When asked if he was still the man to lead Wales, Cunningham added: "There's no question. I love this team, I love working with everyone who's part of this team and there's still a lot for me to achieve with this team."

Wales captain Hannah Jones said they were "obviously gutted with the result".

"We talked about being relentless and that definitely showed towards the end. A few decisions didn't go our way, but when we have opportunities we have got to take them at this level.

"We want to be in this tournament, we don't want to be in tier two where we could be smashing teams, so we will take our learnings from this and look forward to the next tournament."

Full-back Jasmine Joyce reiterated what her team mates had said since they arrived in New Zealand.

"I think it really does prove that we deserve to be in this WXV1," she said.

"We've given everything to that performance and we left our bodies on the line there. Some decisions didn't go our way and they [Australia] were a very good side.

"We gave absolutely everything and it is really disappointing to come off with a loss."

The squad will have a couple of days to pick themselves up before making the long journey back to Wales, where they will disperse and head back to their clubs for the domestic season - most being in the English Premiership.

For six of the players their club Worcester Warriors no longer exists after its sponsor pulled out, so it remains to be seen what their future holds.

Wales signed off 2023 with a loss, but they cannot be too disappointed in a year where they secured three Six Nations wins and an all-time highest world ranking of sixth.

Roll on 2024.

Leicester Tigers will stage men's and women's home league games in a double-header at Welford Road for the first time on Sunday, 3 December.

Tigers women will then face local rivals Loughborough Lightning in the rebranded Premiership Women's Rugby (17:30 GMT).

The teams have shared a double bill before, but not for two league games.

In November 2022, the men's team played an Italian select XV before the women set a record for the highest attendance in any domestic rugby fixture outside the Premiership - 3,523 for the Championship North derby against Loughborough.

A record attendance for an England Women's match was previously set at Welford Road in the 2021-22 season when 15,836 turned out to see the Red Roses beat Ireland in the Six Nations.

That has now been superseded by the 58,498 who attended the England-France Grand Slam decider at Twickenham in April.

Two tries from the prolific Johnny Matthews helped Glasgow Warriors to victory over United Rugby Championship leaders Stormers at Scotstoun.

Glasgow had to withstand long spells of pressure in a second-half that ultimately ended pointless.

The win moves Glasgow up to second in the table behind the Stormers.

The last meeting between these sides back in January was one of the most enthralling encounters of the season, with Glasgow snatching a dramatic 24-17 victory in the final play. This match never quite burst into life in the same manner.

The home side, looking to bounce back after last weekend's defeat by Connacht in Galway, made promising early breaks through Matthews and Sebastian Cancelliere, but the only points of the opening quarter came courtesy of a penalty from Stormers centre Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

The game was meandering along a bit lifelessly until Tuipulotu ghosted through a midfield move to cruise in untouched and dot down under the posts.

It was not along until Glasgow were over again, Matthews doing what he does best by finishing off a powerful rolling lineout maul.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu's boot was keeping Stormers within touching distance, that was until Matthews powered over again in the last play of the half to open up an 11-point advantage.

The Stormers came out with renewed vigour after the break and battered away at the Glasgow line, but some superb Warriors defence kept the South Africans out.

The game had descended into a scrap with dropped balls all over the place and while the Stormers looked to be running out of ideas, Glasgow were also unable to string together any meaningful attacks.

Warriors finally found some field position from which to apply some pressure late in the game but could not fashion an opening that would have brought their fourth try and with it the bonus point.

That may well be a source of frustration for head coach Franco Smith, but his side are back to winning ways and next up is a trip to Wales to take on Ospreys next Saturday.

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith on Viaplay: "The amount of opportunities we created [was a positive]. Disappointed we couldn't get the fourth try but our guys really stayed in the fight. I feel there were a lot of the same errors as last week, but now we go on to the next game."

Glasgow Warriors centre Sione Tuipulotu on Viaplay: "It's nice to come home and we got a win against a pretty decent side. We didn't have to do much defending tonight because the forwards really stood up, especially at set piece. There's still a lot to work on and hopefully we can kick on."

Glasgow Warriors: Smith, Cancelliere, Tuipulotu, McDowall, Rowe, Jordan, G Horne, Kebble, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Peterson, Gray, M Fagerson, Darge, Vailanu.

Replacements: Fraser, Bhatti, Sordoni, Cummings, Samuel, Venter, Dobie, Weir.

Stormers: Gelant, Davids, Loader, Mngomezulu, Zas, D du Plessis, Jantjies, Vermaak, Dweba, Fouche, Dixon, Van Heerden, Engelbrecht, Roos, Morabe.

Replacements: Venter, Gqoboka, Harris, Smith, Porter, Theunissen, Ungerer, Blommetjies.

Former Inter Miami manager Phil Neville is poised to make a return to MLS, after talks with the Portland Timbers to take their vacant head coaching role reached an advanced stage, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The Athletic was the first to report the news.

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If the deal to bring Neville on board is completed, he'll replace Gio Savarese, who was fired on Aug. 21.

The Timbers were managed on an interim basis by Miles Joseph for the rest of the season, a period in which they went 5-2-2, and narrowly failed to qualify for the postseason.

Sources confirmed that Neville was in the running for other MLS managerial vacancies.

