The Chicago Bears and quarterback Andy Dalton have agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal, with the chance for the quarterback to earn another $3 million in incentives, sources tell ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Chicago made "a very aggressive pursuit" of Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, sources said, but the Bears were told that Seattle is not trading him at this time.

The Bears were one of four teams Wilson's agent named as a place of interest.

Dalton, 33, spent 2020 with the Dallas Cowboys after a nine-year run as the Cincinnati Bengals' starter.

Signed as the backup, Dalton was pressed into duty when Cowboys starter Dak Prescott suffered a dislocated and compound fracture of his right ankle in Week 5 against the New York Giants.

In nine starts (11 appearances), Dalton had a 4-5 record, throwing for 2,170 yards and 14 touchdowns, with 8 interceptions. He had his best showing in a Week 16 win against the Philadelphia Eagles, throwing for 377 yards and three scores.

Dalton had some health issues of his own during the season, missing a game after suffering a concussion against the Washington Football Team. The following week, he was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

At the end of the season, Dalton said his hope was to find a spot as a starter, and coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said he had shown enough to warrant consideration from teams.

He has that chance in Chicago. Although the Bears made the postseason with an 8-8 mark, the team got uninspired play at quarterback as both Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky were given opportunities to start.

Trubisky is now a free agent after Chicago elected not to pick up his fifth-year option on the former No. 2 overall pick ahead of last season. Foles is still on the team's roster.

After the Bengals selected Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, Dalton became expendable and was released by Cincinnati. He posted a 74-66-2 record as the Bengals starter, taking the franchise to the playoffs five times but not winning a postseason game. He was also named to the Pro Bowl three times.

ESPN's Todd Archer contributed to this report.

TORONTO -- Blue Jays pitcher Nate Pearson aggravated his strained right groin during a bullpen session Tuesday, further decreasing the hard-throwing right-hander's chance of making Toronto's Opening Day roster.

"We do feel it's very mild in nature but want to re-asses that and then just take it a day at a time," general manager Ross Atkins said.

Pearson strained his groin in his debut spring training outing March 1. He felt fine after a bullpen session Saturday, his first since the injury.

Right-hander Ross Stripling is expected to replace Pearson in Toronto's rotation.

"Obviously Strip, with what he's done in his career, has a leg up on that spot," Atkins said.

A first-round pick in the 2017 amateur draft, Pearson is Toronto's top pitching prospect. He made his major league debut last season, going 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA in four starts and one relief appearances. He missed five weeks in August and September because of a sore elbow.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Infielder Maikel Franco and the Baltimore Orioles finalized an $800,000, one-year contract on Tuesday.

Franco hit .278 with 16 doubles, eight homers and a team-high 38 RBIs for the Kansas City during last year's pandemic-shortened season.

The 28-year-old would get a $200,000 performance bonus if he reaches 400 plate appearances. He would get a $250,000 assignment bonus if traded.

He earned $1,092,593 in prorated pay from a $2.95 million salary.

Franco has a .253 average with 110 homers and 381 RBI in seven major league seasons with Philadelphia (2014-19) and the Royals. He was originally signed for the Phillies by Koby Perez, now Baltimore's senior director of international scouting.

Right-hander Hunter Harvey was placed on the 60-day injured list with a strained left oblique, opening a roster spot.

Travis Shaw's second stint with the Milwaukee Brewers is off to an encouraging start.

The Brewers announced Tuesday they have added Shaw to their 40-man roster, making him one of the leading candidates for playing time at third base.

Shaw, who played for Milwaukee from 2017-19 and spent last season with Toronto, signed a minor league deal last month. The contract included terms stating he could request his release if the Brewers didn't notify him by Monday whether they intended to put him on the 40-man roster.

"It's pretty much everything I expected, pretty much everything they told me going into the process so nothing changes," Shaw said Tuesday from the Brewers' spring training site in Phoenix. "Nothing is surprising. It's all in a good spot."

Shaw, who turns 31 on April 16, has a one-year contract paying him $1.5 million while in the majors and $250,000 in the minors. He can earn up to $1.5 million in performance bonuses for plate appearances: $50,000 each for 250, 275 and 300, $75,000 apiece for 325, 350 and 375, $125,000 for 400, $250,000 for 450 and $300,000 each for 475 and 502.

