Outfielder Pedro Leon, who dominated Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2018 before defecting, is expected to sign with the Houston Astros for around $4 million when a new international signing period opens July 2, sources tell ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel.

Leon, 21, would be one of the class's highest-paid players.

Leon mostly played corner outfield in Cuba and has hit for power in games, but is reputed to have above-average speed, a plus arm and plus raw power as a right-handed hitter. While a roster at his workout on Wednesday listed him at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, one scout estimated Leon to be 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds.

Scouts didn't get to see Leon's reputed power on display during the workout at the Giants' Dominican academy as they were told he'd already reached a deal with a team.

Leon was cleared as a free agent in December, but delayed his open workout due to an oblique injury. Scouts say he previously has dealt with a shoulder injury as well.

Cuban prospects have to wait to negotiate with clubs until after their first open workout for all 30 teams, or after they are cleared to be a free agent. Sources said Leon worked out privately for the Astros at their facility recently and the club was able to collect valuable data using advanced technology such as bat sensors and radar-based technology like TrackMan that other clubs weren't able to collect on Wednesday.

Almost all of the seven-figure talents in the 2020 signing class have already committed to other clubs and Houston has most of its signing pool available, allowing it to pay a high price for Leon. He is eligible to sign now as part of a team's 2019 class, but most of the money in teams' bonus pools has already been spent, so it was expected he'd wait until the pools reset for the 2020 class.

Many top players will verbally commit to deals with clubs as much as three years before they are eligible to sign and often all of the top-tier players are locked up by 18 months before signing day. The wild cards are Cuban players who defect and enter the market late, along with players who emerge later in the process.

Cuban right-hander Norge Vera is another prospect who worked out for clubs this week and he'll likely wait until 2020 to sign. Cuban shortstop Yiddi Cappe also hit the market when most of the 2019 bonus money was spent and has long been rumored to sign with the Marlins for a multimillion-dollar bonus in July. Cuban outfielder/left-handed pitcher Oscar Colas is another Cuban player of note who defected recently, but he hasn't scheduled a workout or been cleared to sign as of yet.

Former Astros manager AJ Hinch isn't dismissing the idea that Houston's 2017 World Series championship has been tainted by the sign-stealing scandal that cost him his job.

"It's a fair question," Hinch said in an interview with MLB Network. "And I think everyone's going to have to draw their own conclusion."

Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for one season by commissioner Rob Manfred, who found Houston illicitly used electronics to steal signs during its title run. Team owner Jim Crane then fired both Hinch and Luhnow.

In an excerpt from an interview set to air Friday night, Hinch defended his players' talents but said the clubhouse put itself in a position where its achievements might be blemished.

"I hope over time, it's proven that it wasn't," he said. "But I understand the question. ... Unfortunately, we opened that door."

Manfred's report noted the cheating was "player-driven" and that Hinch did not support it, but also said Hinch didn't share that disapproval with players. Hinch said he was unsure how much the sign stealing might have helped.

"Unfortunately, no one can really answer that question," he said. "I can't pinpoint what advantages or what happened or exactly what happened otherwise. But we did it to ourselves."

Hinch apologized in a statement the day of his firing, but Astros players -- given immunity and thus not punished as part of MLB's investigation -- have been reluctant to say they were sorry. Speaking at baseball's owners meetings Thursday, Manfred said he was not disappointed no players had apologized.

"I think the jury's still out on exactly what the Houston players are going to say," he said, pointing toward spring training as the possible time and place for contrition.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – The Solid Rock Carriers CARS Late Model Stock Tour has announced its Touring 12 class for the upcoming season.

The 12 drivers and teams will compete full-time on the tour during the upcoming season. The 2020 class features seven returning drivers from last season, including defending series champion Bobby McCarty, and five new faces.

Joining McCarty as part of the Touring 12 are Josh Berry, Layne Riggs, Brandon Pierce, Mini Tyrrell, Ronald Hill, Deac McCaskill, Nolan Pope, Jared Fryar, Tyler Matthews and Chad McCumbee.

In addition, the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour has also announced that Lucas Oil will serve as the title sponsor of the Touring 12 program through a multi-year deal.

