The St. Louis Cardinals split their first two salary arbitration cases, beating Brendan Donovan on Wednesday and losing to Lars Nootbaar in results that left teams ahead 4-3 with two decisions remaining.

Donovan will earn $2.85 million instead of his $3.3 million request. Arguments in the case of the outfielder/infielder were heard Tuesday by Jeanne Vonhof, Joshua Gordon and Stephen Raymond.

Nootbar was awarded his $2.95 million request rather than the team's $2.45 million offer by arbitrators Janice Johnston, Allen Ponak and John Stout, who heard arguments on Feb. 5. Their finding had been withheld to be issued simultaneously with the decision on Donovan.

Right-hander Andre Pallante has the third case involving the Cardinals and asked for $2.1 million instead of the team's $1,925,000 during a hearing Wednesday before Walt De Treux, Paul Radvany and Brian Keller. A decision is expected Thursday.

All three Cardinals players were eligible for arbitration for the first time.

Washington first baseman Nathaniel Lowe is scheduled this week for the final hearing.

Donovan, who turned 28 last month, hit .278 last year while setting career bests with 14 homers and 73 RBI. He has a .280 average with 30 homers and 152 RBI in three big league seasons, all with the Cardinals. He had a $757,200 salary last year.

Nootbaar, 27, hit .244 with 12 homers and 45 RBI last year. He made his season debut on April 12 after recovering from a bruised left rib and was sidelined between May 29 and July 8 because of an oblique strain. He earned $761,000.

Pallante, a 26-year-old right-hander, was 8-8 with a 3.78 ERA in 20 starts and nine relief appearances last year, when he earned $756,900. He is 18-14 with a 3.78 ERA in three big league seasons.

Teams also defeated New York Yankees reliever Mark Leiter Jr. ($2.05 million instead of $2.5 million) and Pittsburgh pitchers Dennis Santana ($1.4 million instead of $2.1 million) and Johan Oviedo ($850,000 instead of $1.15 million).

Two players beat the Los Angeles Angels: infielder Luis Rengifo ($5.95 million instead of $5.8 million) and outfielder Mickey Moniak ($2 million instead of $1.5 million).

Oft-injured Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon is having hip surgery and is expected to miss a significant amount of time, general manager Perry Minasian said Wednesday.

After signing a seven-year, $245 million contract and debuting with the Angels during the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season, Rendon, 34, has not played more than 58 games in any season. He had a 1.010 OPS with 34 home runs and a major-league-leading 126 RBIs with the Washington Nationals in 2019, but his OPS over five years with the Angels is just .717.

All told, Rendon has played in only 257 games and missed 451 -- with 12 stints on the injured list since 2021 -- for the Angels.

He had three stints on the injured list in 2024 with hamstring, lower back and oblique issues, finishing the season with a .218 batting average with zero home runs and 14 RBIs in 206 at-bats.

Rendon has hit .242 with 22 home runs and 125 RBIs since joining the Angels. He batted .290 with 136 homers and 546 RBIs in seven seasons with the Nationals.

His absence clears the way for free agent acquisition Yoan Moncada to be the every-day starting third baseman. Moncada, a 29-year-old switch-hitter who signed a $5 million deal on Thursday, broke out in 2019 for the Chicago White Sox but slashed .236/.291/.387 while playing in only 208 games over the past three seasons.

Last year, for a White Sox team that lost a record 121 games, Moncada played in only 12, sitting out five months because of an adductor strain. He returned Sept. 18, taking one at-bat before missing the rest of the season.

Rendon has frustrated Angels fans with a series of pronouncements about his passion for baseball -- or lack thereof.

In the last two years alone, Rendon said baseball has "never been a top priority for me," complained about the length of the MLB season, and volunteered that he has been contemplating retirement since shortly after his major league career began.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani's sweeper made its first appearance of the year during the Los Angeles Dodgers' first official workout of spring training Wednesday.

It was off flat ground, at nowhere close to full intensity, but it stood as the latest sign that Ohtani's return to pitching -- and, thus, a two-way role -- is approaching.

