CLEVELAND -- The Indians have signed utilityman Ryan Raburn and outfielder Ben Francisco to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training.
Raburn has spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. The 31-year-old is a .256 hitter with 54 homers and 216 RBIs in 566 games. He spent most of 2012 with the Tigers and also appeared in 15 games for Triple-A Toledo. Raburn, who has played 396 career games in the outfield and 143 at second base, made two trips to the disabled list last year.
Francisco played in 235 games for Cleveland from 2007-09 before he was traded to Philadelphia. The 31-year-old has also played for Toronto, Houston and Tampa Bay. While with the Indians, Francisco batted .261 with 28 homers and 99 RBIs. He had a .281 average in 106 games at Progressive Field.
• Football
Shurmur joins Kelly: Former Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur is joining Chip Kelly's staff with the Philadelphia Eagles, a person familiar with the hiring told The AP on Monday.
Shurmur is expected to be Philadelphia's offensive coordinator, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Eagles haven't announced any coaching moves.
Caldwell to stay: Jim Caldwell will remain the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator next season. Caldwell moved from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator on Dec. 9 after coach John Harbaugh fired Cam Cameron.
With Caldwell directing the offense, the Ravens have won three straight playoff games to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2000 season.
• Auto racing
Distance changed: IndyCar has changed the distances of four races in an effort to discourage fuel-mileage racing. The announcement changes the lengths of races at St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Milwaukee and Mid-Ohio.
St. Pete will increase by 10 laps to 110, or 198 total miles. Long Beach is decreasing by five laps to 80, for 157.4 miles. Milwaukee is adding 25 laps to 250, for 250 miles, and Mid-Ohio is increasing five laps to 90 for 203 miles.
Fans to vote: The format for the first NASCAR race of the year will be determined by race fans.
Fans will be able to vote on the length of the race segments, pit stops and how many cars will be eliminated after the second segment of the exhibition Sprint Unlimited scheduled for Feb. 16 at Daytona International Speedway. The race was previously known as the Budweiser Shootout, and is the official kickoff for Speedweeks.
Prices lowered: Texas Motor Speedway will offer some frontstretch tickets at its lowest prices in 15 years for NASCAR Sprint Cup races at the track.
The track will offer about 8,000 frontstretch seats for $49 for each of its two Cup races, and has lowered prices on about 7,400 other seats.
• Elsewhere
Hall of Fame: Baseball players urged that Marvin Miller be put in the Hall of Fame as they spoke Monday night during a memorial for the union leader.
In an auditorium filled with Hall of Famers, dozens of retired and current players, baseball officials, agents and labor lawyers, 13 speakers praised the former baseball union head, who helped players gain free agency in the 1970s and created the path to multimillion-dollar salaries. Miller died in November at 95. Miller has been turned down five times by various Hall of Fame committees that considered baseball executives.
'Unethical conduct': Two former Miami assistant coaches have been told they will be charged with "unethical conduct" when the NCAA presents the Hurricanes' athletic department with its notice of allegations, two people familiar with the situation said.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the NCAA or Miami has announced the contents of the long-awaited letter. The people say the coaches will be cited for violating NCAA bylaw 10.1, a broad rule that covers conduct and cooperating with investigations.
Out for season: Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the season because of a blood clot in his lung.
The team said that he is expected to fully recover but will need to take blood thinners for about three months. Varejao has been in the hospital since Thursday and will likely remain there for several more days of treatment.
The 6-foot-11 Brazilian was averaging career highs of 14.1 points and 14.4 rebounds this season
Comments