SAN DIEGO -- Meeting with Gerrit Cole and the pitcher's wife for the first time last week at the Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach, California, Brian Cashman tossed out a literary reference that prompted laughter.

"You're my white whale," the New York Yankees general manager said he told Cole. "He was someone we drafted in the first round, and he chose to go to college. And we tried to trade for him, and Pittsburgh chose to trade him to Houston instead. So we're hoping three's a charm."

It was. With the help of what sources told ESPN is a record $324 million, nine-year contract.

Cashman harpooned the biggest prize in the free-agent market, agreeing to a deal with the 29-year-old right-hander Tuesday night.

After two dominant seasons with Houston, Cole will join a rotation that projects to include Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and J.A. Happ or Domingo German, and a roster built around young stars Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez.

"You're talking about a guy that is the best of the best," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday. "You're just hopefully finishing off a team that can potentially win a championship."

After several seasons of payroll restraint -- at least by pinstriped standards -- the Yankees increased their projected luxury tax payroll to $247 million. That is $39 million above the initial threshold and about $1 million below the start of the highest surtax and a penalty that would back up the Yankees' top 2021 amateur draft pick by 10 slots. New York is on track to owe at least $14 million in tax for 2020, and even more if outfielder Brett Gardner is re-signed and additions are made to the bullpen.

Other than taking on high-priced outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees in recent years had promoted prospects and acquired cost-effective options that included Luke Voit and Gio Urshela.

"I think we're just using every tool in the toolbox, not just the big hammer, but it doesn't mean the big hammer is not still available," Cashman said.

In adding Cole, the Yankees will forfeit their second-highest pick next June (about No. 64), their fifth-highest (about No. 175) and $1 million of 2020-21 international signing bonus allocation. Houston will receive an extra pick, somewhere around No. 75.

Voit seemed set to cede his uniform to Cole.

"Hey the number 45 jersey fits really weird and runs really big," Voit tweeted. "Not a problem that you will want worry about for 9 years, so I'll take care of it."

Cole grew up a Yankees fan. Newark's The Star-Ledger ran a photo that caught the then-11-year-old in the stands before Game 6 of the 2001 World Series in Phoenix holding a pinstriped sign that read: "Yankee Fan Today Tomorrow Forever."

"You're seeing a guy that's really talented, really good at his craft, really intelligent," Boone said. "This is what greatness can look like when it all gets synced up."

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had several conversations with Cole's agent, Scott Boras, and authorized the guarantee of a ninth year. Cole was drafted by the Yankees with the 28th overall pick in 2008, but he spurned then and enrolled at UCLA.

"We definitely weren't mad at the Cole family or Gerrit Cole himself. More mad at ourselves," Cashman said. "I don't think many high school kids being drafted in the first round by their childhood dream team with financial components coming their way that far exceed what a college scholarship would be worth would say, 'I'm going to college because it'll all work out and I'm going to bet on myself.'"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Third baseman Anthony Rendon has agreed to a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, sources tell ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Having fallen short in their bid to sign Gerrit Cole, the Angels wasted little time in turning their sights toward Rendon.

Rendon, 29, was widely considered the top offensive free agent after having a career season with the Washington Nationals in which he emerged as a candidate for the NL's Most Valuable Player.

He led the majors with a career-best 126 RBIs last season and was named to his first All-Star Game. Rendon also had career-highs in batting average (.319), slugging percentage (.598) and home runs (34). His success at the plate carried into the postseason, where he hit .328 with 3 home runs and 15 RBIs in 17 games, coming up with several timely hits to help Washington clinch its first World Series title in franchise history in his hometown of Houston.

Rendon hit home runs in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series, becoming the fifth player all-time to homer in both those games of the same World Series. He also became one of five players all-time to homer in multiple winner-take-all games in a single postseason, joining teammate Howie Kendrick.

He played 2019 with the Nationals on a one-year, $18.8 million deal. The Washington Post reported in September that the Nationals offered a seven-year deal to Rendon worth $210 million to $215 million earlier that month, but the offer failed to keep him from exploring his value on the free agent market.

The sixth-overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Nationals, Rendon reached the majors in 2013 and emerged as a potential All-Star in 2014. He finished fifth in NL MVP voting that season after hitting .287 with 83 RBIs, 21 homers, 17 stolen bases and 111 runs scored. His momentum was slowed in 2015 after missing the first 53 games of the season with a sprained MCL. Since that year, he's improved his batting average and slugging percentage in four straight seasons.

Also considered one of the best defensive third basemen, Rendon has played in at least 136 games five times in his career, including 146 last season. He missed 14 games in April due to a left elbow contusion and also missed the All-Star Game, instead opting to rehab minor injuries to his left quad and hamstring.