The Brewers made room for Shaw on the 40-man roster by placing utilityman Mark Mathias on the 60-day injured list with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Brewers manager Craig Counsell said that doesn't necessarily mean Mathias will miss the entire season.

Counsell also said reliever Bobby Wahl will open the season on the injured list after the right-hander left an exhibition game Monday with a strained oblique.

For Shaw, a return to Milwaukee represents a chance to revitalize his career at a place where he had some of his highest and lowest moments.

The Brewers don't have a clear-cut starting third baseman, giving Shaw a chance to step right in and regain his old job. Other options include Luis Urías and Orlando Arcia, who both are also working out at shortstop. The Brewers also have utilityman Daniel Robertson available to play third.

"Everything's in pencil over there, I guess is the best way to say it right now," Counsell said. "And I think those guys are all aware of that. Those guys know it."

Shaw, a left-handed hitter, batted .273 with 31 homers, 101 RBI and an .862 OPS for the Brewers in 2017. He followed that up by batting .241 with 32 homers, 86 RBI and an .825 OPS in 2018.

But he hit just .157 with seven homers and 16 RBI in 86 games or the Brewers in 2019 and wasn't offered a contract after the season. Shaw batted .239 with six homers and 17 RBI in 50 games for Toronto last year.

"The hope is that we get a really good version of Travis," Counsell said. "As he and I have talked about it, he's in a different place now, and I think it's important to just acknowledge that."

"I think that's what's going to help him have a good year, is just understanding where he's at, and understand this is different, going through what he's been through, getting better in going through that. So all those things should be helpful. He's going to get an opportunity to be a contributor," he said.

Shaw said he appreciates the familiarity that comes from returning to Milwaukee and noted that the Brewers' staff hasn't changed much since he last played with them.

"I've had a ton of success there, so I'm very excited to get back there," Shaw said. "I mean, look at our division. There's a ton of right-handed pitchers in our division, so that's another thing that benefits me, too. Kind of all the stars aligned with this whole process over the last two months, and I couldn't be more excited to get back to Milwaukee and get everything back on track the way that I feel like it can be."

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is joining Fenway Sports Group as a partner, giving him an ownership stake in its subsidiaries that include the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club, Roush Fenway Racing and the regional sports network NESN, sources told ESPN.

James, 36, already owned 2% of Liverpool, the current English Premier League champion. In joining FSG and expanding his investment, James and his business partner Maverick Carter will become the company's first Black partners.

FSG is among the largest sports ownership entities in the world, and James' involvement will only increase its reach. In addition to James coming onboard, FSG received a $750 million investment from RedBird Capital Partners, according to The Boston Globe, which first reported James' ownership stake.

With league rules preventing current players from owning portions of the NBA or WNBA, James, who has earned more than $1 billion in his career, according to Forbes, branched out with a conglomerate that started by owning the Red Sox. FSG's broad footprint could expand even more with the infusion of cash from RedBird Capital.

FSG bought Liverpool in 2010 for $493 million -- and James joined in the investment for a reported $6.5 million. FSG turned down a $2.6 billion bid for the team in August 2018, leaving James with tens of millions in profit from his initial investment.

James has not been shy about his desire to own an NBA team. At the NBA All-Star Game in 2019, he told reporters that upon his retirement, "I believe if I wanted to, I could own a team or be part of a basketball team. I know I got so much knowledge of the game that I don't want to, once I stop playing -- I just [do not] want to get away from the game."

In January, when the WNBA's Atlanta Dream were put up for sale, James tweeted: "Think I'm gone put together an ownership group for The Dream." He proceeded to help Renee Montgomery, the former WNBA player and activist, meet with commissioner Cathy Engelbert before she joined with two partners to complete the purchase.

With the Red Sox, James gets limited partnership in one of Major League Baseball's jewel franchises. The team's estimated value is more than $3 billion, and while it's expected to lag behind in the competitive American League East division this season, Boston has significantly improved its farm system and should increase its payroll going into the 2022 season after paring back spending the past two years.

James' connection to FSG goes deeper than his investment in Liverpool. Among the executive producers of the comedy "Survivor's Remorse," which aired for four seasons on Starz: James, Carter and Tom Werner, the longtime television producer and chairman of the Red Sox and Liverpool. Werner owns the second-largest stake in FSG behind principal owner John Henry.