Ohtani will throw his first traditional bullpen session at some point this weekend, he said, at which point he will begin the process of preparing to join the Dodgers' star-studded rotation by May, if not sooner.

Asked how he'll juggle hitting and pitching again, Ohtani said he wanted to "play as much as possible, as many games as possible."

"But if the team feels like I should get a break," Ohtani added through an interpreter, "I'll follow that."

The Los Angeles Angels essentially let Ohtani dictate his schedule while hitting and pitching from 2021 to 2023, paving the way for an unprecedented three-year stretch consisting of two unanimous MVP awards and a runner-up finish. The Dodgers might ultimately give Ohtani similar leeway, most notably by allowing him to hit on the days when he pitches. But they are being noticeably cautious on the front end in hopes of making sure he's as fresh as possible down the stretch.

Ohtani wasn't expected to pitch in any Cactus League games, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, adding that he also doesn't want to see him attempting stolen bases during spring training. Given his importance to the lineup, the Dodgers probably will stage simulated games in April that will allow Ohtani to face hitters in game-like environments without having to send him out on a rehab assignment. Once he joins the rotation, Ohtani will be among six starters, which will basically have him starting once a week.

Roberts also anticipated Ohtani taking more days off as a designated hitter this year, and the widely held belief is that he would take a step back from running after his 59-steal season in 2024 -- but that was still to be determined.

"We haven't gotten there yet as far as what he's comfortable with, what he feels good about," Roberts said. "I'm looking forward to those conversations, but it's obviously going to be a little more complex than it was last year."

At the moment, Ohtani has his mind set on being the Dodgers' DH when they open their season in his native Japan for a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and 19. Ohtani said his surgically repaired left shoulder, which sustained a torn labrum during the World Series, has been giving him "some discomfort" but that it is "not really debilitating."

"Just a limited range of motion," Ohtani added. "I've gone through it with the elbow before, and with the shoulder it's a little bit more complicated. I do believe that's the part that I have to be patient."

As a group, the Dodgers don't have much time for patience. They'll open their season nine days before 28 other teams and are already working to get their pitchers ready for it. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of Japan's most celebrated starters, is on track to begin the season opener at the Tokyo Dome. Roki Sasaki, yet another celebrated Japanese ace, is on track to start the second game, though the Dodgers first want to see how the 23-year-old right-hander assimilates to his first experience in the United States.

"Having this opportunity to open the season in Japan with a major league team is really special," said Sasaki, the highly touted pitching phenom who chose to join the Dodgers last month. "I just want to make sure that I'm prepared to be ready for that."

Sasaki was among the pitchers who threw bullpen sessions in the backfields of Camelback Ranch on Wednesday. Dozens of photographers, camera operators and reporters lined one side of the field; a slew of Dodgers coaches and executives -- and Clayton Kershaw, who's still rehabbing offseason foot and knee surgeries -- watched from behind.

Sasaki admitted that he felt "some nerves" and that his body "maybe wasn't moving the way that I was expecting it to." But Austin Barnes, who crouched behind home plate, was impressed with the ride on his fastball and the movement of his splitter.

"I haven't really seen a pitch like that before," said Barnes, the longtime backup catcher who faced Sasaki while playing for Team Mexico during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. "It's different than Yamamoto's. It's good. It's hard to catch sometimes. It's moving all over the place."

Sasaki's first taste of the major leagues will begin without any artificial limitations, even though he combined for only 210 innings with the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2023 to 2024. The Dodgers believe the six-man rotation will benefit Sasaki just as much as it will help Ohtani as he transitions back into a two-way role, but their depth will allow them to build in additional rest at the first signs of fatigue.

Preserving Sasaki's health is their most important task in Year 1.

"I do feel confident that as long as he's healthy, that he'll be able to perform well," Ohtani said. "The important thing is for him to be acclimating to the environment that he's in."

TAMPA -- Nearly a year after suffering an elbow injury that pushed his season debut back to June, New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole said he is "in a really good spot" compared with recent years after starting his offseason throwing program earlier than in previous winters.

