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Right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on a one-year, $7.75 million contract, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, fortifying a bullpen that was at the forefront of the team's surge to a postseason spot last year.
Kahnle, 35, whose deal is pending a physical, is coming off a strong season with the New York Yankees in which he posted a 2.11 ERA in 42 innings. Over the past two seasons, Kahnle has a 2.38 ERA, the 11th best in MLB among pitchers with at least 80 innings.
In Kahnle, the Tigers add a reliever who pitches backward more than anyone in baseball. Last season, Kahnle threw his changeup 73.1% of the time -- nearly 20 percentage points higher than any other pitcher. At one point in the 2024 postseason, Kahnle threw 61 consecutive changeups.
When Kahnle is healthy -- an issue in past seasons -- the pitch is a devastating complement to a 94 mph fastball and a show-me slider. Kahnle struck out 46 against 19 walks in 2024 while allowing five home runs. Over his 10-year career, Kahnle is 10-14 with a 3.47 ERA and 452 strikeouts, 173 walks and 40 home runs allowed in 373 innings.
None of Detroit's deep relief core relies heavily on a changeup, giving manager A.J. Hinch a solid complementary arm as he aims to piece together games. With injuries hampering their rotation last fall, Hinch relied heavily on a bullpen that threw a major-league-high 141 innings in September and was third in baseball with a 2.41 ERA.
The Tigers, who on Aug. 10 were 55-63, surged to a 33-13 finish and ousted American League West champion Houston before falling to AL Central rival Cleveland in the division series.
Kahnle's signing continued an active period for relief pitchers, with the Los Angeles Dodgers signing right-hander Kirby Yates to a one-year, $13 million contract and right-hander Ryne Stanek agreeing to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the New York Mets.
Plenty of solid relief options remain on the market, including right-handers Carlos Estevez, Kenley Jansen, David Robertson, Kyle Finnegan and Adam Ottavino, and left-handers Tim Hill, Brooks Raley, Andrew Chafin, Jalen Beeks and Colin Poche.
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Wales' whole focus cannot be on Dupont - Gatland
Like Dupont, Wales wing Josh Adams also makes a welcome return to international rugby after missing the summer tour and autumn internationals.
He says Dupont "can do everything" and is "probably the best player in the world".
"It's great to see him back in the competition, he's like the star boy of the competition and rightfully so, he's an unbelievable rugby player," said Adams.
But like Gatland, Adams says Wales will not be drawn in on just him.
"If you focus too much energy on just one player, you lose track of the other 14 who are excellent," added Adams.
"The team he has around him complement him really well, they have got a great power game, big forwards which suits his running game around the ruck.
"The majority of our time in camp so far has been about us, just focusing on how we want to attack this campaign and be positive with everything that we do."
What's life like in the Scotland Six Nations camp?
Legendary Scotland and Lions coach Jim Telfer famously used to flog his players in training to get them battle-hardened for the demands of Test match rugby.
The days of endless scrummaging practice and ferocious rucking sessions leading up to a game are a thing of the past, so what does a training week look like for a modern-day player ahead of a Six Nations opener?
"Monday's usually quite light, and then Tuesday and Wednesday will be heavy days," Brown explained. "Then it's just nice and light towards the end of the week.
"But from a psychological point of view, it will completely switch. There'll be lots of learning at the start of the week. Then as you taper down your training and you get more time off your feet, then the anticipation towards gameday builds."
Whereas those outside the inner sanctum only discover the matchday squad later in the week, players get a sense of who has got the nod days before.
"Normally on a Monday, there'd be a walkthrough and you tend to get bibs handed out to those that are in the team," Brown said. "So you can kind of figure it out then.
"Officially on a Tuesday morning, there's usually a team presentation. Then at the end of that, there'll be a little video that goes up with the 23 on it and then a little round of applause, some handshakes and pats on the back.
"In every team, most people call it Test Match Tuesday. So normally after the team has been announced, there's then a bit of full contact through either units or rugby sessions and Test Match Tuesday comes out.
"That's your opportunity to lay a marker down, say that you should have been picked, or have a cheap dig. There's always a little bit of friction."
CONCORD, N.C. Zach Blurton learned a lot during his rookie season with the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour. 2025 will be all about improvements in his second year on the road.
Just be competitive, a lot more competitive than we were last year, Blurton said of his goals for 2025. Consistency and just building our team. Being a team that people respect and know that [we] can be a contender, night-in and night-out.
Blurton, 30, of Quinter, Kan., is back on the full-time ASCS National Tour roster, piloting his own Summit Automotive Group, Don Ott Racing Engines-powered Maxim Chassis No. 2J. A graduate of the regional 305 and 360 Sprint Car ranks, Blurton made the decision to start traveling last year and finished 2024 ranked eighth in the Tour points standings.
However, Blurton said eighth place was a bit humbling, despite his rookie status. His lone National Tour victory came in July 2022 at his home track WaKeeney Speedway in WaKeeney, KS which highlighted his potential against the traveling stars of the national 360 Sprint Car ranks.
Though he carried that confidence into his rookie season, Bluton said his results fell short of his expectations totaling three top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in 29 starts.
I was going into it thinking we knew quite a bit, with winning an ASCS National show a few years ago, I thought our program was a lot closer than what I was expecting, Blurton said. I knew it was gonna be tough, for sure, but I know we can do better than that.
But for their home-grown operation racing with traveling stars, Blurton has reasons to be proud. He posted his best finish of the season at Big Sky Speedway (Billings, MT) in August, running second to Jake Bubak, putting his upward-trending skills on display.
Were a family team, Blurton said. My dad and I have one crew guy from here in town that goes with us. I do this for a hobby. A lot of guys are out here doing it for a living. I have a day job, and that comes first.
