CHICAGO — Milwaukee Brewers reliever John Curtiss has gone on the injured list with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow less than two weeks after the team acquired him.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Wednesday that Curtiss is getting some second opinions before determining how to proceed. Curtiss exited the second game of the Brewers’ doubleheader sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday due to elbow trouble.
The NL Central leaders got the 28-year-old Curtiss in a July 30 trade that sent minor league catcher Payton Henry to the Miami Marlins. Curtiss went 0-0 with a 12.46 ERA in six games with Milwaukee after going 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 35 games with Miami.
“We traded for him with the idea of him pitching important innings and now that’s not going to happen, so we’ll have to amend that,” Counsell said.
The Brewers also placed reliever Angel Perdomo on the injured list with a lower back strain, but other players are returning to boost a bullpen that had been decimated the last couple of weeks due to COVID-19.
All-Star closer Josh Hader is expected to return from the COVID-19 injured list on Thursday. Hunter Strickland and Jake Cousins have come back from the COVID-19 injured list over the last couple of days.
The Brewers also have activated Justin Topa from the 60-day injured list. Topa hasn’t pitched at all for Milwaukee this season due to an elbow injury.
Counsell said the Brewers would have to be cautious in how they use Topa, who had been pitching on a minor league rehabilitation assignment.
In other moves, the Brewers recalled left-hander Hoby Milner from Triple-A Nashville and returned left-hander Aaron Ashby to Nashville.
Talking points can arrive when you least expect them. With a minute remaining of a humdrum, lethargic extra-time that Chelsea and Villarreal could clearly have done without, Thomas Tuchel made his first bold move of the season. Kepa Arrizabalaga, a £71m player named among the substitutes for the Super Cup, stepped forward to replace Edouard Mendy. Tuchel’s strategy was to be fully justified as Kepa, at full stretch to his right, batted away Raúl Albiol’s penalty to claim the trophy for Chelsea. The scale of celebrations from the Champions League winners – and the dejection easily visible among the Villarreal contingent – painted a picture of something that mattered.
Kepa’s contribution, such a belated one, was crucial. And yet it will be a surprise if he plays against Crystal Palace on Saturday. “We needed to do what was good for the team,” shrugged Tuchel. “Kepa has the better percentages at saving penalties.” Data gurus have a lot to answer for.
With Romelu Lukaku set to begin imminently for Chelsea, Tuchel must be content. His team were dominant in the first half here, with the failure to fully capitalise on that pressure likely to be offset by the prolific Belgian striker’s return. Villarreal, so pleasing on the eye under Unai Emery, offered considerably more threat in the second period but Chelsea looked – as should be the case – the superior side.
Tuchel had gone to great length during pre-match media duties to emphasise the significance of a fixture many would not unreasonably regard as a glorified friendly, even going so far as to suggest that he would be “angry” should any of his players treat Villarreal lightly.
This game was played amid a broader, uplifting context. There was a time when Belfast would never have been deemed suitable – or, to be precise, safe – for a marquee game such as this. Northern Ireland’s societal growth, the redevelopment of Windsor Park itself and the nation’s international football momentum as started by Michael O’Neill were all factors that made this venue choice sensible. European or global events need no longer be shielded from a city reborn.
Chelsea’s supporters, many of them locally-based, understandably made up the bulk of the 13,000 crowd, but two significant pockets of Villarreal followers, in their striking yellow, added to the sense of occasion. That Emery paid no attention whatsoever to the boundaries of the technical area, even during seemingly humdrum spells of the game, suggested he, too, was delighted at being here.
Tuchel sprung a slight surprise by deploying Trevor Chalobah among a three-man defensive line. This marked the 22-year-old’s first competitive start for Chelsea, after loan spells that have stretched from Ipswich to FC Lorient. Yet the Chelsea head coach had hinted before kick-off that unorthodox selections were likely.
Hakim Ziyech gets in front of Villarreal’s Alfonso Pedraza to open the scoring for Chelsea. Photograph: Lukas Schulze – UEFA/UEFA/Getty Images
He believes Timo Werner will benefit from the experience of his first season in England. Wastefulness remains Werner’s biggest issue; he should have scored from point-blank range after six minutes but instead allowed Sergio Asenjo to palm the ball away. As N’Golo Kanté flashed a 20-yard shot wide, Chelsea had an early grip of the game.