Britain’s fastest man in 2020 withdraws from Kew Gardens showdown but remains hopeful of Olympic selection

Few people will be glued to the British Olympic marathon trials in Kew Gardens on March 26 more than Jonny Mellor. The Stockport-based runner ran 2:10 twice last year and was the first Brit home in the Virgin Money London Marathon, but he has been forced to sit out the trials due to a gout-related ankle injury and will be watching with interest to see if anyone beats the Olympic qualifying time of 2:11:30.

With Callum Hawkins pre-selected, it means if the first two men at the trials run sub-2:11:30 then they will be automatically selected for Tokyo. However if only one or none break the standard, the selectors could consider Mellor for the team.

After running 2:10:03 in Seville just over 12 months ago and then 2:10:38 in cold, wet conditions in London in October, Mellor had hoped to cement his place in the team at the trials this month. But a freak injury scuppered his plans.

In mid-January he completed a 24-mile run on snowy and icy ground and his calf muscles felt a little tight afterwards. That night he slept in compression sleeves but one of the sleeves rolled down slightly and left a small indent in his lower leg.

“I woke up a bit sore the following day but I’d run 24 miles so I expected to be,” he says. “Then all that week I felt something was not quite right.

“I did a track session on the Wednesday and when I warmed up I thought it didn’t feel right. But, again, it’s marathon training and you run through niggles all the time.

“Toward the weekend it began to swell and was presenting like a swollen ankle. But I hadn’t rolled my ankle on a run, so it was a bit strange.

“I had an Olympic trial to run so thought that I had to get on with it. But following week it went sore and swelled up like a balloon. It was red and angry and really swollen. Although I was a bit stubborn as I had the Olympic trials coming up so I tried to manage it and icing it.”

Mellor’s coach, Steve Vernon, realised the indent that the compression sleeve had left may have caused the issue. They then saw sports injury specialist John Rogers and had an MRI scan and blood tests and the problem was diagnosed as gout.

Gout is associated with older people who eat diets rich in red meats and alcohol. But Mellor is only 34 and has been teetotal all his life. The problem occurs when uric acid crystallises in the joint and causes pain and swelling, but in Mellor’s case the crystals irritated the fat pad behind the Achilles tendon and damaged his peroneal tendon.

Mellor missed several days of training and had two injections into his ankle and the fluid was drained. “Before I knew it I’d got to the end of February and had barely done much training all month,” he says. “I wasn’t in the position to stand on that start line at the trials and do myself justice.

“In the end I ran out of time. I could have had another injection and tried to push through it but I might have caused long term damage to my ankle.

“It’s just really bad luck and to get gout is quite unusual and the gout caused a knock-on effect on the ankle.”

Mellor is back in training now and running pain-free. He will have mixed feelings on trials race day because some of his best friends such as Ben Connor and Andrew Davies are in the field, with Connor in particular being an Olympic contender after running 2:11:20 in London in October.

“To win in London (last year) and to have the standard I feel like I’ve done enough in the year that counted. But it’s in the hands of the selectors now,” said Mellor.

The Liverpool Harrier is not taking anything for granted either. In 2018 he was more than a minute inside the marathon qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast but England failed to pick him for the team, saying they had reached their maximum allowable limit of athletes in the squad.

“It feels like everything’s on hold,” for me. “If I don’t make the marathon team, I wouldn’t rule out running the 10,000m trial (in early June). It’s my intention and focus to run the Olympic marathon in the summer, though.”

AW promotion

The rearranged Tokyo Olympics are due to begin in late July and already anticipation is building ahead of the spectacle. While this proved to be disappointing for some, it has also proved to be a blessing in disguise for others. This has been the case for many teams who would welcome the extra time to prepare, one of them being Team Kenya’s marathon squad.

Renowned coach David Leting leads Team Kenya and he believes that both the men’s and women’s groups under his charge have it in them to produce a stunning clean sweep this summer. Leting believes that as individuals, they’ll all be at the top of their game and the odds at experienced bookmakers such as William Hill sportsbook will likely support these claims closer to the time.

The marathon category is one where Kenya regularly asserts their dominance. Their approach of building on their success to keep challengers at bay has proven to bear fruit time and time again. Leting moved to dismiss concerns that other nations could threaten their stronghold by insisting he wasn’t “worried about the threat of any nation to our dominance in the marathon category”.