We try to put as much into it as we can. Weve made a lot of improvements. My dad and I learned a bunch, and it showed, for sure.
More improvements are on his wish list for 2025, but he wants none more than to improve his results early in the race program.
Ive got to qualify better, Blurton said. I feel like our Qualifying kills us, and [Qualifying] makes your whole night a lot easier. Every night we qualified good, we had decent runs. The qualifying is so important, and going out there and knowing that your car is right and being able to run two perfect laps is big. It sets up your whole night, and thats where we have to be on it.
Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty will make his season debut in Wednesday night's road game against the Florida Panthers.
Doughty, 35, underwent surgery in early October to repair a fractured left ankle. The injury occurred during a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 25.
Beginning his 17th season with the Kings, Doughty won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in 2015-16 and helped Los Angeles capture the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014.
The five-time All-Star appeared in all 82 games last season -- the seventh time he has accomplished that feat -- and finished with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists).
Doughty has tallied 669 points (156 goals, 513 assists) in 1,177 career games since being selected by the Kings with the second overall pick of the 2008 NHL draft.
Devils leading goal scorer Hischier week-to-week
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, coach Sheldon Keefe announced Wednesday.
Hischier was injured after taking a cross check up high by Montreal captain Nick Suzuki during the second period of the Devils' 4-3 overtime win Saturday. The forward returned to the ice for one shift in the third before retreating to the locker room.
He missed Monday's 4-2 loss to the Flyers.
"It's something I think they'll evaluate again next week and then take it from there," Keefe said. "But he won't be available this week for sure."
Hischier will miss Wednesday's game against the Flyers and figures to miss games at Buffalo (Sunday) and at Pittsburgh (Tuesday).
Hischier, 26, leads the team in goals (24) to go along with 19 assists in 51 games this season. He is second among forwards with an average ice time of 20:21. He has 396 points (160 goals, 236 assists) in 503 career games since being selected by the Devils with the first overall pick of the 2017 NHL draft.
New Jersey is already without top goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who is in the middle of missing 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury. Hischier, Markstrom and Keefe helped the Devils start 28-18-6 to get into a playoff spot after failing to qualify last season.
Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Philadelphia Flyers' goaltender Samuel Ersson will replace the injured Jacob Markstrom on Team Sweden for the upcoming 4 Nations tournament.
Tuesday's announcement came days after New Jersey Devils' netminder Markstrom was placed on injured reserve by the team with an MCL sprain he suffered in a collision with Boston forward Justin Brazeau in last Wednesday's game. The timeline for Markstrom's recovery was set around 4-6 weeks and a source told ESPN's Emily Kaplan that Markstrom's participation in the 4 Nations event would be "a challenge."
Now it's official that Markstrom won't be participating and instead it'll be Ersson getting the call. Philadelphia's starter has been impressive of late, posting an 8-2 record with a .930 save percentage in his last 10 starts, and he's 15-8-2 on the season. The 25-year-old has represented Sweden on five other occasions internationally, including the 2024 World Championships where Sweden took home a bronze medal.
Ersson may not be the only replacement goaltender Sweden needs for 4 Nations, either. Linus Ullmark -- who was named along with Markstrom to Sweden's roster in December -- hasn't suited up for Ottawa since a back injury sidelined him in late December. He's been skating again but whether he's available to Sweden in next month's event is still to be determined.
As it is, Markstrom is the second player to be removed from a team's roster due to injury. Canadian defenseman Alex Pietrangleo also will not be participating; no replacement has been named as of yet for him.
The 4 Nations Face-Off will feature teams from Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. It will take place from February 12-20 with round-robin action between the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston.
Kansas City Current's star striker Temwa Chawinga has penned a three-year contract extension, the NWSL side confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.
The extension comes as a reward for the Malawi international's stellar debut campaign in the NWSL, where her record-breaking 20 goals in the 2024 season saw her win the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player award.
"This year, we hope to bring the trophy home for the fans, for KC," Chawinga said. "My team has been good to me and they treated me well last season. My teammates are kind, my coach is amazing, and my KC community has been incredible. All the support, it feels like home here, that's why I decided to extend my contract with the KC Current."
Chawinga wasn't able to add a winner's medal to her collection last season, with Current losing 3-2 in the playoff semifinal to eventual winners Orlando Pride.
"Securing Temwa's long-term future in Kansas City was a significant priority this offseason," general manager Caitlin Carducci said.
"She had anamazing debut season, but both Temwa and our club feel that we are just getting started in reaching our potential together. We're excited to see her wearing the Current crest for years to come."
A fire on the perimeter of Etihad Stadium was extinguished on Wednesday as fans arrived for Manchester City's decisive Champions League clash against Club Brugge.
The fire broke out near the entrance to the Colin Bell West Stand when City were unveiling their new January signings nearby.
City confimed the fire would not delay kick-off.
"Emergency services are present at the scene and the fire has now been extinguished," City said in a statement.
"The safety of all attending the match tonight is our top priority, and as such all events planned for West Stand reception have been cancelled, including the welcome event for new players, and the first team arrival."
No casualties were immediately reported to police.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service told ESPN in a statement: "Just before 6pm this evening, two fire engines from Blackley and Philips Park fire station were called to reports of a building fire involving an outbuilding on the car park of the football ground on Rowsley Street, Manchester.
"Crews arrived quickly at the scene. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used two hose reels to extinguish the fire, they are currently dampening down any hotspots and making the area safe.
"Firefighters have been in attendance for around thirty minutes and are still at the scene."
City, who are 25th in the Champions League table ahead of the final group fixture, must beat Brugge to make the knockout playoffs.
Information from Reuters and ESPN's Rob Dawson contributed to this report.
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