With a high payroll and even higher expectations, the San Jose Sharks fired head coach Pete DeBoer on Wednesday after an underwhelming first third of their season, a source confirmed.

Bob Boughner, an assistant coach with the Sharks, takes over on an interim basis, sources confirmed to ESPN. The team also let go assistant coaches Dave Barr, Steve Spott and goalie coach Johan Hedberg.

DeBoer's firing was a hockey-related decision based on the team's on-ice performance, according to sources, and not related to commissioner Gary Bettman saying Monday that the league won't tolerate abusive coaches following the recent resignation of Calgary coach Bill Peters.

DeBoer's firing was first reported by Sportsnet.

The Sharks are 15-16-2 with 32 points on the season, sitting five points out of the final wild-card spot and six points behind third-place Calgary in the Pacific Division. Their .485 points percentage is the fourth lowest in the conference.

San Jose has been wildly inconsistent this season, with winless streaks of four games and five games twice, including the current skid that ended DeBoer's tenure. The Sharks went on the road for four games and lost all four, collecting only a single point in a shootout loss to Carolina. They were outscored 23-7 during the five-game streak.

Defense and discipline have been the primary problems for the Sharks. The team has the fourth-worst save percentage in the NHL (.887) and has allowed the second-most goals with 113. The Sharks average 12.6 penalty minutes per game, which leads the NHL.

DeBoer, 51, was in his fifth season as head coach, with a 198-129-34 record. He led the team to the 2016 Western Conference championship in his first season in San Jose, and he coached it to a conference final loss to St. Louis last season.

DeBoer's firing marks the fifth coaching change in the NHL this season and the third this month. Alain Nasreddine took over for John Hynes in New Jersey on Dec. 3, and Rick Bowness was announced as the interim coach when Dallas fired Jim Montgomery on Tuesday for "unprofessional conduct."

Boughner, 48, is a former NHL defenseman who played for six teams over a 10-year period. He was the head coach of the Florida Panthers from 2017 to 2019 and was replaced by Joel Quenneville last summer.

TULSA, Okla. – Karsyn Elledge will join Dave Mac Motorsports to contest the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals next month, completing the Bixby, Okla., squad’s four-driver lineup for the crown jewel event.

Elledge, 19, will pilot one of the Dave McIntosh-owned team’s Toyota-powered midgets during the biggest midget-car event in the country, Jan. 13-18 inside the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Okla.

She’ll be looking to improve on her debut Chili Bowl appearance from this season, where she made it to the G-main on championship Saturday before being knocked out of the alphabet soup.

Elledge, who drove full time in the NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series this season for Tucker-Boat Motorsports, told SPEED SPORT Wednesday by phone that the deal with Dave Mac Motorsports actually came together rather quickly for her.

“I think it was probably Sunday night or Monday that Cannon (McIntosh) texted me and asked what my plans were for Chili Bowl,” Elledge recalled. “And I told him, you know, that I wasn’t super sure yet … that I wanted to race, but that I just wasn’t sure if there was anything out there that I could drive. But he goes, ‘well, we have our fourth car left and we’d love for you to drive it if we can put a deal together.’ So the next day I talked to Cody (Cordell, crew chief) a little bit and then from then I went to work.

“I emailed a couple of sponsors from last year to see if they were still interested or what they had going on for the year, and got a response back from one of my partners who was really eager to do something, and now three short days later we’re running the Chili Bowl,” she added. “It’s a really cool deal and I’m very grateful to Dave and Cody, the whole McIntosh family for having faith in me to bring me onboard.”

The partner Elledge referenced is iRacing.com, which will serve as the primary sponsor of her midget entry at the Chili Bowl after previously backing her at Tucker-Boat Motorsports for several races during the 2019 season.

Elledge is excited to represent the simulation service once again as she gears up for her second Chili Bowl attempt.

“We had iRacing on with us this past year for Kokomo and Granite City, and it’s just awesome to represent them because of what iRacing has done within my family,” she said. “Dale (Earnhardt Jr., Elledge’s uncle) just helped them with the North Wilkesboro project and obviously has been big in it since the beginning; my brother’s super into it now, my uncle Jonathan does it … and you know Steve is just a really, really great person and just loves racing and loves my family.

“It’s kind of the perfect recipe. Steve was, was really excited for it and I’m really excited and thankful to be representing their colors and their brand.”

From the owner’s side, Dave McIntosh is looking forward to having a driver of Elledge’s recognition and speed as a part of his team for the Mecca of Midget Racing, feeling she will help elevate his entire team.

“To bring Karsyn on is a big deal for us,” McIntosh told SPEED SPORT. “It really solidifies what we’ve been working toward, not just with Cannon, but just the brand itself. Cannon has a dream to race professionally, but I have dreams also as a car owner with this operation. Just to know that we can bring the caliber of drivers and talent that we can to the Chili Bowl, I think that that goes to show the direction our team’s gone and really what now that we’re capable of doing with it.