“Lucas Oil is proud of this new partnership with the CARS Tour and being a big part of the Touring 12 program. We haven’t partnered with too many pavement short track touring series, so this is a big program for us,” said Duane LaFleur, Business Development of High Performance. “At Lucas, we have a full line of products that CARS Tour teams can use not just in their racecars, but in their personal vehicles as well. Lucas Oil is a product that is found at many retailers in the market area that the CARS Tour host events in, that’s a big plus for us. We are excited about making this program work.”

The selection process considered multiple factors, including CARS Tour team loyalty, marketability, future development of the CARS Tour and its fan base, and the ability to fulfill the Touring 12 guidelines throughout the season. Twenty-four different teams applied for the program this year.

“I can’t even begin to explain how hard to was to fill these spots for the Touring 12 program in 2020,” said CARS Tour Owner, Jack McNelly. “Never have we had so many, with such talent, apply for the program. I think that lays some pretty impressive groundwork on what we look forward to this season.”

All teams that are not a part of the Touring 12 program in 2019 will be eligible for the Loyalty Bonus Program. Any team that competes in three consecutive races at any time on the schedule will receive a $500 bonus added to their purse check after the third race. In addition, any team that competes in every event on the schedule will receive an additional $500 bonus at the season finale at South Boston Speedway.

INDIANAPOLIS — As always, the obituaries told you what the man did, but not enough about who he was.

That is how it goes with highly accomplished people. Their lives get compressed into bullet points, and when they die, we squeeze the best of those bullet points into a few column inches.

Bill Simpson accomplished plenty. Across 60 years in the racing-safety arena, he pioneered drag parachutes, brought Nomex suits to Indianapolis and tangled with sanctioning bodies. As a driver, he progressed from crude dragsters to the starting grid of the 1974 Indy 500. He is enshrined in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That’s some obituary.

But Simpson was more than that. Depending on the hour, he could be quarrelsome or sentimental, wild or reasoned, profane or tender. He was something auto racing used to have plenty of, before we began losing them to “professionalism” and marketing and old age. He was a character.

Simpson died on Dec. 16, having suffered a major stroke. He’d recovered from a couple of lesser stokes, dating back to last March. He’d get tired and he’d trip over a word or two, but he looked good and said he felt fine. I figured we’d have him around for a while yet. Wrong.

Not long ago, he told me the kind of story in which he specialized. Because he’d dealt with so many racers, from Formula One to midgets, Simpson knew every eccentric in the sport, so he had a library of crazy tales. This one was from his Indy car days, when he was still living in his native California.

He was on his way to see a friend about some engine work. The fellow operated out of a garage beside his Los Angeles home, machining this and grinding that, in the company of his loyal dog. Simpson was turning onto the man’s street when he heard a terrific boom. Next he saw the poor guy standing in his driveway, with half his clothes gone. The sky was raining slivers of garage door.

Apparently, the room had been full of fumes — welding gasses, solvent, gasoline, who knows — and when the engine man paused to light a cigarette, things went nuclear.

“The dog,” said Simpson, “was standing in the middle of the street. He wasn’t injured, but most of his fur had been singed off; he was actually smoking. He was looking around, wondering what the hell had just happened.

“The fur grew back, but for years that dog would haul ass anytime someone lit a match.”

I was looking forward to May at Indianapolis when I’d get Simpson to tell that story in his suite outside turn two. That would have set off a round-robin burst of other yarns and racing never saw a more eclectic band of storytellers than those in suite 164.

On any given day there across the last 25 years, you might see Indy winners Parnelli Jones, Tom Sneva and Bobby Unser; team bosses Jim McGee and Albert Arciero; sponsors such as Jim Williams and the Giuffre brothers, Frank and Dom; straight-line gods the likes of Don Prudhomme; and assorted open-wheel studs: Kevin Olson, Chuck Gurney, Jason Leffler, Jeff Heywood, Davey Hamilton, Bob Wente and Rico Abreu. Then the door would open, and in would walk Linda Vaughn, spiritual godmother to them all.