That much was emphasised by a wonderful opening goal. Marcos Alonso fed the marauding Kai Havertz on the left flank, with the latter delivering a menacing cross that narrowly eluded Werner. Hakim Ziyech appeared to stub his shot but, with Asenjo exposed, it found the net anyway. Emery’s agitation was quite the sight.
Villarreal responded through the recently recruited Boulaye Dia. Mendy saved smartly at the feet of his fellow Senegal international. Chelsea fired back through Alonso and Kurt Zouma, who both had decent opportunities to double the lead before the interval. Seconds before the break, Alberto Moreno crashed a volley off the underside of the Chelsea crossbar.
By that juncture Tuchel had received a yellow card for protests towards the referee and Chelsea had made an enforced change. Ziyech, hitherto a menace to the Villarreal defence, landed badly after challenging for a header inside his own penalty area. Christian Pulisic replaced Ziyech, who left the scene clutching his right shoulder. Tuchel later confirmed the injury seems “serious.”
Villarreal came within the width of a post of restoring parity, six minutes after the restart. A poor clearance from Mendy landed at the feet of Dia, who fed Gerard Moreno. With time and space to pick his spot from an angle, Gerard Moreno instead mixed up his angles. Villarreal were visibly boosted by the chance, Chalobah’s last-ditch clearance necessary to prevent Dia from surely nodding home.
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Villarreal were, though, to claim the equaliser their play at this point deserved. Dia supplied a glorious back heel that Gerard Moreno ran onto before clipping beyond Mendy. That glorious piece of attacking movement – assisted by Antonio Rudiger gifting possession to the Spaniards, it must be noted – had Emery dancing for joy. Rudiger later atoned by scoring Chelsea’s final penalty.
Alonso came closest to winning the game for Chelsea in normal time, his fierce shot rippling the side netting. Pulisic fluffed his lines when it looked easier to score. Mendy did not look perturbed at all about being summoned towards the bench. “He accepted it,” said Tuchel. Not that he really had much choice. Tuchel remains Chelsea’s man with the golden touch.
On Wednesday morning, the Washington Spirit announced that head coach Richie Burke has been suspended pending an investigation in response to a Washington Post report alleging abusive behavior by Burke toward current and former players. A day earlier, the club said that Burke was being reassigned due to “health concerns,” but sources told The Athletic that he was removed from his position and not merely reassigned.
Four players interviewed for the Washington Post’s piece explained Burke’s pattern of emotional and verbal abuse, saying he regularly berated and threatened them. They also revealed a pattern of racially insensitive behavior, with former Spirit player Kaiya McCullough describing one incident in which Burke used the “n-word” at a team dinner.
“While the N.C.A.A. process found violations that occurred between 2011 and 2016, we can confidently say Baylor is a much different university today than it was three, five and certainly 10 years ago,” the officials, President Linda A. Livingstone, and the athletic director, Mack B. Rhoades IV, wrote.
The allegations around Baylor’s football program, which have led to some criminal cases and convictions, were shocking in their scope and violence when they surged into the national consciousness in 2015 and 2016. University regents said years ago that at least 19 players had been accused of sexual misconduct since 2011, a figure that some people have suggested was an undercount, and investigators found that Baylor officials had tried to shield players from scrutiny by the university or law enforcement.
The crisis ultimately led to the resignations or firings of the university’s president, Ken Starr, who had been the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton; its football coach, Art Briles; and the athletic director, Ian McCaw.
Although the N.C.A.A. committee wrote that Briles had “failed to meet even the most basic expectations of how a person should react to the kind of conduct at issue in this case,” a lawyer for the coach said Wednesday that Briles had been “exonerated and cleared of all N.C.A.A. violations.” The lawyer, Scott Tompsett, added that Wednesday’s decision “clears the way for Mr. Briles to return to coaching college football.”
In a text message, McCaw said that it was “tragic that Baylor’s decades-long, campus-wide sexual assault scandal arose due to systemic failings.” Starr, who told the N.C.A.A. committee that Baylor’s shortcomings had amounted to “a colossal operational failure,” did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the scrutiny by the N.C.A.A., Baylor, whose campus is in Waco, Texas, has faced a criminal inquiry and a wave of civil litigation related to the sexual assaults. Baylor prevailed in one of those cases in June, when a jury in Houston determined that, under a state law, the university was not responsible for the sexual assault of a woman in 2017.