The right-hander posted a 3.41 ERA in 17 regular-season starts in 2024 before recording a 2.17 ERA in five postseason outings, including a seven-inning gem in Game 4 of an American League Division Series to close out the Kansas City Royals.

Now, two years removed from winning the AL Cy Young Award and entering his age-34 season, Cole expects to regain his place among baseball's best hurlers.

"My expectations are the same," Cole said after the Yankees' first official spring training workout.

For 48 hours in early November, just days after the World Series ended, it appeared as though there was a chance Cole's days as a Yankee could've been over. The star right-hander opted out of his contract -- a nine-year, $324 million pact that registered as the largest contract ever for a pitcher when he signed before the 2020 season -- with four years and $144 million remaining, giving the Yankees two days to void the opt-out with a one-year, $36 million extension.

The Yankees chose not to, giving Cole a path to free agency. Instead, after discussions between the two sides, Cole chose to remain with the organization on the four-year, $144 million contract he opted out of, as if he had not exercised the clause.

"The intention wasn't to do anything other than stay," Cole said Wednesday. "I was happy to be where my feet were, back in Yankee Stadium."

Manager Aaron Boone said he thought there was a chance Cole could hit the open market where he would surely garner another rich long-term contract. As for potential awkwardness after the brief tango between the two sides, Boone said Cole immediately expunged any.

"He had a good way about it," Boone said. "He came in, just talked about it openly after the fact when he came back in. So he kind of put us at ease a little bit, and [had] a laugh. And certainly, obviously, I'm excited that he came back."

Cole's return was the Yankees' first transaction in what became an active offseason. Within a week, the Yankees exercised the 2025 option on Boone's contract. A month after that, Juan Soto spurned them to sign a record-breaking deal with the New York Mets, spurring the club to quickly make a series of moves to improve the roster by the new year.

Max Fried was signed to an eight-year contract atop the starting rotation alongside Cole. Closer Devin Williams and outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger were acquired in trades. Paul Goldschmidt signed a one-year deal to play first base. Reliever Fernando Cruz came over in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for backup catcher Jose Trevino. The result is a roster that is very different from the group that advanced to the franchise's first World Series in 15 years, but one that is expected to compete for another AL pennant nonetheless.

"He's a tremendous player," Cole said of Soto. "He was extremely impactful for us, and a joy to watch and a joy to be around. So, Juan will be missed for a certain extent. But the beauty of the Yankees is the ability to go out and fill the roster and fill the spots with the goal of getting back to the World Series and winning the World Series again."

Cole was in the middle of the Yankees' fifth-inning meltdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding Game 5 of the World Series, which led a few members of the winning club to bluntly criticize New York's shortcomings. While Boone said he would like his team "to handle things with a little more class" if the Yankees find themselves in that position, Cole said he didn't pay much attention to the comments.

"It's a good push for us," Cole said of falling short in the World Series. "We're really proud of what we did. At the same time, we walked away from the season with a bitter taste in our mouths and just a real terrible feeling."

Other notes from Yankees camp:

Right-hander Eric Reyzelman, a non-roster invitee to spring training, suffered an allergic reaction before Wednesday's workout and was admitted to a local hospital, where he was slated to stay overnight, according to a team spokesperson. Reyzelman, 23, was a fifth-round pick out of LSU in 2022. He recorded a 1.16 ERA in 31 games (one start) across three minor league levels last season, culminating with 23 appearances in Double-A.

Boone said that Ben Rice is "definitely" in contention for the team's backup catcher job but that the club doesn't view him as solely a catcher. Rice, 25 and a catcher by trade, made his major league debut last season, appearing in 50 games but logging just one inning at catcher. He started 41 games at first base, batting .171 with seven home runs and a .613 OPS in 178 plate appearances as a rookie.

The US Open has received strong criticism following its decision to hold its mixed doubles competition as a standalone event before the start of the Slam from 2025.