Stationed around the room was the meanest quartet of ballbusters on the planet: race car alchemist John Buttera, Indy 500-winning chief mechanic Wayne Leary, USAC championship car owner Junior Kurtz and Simpson. Once they picked out a target, the wisecracking assault might last an hour. Death by a thousand verbal cuts. Leary observed that it was wise to wear galoshes “to keep the blood off your shoes.”

Now, they’re all gone: Buttera in 2008, Leary in 2010, Kurtz in 2016 and, lastly, Simpson. If there’s a heaven for racers, good luck sneaking past those four.

That Bill Simpson, brash and aggressive, was the accepted caricature of the man. But he also had a huge heart. In all the places where he lived, from L.A. to Indy to Charlotte, he’d quietly helped broke racers pay bills, and he lent friends money to launch businesses.

Bill Vukovich Jr., the 12-time Indy 500 veteran who later worked as a product rep for Simpson Race Products, knew the Simpson few people saw. Vukovich remembered feeling “lost and confused” after the death of his son, Billy III, in a 1990 sprint car crash.

He also remembered this: “Simpson said, ‘Vuky, take off as much time as you need — two months, three months, four months, whatever — with pay.’ That said a lot about the man.”

And for years, the holiday season meant Simpson’s homes in Indiana and North Carolina would be alive with what he called his “Orphans and Misfits” dinners. He knew that many rank-and-file racing folks in those areas were transplants, spending Thanksgiving and Christmas a long way from their families. So he’d invite a bunch of them over, serve a great meal and preside over the cheery, beery fellowship.

He could have celebrated those holidays at the finest restaurants, but that couldn’t compare to watching a bunch of Indy car mechanics, dirt-track racers and NASCAR fabricators smile and swap lies.

There were, his pals will tell you, a lot of sides to Bill Simpson. Racing is going to miss them all.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Viktor Hovland almost didn’t commit to playing the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week.

Yeah, he actually considered passing on a return to a place that was so special place to his rise to prominence as an amateur phenom.

Frustrated with missed cuts in two of his first three starts this year, he considered taking time off to regroup, even though he won the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach in 2018 and was low amateur at the U.S. Open here last year, when he set the championship’s record for lowest 72-hole score by an amateur (280).

“I really wasn’t planning on playing, but I thought, 'You know what, I don’t have anything else to do, I’ll go play,’” he said after posting a 2-under-par 70 at Spyglass Hill. “It’s been awesome coming back. I didn’t know how much I was going to miss the place until I got here again.”

The former Oklahoma State standout took the pro game by storm after the U.S. Open last year. Hovland, 22, put up a PGA Tour record 18 consecutive rounds in the 60s. This calendar year didn’t start with the same torrid momentum. He missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship, tied for 23rd at the Dubai Desert Classic and missed the cut at last week's Waste Management Phoenix Open.

“I felt like I was playing OK, but I missed a couple cuts that I really shouldn’t have missed,” he said.

Hovland will play Monterey Peninsula on Friday. He said he isn’t assuming anything in his return to Pebble Beach Golf Links on Saturday.

“If you feel comfortable at a place, it’s always going to help you,” Hovland said. “But the shots are still right there in front of you, and you still have to hit them. Nobody’s going to give you anything because you’ve done well there in the past.”

Was it for the cameras or was it genuine?

On Tuesday night, just after half-time as the Paris Saint-Germain players were about to return to the pitch for the second half at Nantes, Thomas Tuchel grabbed Kylian Mbappe by the waist and whispered some tactical instructions in his ear, then patted him on the back in encouragement. The German manager knew very well that the cameras were there, watching. He knew because before, during and after PSG's 2-1 win at Nantes, all eyes were on Tuchel and his superstar No. 7.

Three days after the 5-0 win over Montpellier at the Parc des Princes where, unhappy to be taken off after 69 minutes, Mbappe clashed with his coach, all eyes were on the pair, with fans and pundits looking to glean any little detail in their relationship at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

Tuchel gave his version of events on Saturday when he said: "I am the manager. It is me who decides who comes off and comes on. Kylian is very clever, he knows what he has done. He doesn't like to be subbed off, no player likes it. It doesn't give a good image but we are not the only club where it happens." Later, he added: "We play football, not tennis. We have to respect everyone."