“I’ve watched her all year, and she’s had some bad breaks, but man, you talk about speed and she’s got it,” added McIntosh of Elledge. “She will get it around a race track, and that excites me at a place like the Chili Bowl.”

After a rough-and-tumble season that never quite went according to plan for Elledge, she’s hoping to bounce back in a one-off opportunity on the biggest stage that midget racing has to offer.

She’s just not thinking of it as a big stage, at least in her mind.

“I’m excited to go there (to Tulsa) with the least amount of pressure as possible, just because it is for right now just one race, even if it is the Chili Bowl,” Elledge said. “I have a really positive mindset going into this and it seems like everybody else on the team does as well.

“From here, I’m just excited to see where we can end up and what we can make of the opportunity.”

Alongside Elledge in the Dave Mac Motorsports stable will be Michael Faccinto, Joe B. Miller and Jace McIntosh, who were announced to their seats with the team on Monday.

U.S. international midfielder Michael Bradley has re-signed with Toronto FC, a league source has confirmed to ESPN FC.

Reports out of Toronto on Wednesday broke the news of Bradley's deal, with a press conference scheduled for Thursday where the announcement will be made.

Bradley, 32, signed his new contract with the help of Targeted Allocation Money. Bradley's previous deal, a lucrative Designated Player contract that he signed back in 2014, paid him an average of $6.5 million per year, but that deal expired at the end of the 2019 campaign, thus freeing up a DP slot.

The new deal will likely see the TFC captain retire in Toronto colors.

Toronto was near the bottom of MLS when Bradley arrived in 2014, having failed to make the MLS playoffs even once. But Bradley, along with the help of players like Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco, spurred Toronto's ascension to be one of the elite teams in the league.

Toronto won a domestic Treble in 2017 -- consisting of MLS Cup, the Supporters' Shield and a Canadian Championship -- and were beaten MLS Cup finalists on two other occasions. The Reds won the Canadian Championship on two other occasions, and narrowly missed out on claiming the CONCACAF Champions League trophy in 2018, when they fell to Chivas on penalties.

During that time, Bradley proved to be a durable and commanding force in Toronto's midfield, never making fewer than 25 league appearances in a single season. In total, Bradley has made 201 league and cup appearances for Toronto, scoring 13 goals.

Bradley was drafted in 2004 out of IMG Academy as a 16-year-old by the MetroStars, then coached by his father Bob Bradley. The younger Bradley went on to suit up for the likes of Heerenveen, Borussia Monchengladbach, Chievo Verona and AS Roma. He also had a brief loan spell with Aston Villa 2011.

At international level, Bradley has made 151 appearances for the U.S. scoring 17 goals. He was part of squads at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, as well as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He has also been part of the teams that claimed the 2007 and 2017 Gold Cups.

Jose Mourinho said he would relish Tottenham facing Bayern Munich further down the line in a "proper" Champions League game despite his side losing 3-1 in Bavaria on Wednesday in their final group game.

Bayern outplayed a much-changed Tottenham side to make it six wins out of six in Group B with goals coming from Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller and Philippe Coutinho.

Last season's beaten finalists Tottenham, who had already qualified for the last 16 as runners-up to a rampant Bayern, left out Harry Kane and Dele Alli, while Son Heung-min came on as a substitute in a largely meaningless fixture.

Ryan Sessegnon, 19, marked his first Champions League start with Tottenham's goal.

Tottenham could have lost by more, but Mourinho still saw some positives and said the prospect of meeting Bayern again in the knockout phase did not concern him.

"It's not possible until the quarterfinals but my wish is to come back here for a proper match," said Mourinho, who suffered his second defeat in six games since taking over for Mauricio Pochettino.

Mourinho said his rotation of the team had allowed him some more insight into his squad strength, although he was careful not to get carried away by Sessegnon's impact.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Chip Long and the school have parted ways, a source told ESPN.

Long will not coach for the Fighting Irish in the Camping World Bowl against Iowa State on Dec. 28. He spent the past three seasons as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. Long, 36, last season was a finalist for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach.

FootballScoop first reported that Long was unlikely to return to Notre Dame in 2020.

Before Notre Dame, Long served as offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Memphis. He worked alongside new Florida State coach Mike Norvell at both Memphis and Arizona State.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday at the league meetings that the NFL will not make any judgments until the completion of an investigation into the New England Patriots inappropriately filming the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during Sunday's game in Cleveland.

The club has acknowledged that a three-person crew producing a web series titled "Do Your Job'' didn't properly inform the Browns of the filming. The Patriots said they turned over all the footage to the league after being confronted. New England plays at the Bengals on Sunday.