But Baylor has been penalized in other ways. In October, for instance, the U.S. Department of Education fined the university more than $461,000 in connection with violations of a federal law that governs campus crime statistics. The university has also reached settlements with some women who brought claims under Title IX, the federal law that effectively prohibits sexual harassment and assault in educational settings.
Lionel Messi spoke at his first news conference as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Wednesday and said after a “very tough” end to his Barcelona career, his target is to win the Champions League again.
PSG announced Messi’s arrival on Tuesday with the former Barcelona player signing a two-year contract, with the option of a further year. Sources told ESPN’s Julien Laurens that Messi is expected to earn between €30-35 million ($35-41m) net a year.
– Messi’s tearful farewell on Barcelona’s day like no other – The definitive timeline of Messi’s Barcelona career – Merci, Messi! ‘A new diamond in Paris’
Messi was presented at the news conference at PSG’s Parc des Princes and his name was chanted amid a round of applause as he took his seat alongside club president Nasser al-Khelaifi.
He spoke about his desire to win the Champions League for a fifth time, the end to his career at Camp Nou, and his excitement at playing alongside teammates Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
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Julien Laurens talks about Lionel Messi’s unveiling as a PSG player and explains how Messi could finally bring a Champions League title to Paris.
“My exit from Barca was very tough, after so many years, but as soon as I arrived here I was so happy, so motivated, so excited. It has happened so fast, but I am enjoying it so much,” Messi said.
“My goal and my dream is to win the Champions League once more. I think that we have the team to do it here.
“The squad and coaches here are capable of winning everything, which is my objective. The team here is incredible. There have been some amazing signings. This will be an unbelievable experience for me. I do not know when I will first be able to play and I might need some preseason conditioning first. I really want to begin the training sessions, I really want it to be quick.”
On his teammates Neymar and Mbappe — the top two most expensive players in history at €222m and €180m respectively — Messi said: “I am very happy. It’s crazy. I’m going to play with the best players in the world, and that’s always good.”
Wednesday’s news conference was moved from its original slot of Tuesday as the club needed more time to cope with logistics, given the worldwide media interest in the transfer of the six-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Messi spoke at his Barcelona farewell news conference on Sunday and said PSG were an option and, speaking Wednesday, thanked the new club for how quickly negotiations were concluded. The Argentina international, who won the Copa America with his country this summer, also spoke about the possibility of facing his former club in the Champions League this season.
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Ale Moreno joins SportsCenter to explain that only a Champions League trophy counts as success for PSG now.
“I am very grateful that such complicated negotiations were made so easy,” he said. “I left Barcelona without knowing where I was going. This week has been hard, quick and emotional. But I am excited about this new stage for my career and my family.
“[PSG] had positioned themselves from the first day, even though it wasn’t easy in these conditions. I want to thank the club for the work it’s done and the welcome I’ve had.
“The Barca fans knew I’d join a good club, fighting for the Champions League, because they know me, I like to win, I’m a winner and I want to carry on doing that.
“I don’t doubt that PSG’s objectives are to win and grow. It would be nice on the one hand to face them in the Champions League, especially with fans, but on the other strange to go back to my home in another team’s shirt — but that’s football.”
Messi moved to Paris after Barcelona failed to register his five-year contract at Camp Nou due to financial complications surrounding LaLiga’s rules on salaries. Messi’s proposed deal meant Barcelona’s wage bill stood at 110% of their revenue, way above the 70% limit. Their spending cap with LaLiga has dropped from over €600 million in 2019-20 to an expected €200m for the coming season, which made it impossible to register Messi’s new deal, even with a pay cut. His previous terms included a base salary of around €70m gross without bonuses.
“I am speaking from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to everybody for making this happen. Bringing the best player in the world here. The hard work starts now,” Al-Khelaifi said.
“This is an amazing and historic day for the club and football world. Leo makes football magic, beautiful … he’s a winner. It’s no secret there was a great desire [between PSG and Messi] to make this happen.
“We have someone here next to me, he won lots of trophies and I am sure he will bring lots of trophies to the club, with his squad, with his teammates, the best players in the world, and amazing coach, for me he is the best in the world.”