Organisers said it hoped the move would encourage top singles players to participate in the mixed doubles, which will be held over two days in the week leading up to the start of the main draw in New York.

However, the decision has been described as a "profound injustice" by last year's winners Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori amid a backlash from players.

The US Open mixed doubles will be held on 19-20 August, before the hard-court Slam - which from this year is expanding to a 15-day event - begins on Sunday, 24 August.

"Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations," Italians Errani and Vavassori said in a joint statement.

"In the last few weeks we received the news that the US Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, cancelled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show.

"We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players. We don't know at the moment if we'll have the chance to defend our title but we hope this remains an isolated case."

The US Open organisers said the change would allow "the sport's biggest stars" to participate in mixed doubles and claimed "excitement is high among the game's stars who have already expressed intent to compete" in the new format.

American players Taylor Fritz, the men's world number four, and Jessica Pegula, fifth in the women's rankings, have both expressed their intention to participate, while Holger Rune replied to the US Open's announcement on X saying "Interesting".

World number seven Elena Rybakina said she is "disappointed" at the WTA's decision to uphold the ban against her former coach Stefano Vukov following an independent investigation into his behaviour towards the player.

It was announced in January that the Croat had been provisionally suspended after allegedly breaching the WTA's Code of Conduct.

On Tuesday, the WTA - the governing body of women's tennis - confirmed Vukov's ban had been upheld.

"I'm just disappointed with the situation, and how the process went. I'm not going to comment much more," the 25-year-old said after her win over Rebecca Sramkova at the Qatar Open on Wednesday.

"I'm focusing on my matches, and when I go on the court I'm thinking only about the way I need to play.

"It's not the best time, but I want to perform as best as I can."

The WTA has not specified how long Vukov will be banned for and it is not known which part of the code he has broken.

But the manner in which he spoke to her - on and off court at tournaments - has come under scrutiny.

The 37-year-old helped Rybakina to win Wimbledon in 2022 but their five-year partnership ended days before the 2024 US Open in August.

The WTA's decision means Rybakina will not be able to bring Vukov back on to her team - something she hoped to do at the start of the year.

Vukov denies any wrongdoing and told The Athletic last month that he had "never abused anyone", while Rybakina also said at this year's Australian Open she has never made "any complaints" about Vukov.

The WTA did not provide details on the length of the suspension but Vukov can appeal against the decision.

Rybakina worked briefly with Novak Djokovic's former coach Goran Ivanisevic on a trial basis, but he left her team after a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open.

Ireland prop Finlay Bealham has predicted Wales will "be coming out firing" when the sides meet in round three of the Six Nations at the Principality Stadium on 22 February.

The hosts are bottom of the table with only one losing bonus point to show for defeats by France and Italy, and on Tuesday replaced head coach Warren Gatland with Cardiff's Matt Sherratt for the remainder of the championship.

Ireland are chasing a third consecutive Six Nations crown and, having already beaten England and Scotland, would secure the Triple Crown with victory in Cardiff.

"It's another away game in a really prestigious stadium," said Bealham before news of Gatland's departure.

"It's Wales' first game at home as well, so they'll be well up for it, backs against the wall. I've no doubt they'll be coming out firing.

"We'll go in with the utmost respect and do our thing."

Some feel after Townsend's eighth Six Nations in charge it will be time for a change, but Beattie says given the lack of player depth in Scotland, the national team has punched above its weight on Townsend's watch.

Despite the bruising defeat by Ireland at Murrayfield, Beattie insists a change would not necessarily lead to an upturn in fortunes.

"Gregor, over his tenure, has got quite a lot out of this squad, probably more than most other coaches," he added. "And I think his win percentage is better than most other Scottish coaches historically.

"So people have incredibly short memories. I know the weekend was horrible to watch. Gregor actually doesn't have a big player pool, doesn't have a bunch of physical animals.

"We'll always be on an uphill battle with the numbers, we have a really shallow pool of talent.

"And I think, actually, he's got a lot out of the players that we have over the past five, six, seven seasons. So it's disappointing, but be careful what you wish for."