"The sole purpose of the filming was to provide an illustration of an advance scout at work on the road," the Patriots said in a statement earlier this week. "There was no intention of using footage for any other purpose."

The Patriots also said the production crew, which included independent contractors who shot the video, is not part of New England's football operation.

"The football team, the football staff and the coaching staff had nothing to do with what happened," coach Bill Belichick told reporters Wednesday. "Nothing. So, we have no involvement in it."

Asked if the advance scout was aware of the rules barring filming from the press box, Belichick said, "He was doing his job. That's what he was doing, he was doing his job. Like we all tried to do.

"That's what the football team, the football staff and the coaching staff did last week was try to do their job for Kansas City, and then Cincinnati, and then Buffalo next week, and that's it."

In 2007, the Patriots were fined $250,000 and lost a first-round draft pick for violating NFL rules against using video to steal signals in a scandal dubbed "Spygate.'' Belichick was also fined $500,000.

Asked if New England's side of the latest story is believable, Goodell said, "One of the things I've learned is you don't draw conclusions until you have all the information. Once we have all the information, then we draw conclusions. We're not going to draw conclusions along the way.''

Goodell said the previous incident does affect the current situation, "but I think the key things are the new information that we have. I think the issue is what information do we have from this incident?''

In other topics:

• Amid the concern and controversy over coaches challenges and video reviews of pass interference, the NFL plans a hard look at the rules adjustment instituted this season.

The change was for the 2019 season only and the 32 team owners would have to ratify it again -- on a temporary or permanent basis -- for it to be continued. Thus far, inconsistencies in how the penalties are being called and with decisions made after video reviews have plagued the system.

"There's no question there's been angst," Rich McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons and head of the NFL's powerful competition committee, said Wednesday at the league meetings. "I've felt the angst. I felt the angst with our team, feel the angst of others. But it's a new rule. It's a big change. It's something we haven't done before. So I don't want to prejudge what the outcome could be.''

McKay and league football operations chief Troy Vincent said the subject will be "a point of discussion'' in the offseason.

"I think from the committee's standpoint, what we typically do is we'll go back and we'll look at every single review and we will look at it from the standpoint as a committee, 'Would we have reversed that? Would we not have reversed that?' McKay explained. ''After you do that, which is what we did last year with use of helmet -- I think we looked at 120 use of helmet plays. You get a good sense of, 'Can we do this better? Does this have a path to get better and more efficient and more effective and more predictable? And what are the challenges?'"

Goodell said "consistency is the number one thing we're always trying to achieve."

"And we every year have engaged in changes that have been designed to make us more consistent and better,'' Goodell said. "Obviously, the standard keeps getting higher as we add new elements. But I think what people see nowadays with technology is much greater than it was even five years ago.

"I think our officials do an outstanding job, but we always seek to improve and we will engage in that. We have engaged in that. And I promise you that will continue.''

Vincent emphasized that his job is to evaluate all officiating matters.

"My role is to gather all the information and evaluate it, myself included," he said. "What are we doing? When you look at officiating this year, there's a cloud over PI. We had, once Week 1 through 3 were in, there was a substantial amount of holding penalties that caused the penalty count to spike.

"We'll look at everything. I'll provide all of the data with how the committee comes in in February, this is where we are, from a people standpoint, a process standpoint, here's how we fared among crews, among refs. That is something that we do each and every year.

"But my role is to evaluate and inform the committee, inform the commissioner, this is the state of officiating. We'll come up with the best outcome from what's best for the game."

• Goodell said owners discussed the ongoing negotiations for a new labor agreement for about an hour but didn't have much else to report. The collective bargaining agreement expires in March 2021.

"I know that we've committed to work hard and to try to keep the issues at the table and try to see if we can reach an agreement,'' Goodell said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Potential 2020 NBA draft lottery pick RJ Hampton will miss about four weeks with a hip injury, a source told ESPN.

Hampton suffered a hip flexor injury with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian NBL last week and was prescribed to rest by a sport and exercise physician he visited, which will likely keep him out of action until mid-January.

The 18-year-old Hampton is averaging 9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 22 minutes per game and is currently forecasted as the number seven prospect in the ESPN 100. Hampton will rehab his injury in New Zealand and is expected to make a full recovery and continue to play for the Breakers as they close out the regular season in February.

Decision makers from several NBA teams were expected to be in Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks to evaluate both him and potential No. 1 overall pick LaMelo Ball, who plays for the Illawarra Hawks, with the two scheduled to play each other for the third time on Dec. 22.

Ball will be out until early January with a foot injury, ESPN reported on Sunday.

The shortened time frame for NBA general managers to evaluate Ball and Hampton will likely cause executives to reschedule their visits to Australia and New Zealand for the final month of the season when both players are expected back in action.