Neville, 46, was hired by Miami in 2021 with the backing of former club teammate and Miami co-owner David Beckham. After two-and-a-half seasons in charge, Neville was fired by Miami earlier this year with the team bottom of the Eastern Conference, with a record of 5-10-0.

The Herons had endured a spate of serious injuries during the front half of this season, including to midfield pair Jean Mota and Gregore, and also endured league sanctions from violating roster rules during the 2020 season. These included having their salary budget reduced by $2.27m over two seasons.

With Lionel Messi set to arrive, and with his former club and national team manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino available, Neville was cut loose. His overall league and playoff record in Miami was 31-42-11.

Neville had considerably more success with Miami in 2022, leading them to the playoffs, where they were eliminated by New York City FC in the first round.

Neville had previously managed the England women's national team from 2018-21, leading the Lionesses to the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup.

After his departure from Inter Miami, Neville joined the staff of the Canada men's national team, where he assisted during the 2023 Concacaf Nations League and 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup.

As a player, Neville enjoyed a stellar career with Manchester United and Everton. With the Red Devils, Neville was part of one UEFA Champions League triumph, six Premier League titles and three FA Cups.

German soccer club Mainz terminated the contract of Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi on Friday following his social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.

The announcement by Mainz came two days after El Ghazi disputed the club's version of events when it lifted an earlier suspension. German news agency dpa reported Friday that prosecutors in the city of Koblenz were also investigating.

Mainz originally suspended El Ghazi on Oct. 17, saying he had posted and then deleted a message about the war that the club deemed "unacceptable."

On Monday, the club said his suspension was lifted and that he would receive a reprimand. Mainz said that followed talks with the management and that El Ghazi "regrets publishing the post and also was remorseful about its negative impact." The club added that the player "also stated that he does not question Israel's right to exist."

However, in a further social media post on Wednesday, El Ghazi indicated that the club had issued its statement without his permission.

"I do not regret or have any remorse for my position," the player wrote. "I do not distance myself from what I said and I stand, today and always until my last breath, for humanity and the oppressed."

The 28-year-old El Ghazi, who previously played for PSV Eindhoven, Aston Villa and Everton, joined Mainz as a free agent in September. He made three appearances as a substitute for the team, which is last in the Bundesliga.

In response to Mainz saying that his contract was terminated Friday, El Ghazi posted: "The loss of my livelihood is nothing when compared to the hell being unleashed on the innocent and vulnerable in Gaza."

Inter Miami CF have agreed a deal with Grêmio's Luis Suárez, sources told ESPN in Uruguay.

As confirmed last month by his current coach at Grêmio, Renato Gaúcho, Suárez, 36, will depart the Porto Alegre-based club at the end of the Brazilian Serie A season in December despite being only halfway through the two-year contract he signed in December 2022.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The one-year deal with an option to renew for a second year has been agreed upon with Miami and all that remains is to sign the contract, sources told ESPN.

Suárez -- Uruguay's all-time top scorer with 68 goals in 137 appearances for La Celeste -- is Grêmio's leading scorer this season, with 10 goals and 10 assists in 31 league games.

The two-time Serie A champions, who were relegated in 2021 only to bounce back one year later, sit third in the table, three points behind leaders Palmeiras with seven games remaining.

Rumors about a potential Suárez move to South Florida began circulating over the summer when Suárez admitted the high demands of the Brazilian league were taking a toll on his body, especially his knees.

He had meniscus surgery on his left knee in 2014 while with Liverpool and a similar surgery on his right knee in 2020 as a Barcelona player.

Along with Lionel Messi, Miami signed fellow former Barcelona stars Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba in the middle of its season.

Suárez spent six seasons playing alongside that trio at Camp Nou from 2014 to 2020, winning four Spanish La Liga titles and the 2015 UEFA Champions League.

Last month, Inter Miami coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino confirmed his club's continued interest in signing the veteran striker.

"When the moment arrives to make Suárez's situation with respect to Inter Miami official, we'll be prepared to go in the corresponding direction," he said.

LA Galaxy have parted ways with Mexico striker Javier "Chicharito" Hernández after the expiration of his contract, the MLS club announced on Friday.

"We are grateful to Javier for his dedication and contributions to the LA Galaxy," said head coach and sporting director Greg Vanney in a press release. "In four seasons with the Galaxy, Javier was a passionate leader for our club on and off the field. We wish him all the best moving forward."

Hernández, who had not played for the Galaxy since June due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, will now be a free agent. Shortly before the announcement from his now former club, the 35-year-old released a "thank you" message to the Galaxy on social media.

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A post shared by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (@ch14_)

Arriving to much fanfare in 2020, Hernandez earned 82 appearances for the Galaxy and collected 39 goals and six assists. Despite being given two MLS All-Star appearances (2021, 2022) and two LA Galaxy Player of the Year awards (2021, 2022), the Designated Player was unable to help revive the club that failed to qualify for three of the last four editions of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Before his injury over the summer, Hernández struggled in 2023 with one goal in 12 appearances in all competitions.

At the national team level, Hernandez is Mexico's all-time leading goal scorer with 52 goals. Although he hasn't made an appearance for El Tri since 2019, the striker remains open to a return to the national team after stating that he had a conversation with former Mexico coach Diego Cocca in March.

Before playing for the Galaxy, Hernandez starred for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham United, Sevilla and Chivas, where he was an academy product in Guadalajara.