Of course, the tension has eased a bit between them since the weekend, as we saw on Tuesday. Their clear-the-air discussion on Sunday at the training ground, according to sources, probably helped a lot. It's important to note that Mbappe didn't apologise to Tuchel in private or in front of the squad, but did admit that he may have overreacted. Tuchel explained that he took his striker off to give Edinson Cavani some game time and also to give Mbappe a rest, a fair justification. Nevertheless, there's clearly an issue there, and it's not the first time the two have clashed.

Mbappe -- who is ranked No. 3 among the world's top forwards in ESPN's FC 100 -- was dropped from the starting XI last season for Le Classique in Marseille. He wasn't happy to be on the bench for a Champions League group game at Club Brugge earlier this season either, making his frustration clear after he scored a hat trick in just 21 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute: "I wanted to show that you cannot not play me." The score was 1-0 prior to Mbappe's involvement; of course, PSG ran out 5-0 winners thanks to Mbappe's heroics.

The 2018 World Cup winner was even less content to be subbed off against Nantes on Tuesday, or against Montpellier on Dec. 7. Each time, it seems that the two men, so key to PSG's fortunes this season, are drifting further apart.

Tuchel can't have one of his players, whomever it may be, publicly undermining his authority. He has to be strict as the coach of this high-powered team, and discipline has always been an important element of his management style. There are rules and players, regardless of their standing or status within the squad, have to respect them. Looking at the bigger picture, Mbappe cannot play every minute of every game in Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue and the Champions League. He can't go to the Euros and to the Olympic Games, as much as like he would like to. He might be only 21, but it would be irresponsible to put that many minutes into his legs every week.

From Mbappe's perspective, he believes his manager is treating him like a U19 player, not like the superstar he is and certainly not like the club's biggest asset. He reportedly reminds everyone around the club that Neymar never comes off and that even Angel Di Maria is substituted less often. The club tells Mbappe repeatedly that he is valued, is a huge part of the project and is a key player, yet he doesn't sense the same message coming from the manager. The former Monaco prodigy, for example, feels that Didier Deschamps gets him and knows how to handle him. Not so much Tuchel.

At a time when PSG are trying to reinstate the importance of the institution over player power inside the dressing room, this is a watershed moment. Leonardo is back at the club as sporting director to bring the authority back at the highest level. We saw his resolve when he stood firm in the Cavani transfer saga with Atletico Madrid, though the club has to be careful with Mbappe.

PSG have already offered Mbappe a new deal to remain at the club, with his existing contract ending in 2022, and the new one reportedly would make him one of the top earners in world football. His camp will make a decision once the domestic season is over, and the club is quietly optimistic. However, you can't help but think that the feuds between Mbappe and Tuchel could have an impact on the striker's thinking in the coming months.

Some in France think that things could reach a point where the pair can't continue together at the same club and that PSG would have to choose one or the other. In that case, it's pretty easy to think whom they might keep. It's perhaps far-fetched to think this feud gets to that kind of ultimatum, but this tension is certainly not good for the club and it doesn't reflect well on anyone.

At the moment, both Mbappe and Tuchel are focused on making this season a success. They will win the league, and probably the domestic treble too. The Champions League is the biggest challenge, and PSG (who, according to FiveThirtyEight's Soccer Power index, are fourth-favourites to lift the trophy) can only do well if the atmosphere in the dressing room is positive. Tuchel needs to sense that all the players are fully behind him and trusting his decisions. The players need to believe that his decisions are the right ones, too.

They're not there yet, and they will have to get it right -- and quickly.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James divvied up the remaining 22 All-Stars taking part in next weekend's NBA All-Star Game on Thursday night.

The two leading vote-getters from the Eastern and Western Conferences went back and forth in selecting which players would be on their respective teams. James, who was wearing a black sweatshirt with two hearts on it -- a yellow one with Kobe Bryant's numbers, 8 and 24, written in purple inside it, and a white one with Kobe's daughter Gianna's No. 2 written in black -- went first, and took Los Angeles Lakers teammate Anthony Davis for the second consecutive year.