Another concern many bring into play where the Kenyan marathon runners are concerned surrounds the humidity they must perform under at the Tokyo Games. Some suggest it could prove to be unbearable for athletes who often train in areas of high altitude. Again, Leting was keen to dismiss the suggestions by insisting that runners will use their experience and that weather conditions becoming a hindrance will be “across the board” and not solely affect his athletes.

Training is well underway for marathoners ahead of the Games, with athletes training individually at present before coming together at a later date to progress further. Road races were in place as additional preparation, which would have acted as a gauge for Leting and his runners to know how far from full sharpness they were. However, they have now been pulled, so the focus is now solely on Tokyo.

At the time of writing, the Tokyo 2020 Games organising committee is still waiting to decide whether foreign spectators will be allowed into the spectacle. Or if the Games will go ahead without them this time around. There is some suggestion that the Olympics could take place behind closed doors in the main, with select attendees permitted.

The organising committee is determined that a decision will be made before the end of the month. And this desire is backed up by Seiko Hashimoto, the Tokyo 2020 President, insisting she wants to know what’s happening before the torch relay gets underway on March 25.

It is no secret that fans being involved make the competition way more entertaining and helps raise the athletes’ performance levels. Therefore, it is hoped that the organisers can find a way that everyone is welcome.

British number one Dan Evans is out of the Dubai Tennis Championships after a 6-4 4-6 6-4 second-round defeat by Russia's Aslan Karatsev.

Karatsev got what proved to be the decisive break in the first game of the final set before serving out the win.

He will play Italy's Lorenzo Sonego in the last 16.

Evans, who was beaten in three sets by Roger Federer in Qatar last week, struggled early on in response to some booming returns of serve by Karatsev.

The 27-year-old Russian broke Evans' serve twice on his way to taking the first set and a straight-sets victory looked likely when he broke twice more at the start of the second.

Evans, though, showed resilience to fight back and win four successive games to level the match.

Karatsev, up from 114 to 42 in the world rankings after his performance in Melbourne last month, regained his composure in the decider, breaking serve immediately and saving two break points on his way to victory.

Centre Henry Slade is a doubt for England's Six Nations finale in Ireland because of a calf problem.

A decision on his availability for Saturday's game is expected on Tuesday.

If Slade fails to recover in time, Ollie Lawrence or uncapped Paolo Odogwu are likely to take his place and Harlequins back Joe Marchant has already been called into camp as cover.

Slade, 27, was central to England's attacking improvements in last Saturday's 23-20 victory against France.

"The way Henry works off the ball is second to none," said England skills coach Ed Robinson.

"The way he puts himself in a position to attack and defend is brilliant. The way he sprints to chase kicks is phenomenal and that is a massive part of his game. He's a big driver in that for us."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series will kick off its sprint car campaign on Saturday with the Salute to LeRoy Van Conett at the Stockton Dirt Track.

The event is in honor of eight-time Northern Auto Racing Club champion LeRoy Van Conett.

This marks the first of 20 events at 10 different dirt track venues this season for the series. The traveling series and its teams are attempting to return to some form of normalcy after getting sidetracked by the pandemic last year. Only four of the planned 19-events were run last season and the Northern Auto Racing Club did not crown a champion for the first time in 61 years.

Officials from the sanctioning body are realistic on what is possible this season with the pandemic still looming strong in the background. A few setbacks and cancellations are expected, but a majority of the schedule is expected to be held as planned.

“We are looking to get back to the business of dirt track racing and put on some entertaining shows for the fans,” said 13-time series champion and series board member Brent Kaeding. “It’s been a rough year for motorsports in California and everybody is anxious to get back to doing what they love the most. We should have a great show at Stockton on Saturday.”

Admission is $30 per person. Seniors 65 and older and military personnel will be admitted for $25. Pit passes are $40.

D.J. Netto is the most recent series champion and he is expected to be in attendance. Others expected to participate include Dominic Scelzi, Tim Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Justin Sanders, Sean Becker, Willie Croft, Mitchell Faccinto, Austin McCarl, Kyle Hirst, Shane Golobic, Rico Abreu, Sean Watts, Kyle Offill, Kenny Allen and Mark Barroso.

The NARC King of the West Hoosier Tire format will include qualifying, three eight-lap heat races, a six-lap Sunnyvalley Bacon trophy dash and the $3000-to-win Fujitsu feature.

Pit gates will open at noon. Qualifying is set to get underway at 5 p.m., followed by racing at 6 p.m. Also on the racing card are the NorCal Dwarf Cars.