Before the draft began, TNT's Charles Barkley reminded Antetokounmpo he had chided James for tampering the year before when taking Davis first, when Davis was still a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. James, with a smile, responded, "Listen, those guys [the Bucks] are 80 and 0 right now. We don't need them to get another guy on their team."

After Davis, the two men went back and forth, with Antetokounmpo -- who spent the whole draft consulting a notebook he'd spent time compiling pre-draft notes in -- taking Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Kemba Walker and Trae Young, while James selected Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic and James Harden. So each captain ended up choosing his conference's starters for his team for the Feb. 16 game.

When Antetokounmpo was trying to choose among Harden, Walker and Young, Barkley chimed in, "You don't want the dribbler?" in reference to Harden. Antetokounmpo smiled and said, "I want someone who is going to pass."

Antetokounmpo had the first pick of the reserves round, and with it took Khris Middleton, his Milwaukee Bucks teammate, while James took Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard. For the rest of the reserves, Antetokounmpo took, in order, Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Brandon Ingram and Donovan Mitchell. James, meanwhile, took Ben Simmons, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Domantas Sabonis.

Unlike last year, when James and Antetokounmpo made a trade, this time around both men said they were happy with their rosters, and didn't bring up the idea of a swap.

"At the end of the day you cannot go wrong," Antetokounmpo said. "They're all great players, all great guys, and hopefully we can all have fun this weekend."

Before the draft began, both James and Antetokounmpo announced the Chicago-based charities their respective teams will be supporting in the All-Star Game, with James choosing to support Chicago Scholars and Antetokounmpo picking After School Matters.

To honor Bryant and his daughter, Team Giannis will wear No. 24, and Team LeBron will wear No. 2.

The NBA also announced major changes to this year's All-Star format, turning every quarter into a mini-game for charity before an untimed final quarter with a target score that will decide which team wins. Scores will be reset -- back to 0-0 -- at the start of the second and third quarters, then restored to begin the fourth quarter.

The team that wins the All-Star Game will be the first to reach a target score, determined by the total points the team in the lead scored in the first three quarters combined -- plus 24, in a nod to the jersey Bryant wore for the final decade of his NBA career.

Sports dietician Renee McGregor tells Katy Barden why our food choices make a big difference

Whether you have signed up for a specific event or are simply looking to improve your running performance, training is going to be key to your success.

However, while putting in the work will take you a certain distance, if you really want to reap the rewards then you also need to look at running from many angles – from the kit you wear to the nutrition you choose.

Sports dietitian Renee McGregor looks at the dos and don’ts of an athlete’s nutrition as part of a training plan and outlines the best ways to boost performance.

How do we meet our training needs?

Nutrition for runners is about delivering enough energy to working muscles, enabling you to complete those tough sessions
which will allow for progression and improvement – but it is also about recovery and developing strength.

The key is to look at your training week and then to tailor your food choices against this. In order to really benefit from your training schedule, it is important that you plan ahead so you know what to eat when.

For example, nutrient dense carbs such as oats, whole grains and sweet potato are very useful for fuelling up before training sessions, but amounts will vary depending on the intensity and length of the session. Carbohydrate availability is very important in order for your body to allow for the hormonal cascade necessary to adapt to training.

Similarly, recovery post-training is also critical to ensure that your body recovers and repairs between training sessions.

This should be a mix of both carbohydrates and protein within 30 minutes of completing your session. Depending on time, this may be your next meal, but if this is not scheduled for several hours post-training, try a milk-based drink such as a latte, flavoured milk or a fruit and yoghurt smoothie, plus a banana, then follow with a balanced meal.

So, before you get caught up in all the hype around the latest nutritional trends, it is essential to first get the fundamentals correct and, once this is optimal, then you can start to think about the added extras.

Here are some top tips to get you run ready:

Preparation is key

Don’t just think about your nutritional intake in the meal or snack immediately before your run session. If you’re about to do a high intensity session, you actually need to think about getting a regular intake of carbohydrates at all meals and snacks during the 24 hours prior to your session. This will ensure that you have sufficient glycogen stores to maintain a consistent pace throughout your session. Only when you get consistent training, can your muscles adapt and progression can occur.

Don’t ditch the dairy

Don’t ditch the dairy! With so many food bloggers evangelising about dairy-free milk alternatives such as almond, coconut and hemp, it is important to know that cow’s milk is actually one of the best recovery options you can choose post-training.

Not only does it have the right proportions of carbohydrate to protein to encourage muscle recovery, it also has the best composition with easily digestible carbohydrates and protein, making uptake by the muscles more efficient. In comparison, if you look at shop-bought almond milk as an example, it is just expensive water.

Dairy foods also contain calcium and this has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on body composition, helping you to maintain a higher percentage of lean muscle mass. For those of you who are plant-based or lactose intolerant, I would recommend using soya as this is probably the closest to dairy with regards to protein content.

Stick to the tried and tested for race day

When it comes to race day, remember to ensure that you make choices for breakfast and other meals that have been tried and tested. I always encourage individuals to simulate race day so that they can go into it knowing that they have “controlled all the controllable”.

Some of my favourite race day breakfasts include a toasted bagel topped with nut butter and banana – this provides you with around 85g of carbohydrates so is a great top up on race day morning – or, if porridge is your preferred choice, why not try this topped with toasted walnuts and honey.

For longer distance races – and if you have time – I would encourage something like a toasted bagel with scrambled eggs.

Eating on the run

Once you’ve worked out what to eat in the morning, it is important to turn your attention to whether you need to take on any nutrition during your run/race. For runs that last less than 60 minutes, you should be fine to just stay hydrated and not worry about topping up stores; the exception to the rule will be if you are racing and pushing your pace – in this situation you may find taking on 30g of carbohydrate halfway round will just mean you can maintain this higher speed for the duration.

For longer races, I always encourage individuals to take on fuel, even during training runs, as this helps the body to tolerate fuel in races. What to take on, to a certain degree, is entirely personal. Most individuals who are running fast will find that they will need to stick with fast release, easily absorbed options such as gels, jelly, sweets or energy drinks.

However, if the pace is steady, as it will most likely be in trail or ultra-distance races, you may find that you can tolerate real food.

Flapjacks, salted potatoes and peanut M&Ms are all things that many of the athletes I have worked with have preferred to use. Once again, this is about practising during training so that you know exactly what your body can cope with. On longer runs (e.g. over three hours), you will need to aim for around 60-90g of carbs an hour; for runs over five hours, you will find that your body will also benefit from some additional protein.

Combat nausea

Many individuals, especially those starting to tackle longer distances, often complain about nausea during the run. This can be related to a number of things:

Salt: When we sweat, we lose salt. If our levels fall too low this can cause dehydration, and because salt helps to draw fluid into the body, it can in turn result in nausea. For longer runs over three hours you should be looking at replacing around 700-900mg of sodium per litre of fluid – this is the equivalent of 2-3 caps. For shorter distances you can use half this amount. However, it is important to understand that salt losses are individual and so some people may need more and others need less.

Dehydration: Salt helps draw fluid into the body; if we become dehydrated through high fluid losses and poor intakes, this can also mean that any carbohydrate we take on during a run becomes concentrated within the stomach. This can lead to feelings of nausea and also stomach distress. Aim for between 150-250ml fluid every 20 min depending on the climate.

Low blood sugar levels: Our bodies will use around 60g of carbs an hour at a moderate to high intensity; if you push too hard at the start of a run, the body will use more. Many individuals understand that they will need to fuel up in longer runs but they often leave it too late. I’ve worked with athletes who have left it 90 minutes before they’ve taken on any nutrition. If this is during a marathon or longer distance, this is too late – blood sugar levels will have already started to fall, resulting in nausea, making it even harder to take on nutrition. Aim to take on nutrition 20 minutes into a long run.

She is the best-selling author of Training Food, Fast Fuel and Orthorexia, When Healthy Eating Goes Bad, and is the co-founder of the #TRAINBRAVE campaign which aims to inspire more athletes to share their stories and raise awareness of the risks of eating disorders and RED-S.

See reneemcgregor.com