Al-Khelaifi was also asked about Mbappe’s future and the financial fair play ramifications of Messi’s move to PSG. Mbappe’s contract at PSG is due to expire in 2022.
“I was waiting for that question,” Al-Khelaifi said. “We have always respected financial fair play. We checked with our financial people and knew that we could sign him. What the media need to focus on is not just the negative but also the positives that he will bring.
“I think we have the most competitive team. Now there is no choice for Kylian but to stay here in Paris.”
Al-Khelaifi said people would be “shocked” by the financial revenues Messi would bring the club, though he quipped: “I hope Leo will not ask for more salary.”
Messi scored a record 672 goals in 778 appearances for Barca, winning 10 LaLiga titles, the Copa del Rey seven times, the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup three times apiece and the Champions League on four occasions.
In July, he also won his first major international honour when he helped Argentina win the Copa America.
The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve placed lefty Carlos Rodon on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 8, due to left shoulder fatigue. Right-hander Matt Foster is up from Triple-A Charlotte to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also announced that catcher Yasmani Grandal, who’s been out since early July after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his knee, will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Double-A Birmingham.
Rodon, 28, had been lined up to start tomorrow’s Field of Dreams game against the Yankees, but that start will now instead go to righty Lance Lynn. The South Siders haven’t provided a firm timeline for Rodon’s recovery, but manager Tony La Russa tells reporters he expects it to be longer than a minimum stint on the IL (Twitter link via ESPN 1000’s Connor McKnight). Notably, Rodon has a history of shoulder troubles. He underwent shoulder surgery back in 2017 and missed most of the 2020 campaign with shoulder pain as well.
The ChiSox have had the American League Central more or less wrapped up for quite some time now, so there’s little sense in rushing Rodon back. His absence won’t seriously hinder the team’s commanding 10.5-game lead in the Central, and the team’s focus is surely on making sure he’s at full strength to close out the regular season and play a pivotal role in the postseason rotation.
Rodon serving as a key to the Sox’ postseason starting staff would’ve seemed far-fetched, to say the least, not long ago. The White Sox non-tendered Rodon last December after a pair of injury-ruined seasons in 2019-20 that saw Rodon combine for a grisly 5.74 ERA in 42 1/3 frames.
That non-tender looked to end Rodon’s time with the Sox, but just shy of two months later, he returned on a one-year, $3MM deal. It wasn’t the most well-received signing in recent memory among White Sox fans, but Rodon has proved any naysayers wrong by not only rebounding to previous levels but instead rising to new heights entirely, as recently explored by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco.
The 2021 version of Rodon has been the overpowering ace that the Sox perhaps hoped he’d eventually become when selecting him with the No. 3 overall draft pick back in 2014. Through 19 starts this season, Rodon has pitched 109 2/3 innings of 2.38 ERA ball while fanning an outstanding 36.2 percent of his opponents against a very tidy 6.8 percent walk rate. He’s bumped his average fastball velocity to a career-high 95.8 mph, fanned 10 or more hitters on five occasions and thrown a no-hitter that was very nearly a perfect game.
Along the way, Rodon has cemented himself as one of the team’s frontline starters, joining the aforementioned Lynn among the league’s more dominant hurlers. Rodon’s ERA is sixth-best among pitchers with at least 100 innings thrown — Lynn leads the way at 2.04 — and no pitcher in baseball has whiffed a higher percentage of his opponents (again, min. 100 innings pitched).
The injury shouldn’t impact the White Sox’ chances of reaching the postseason. However, Rodon himself would be best-served with a quick return to full strength, as he’s set to return to the free-agent market this winter. The dominance he’s shown to date should already position him for a hefty multi-year contract, but a lengthy absence may give teams some pause — particularly given the deep free-agent class and the number of alternative options on the market. He’ll already be viewed much differently than when the Sox cut him loose back in December, but a quick return and healthy finish would make for an even more bullish outlook.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz and guard Quenton Nelson are trending toward recovering from foot surgeries in time for next month’s regular-season opener against the Seattle Seahawks, sources told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
The Colts announced last week that Wentz and Nelson would be sidelined five to 12 weeks after operations to repair the same foot injury.
Wentz, who had surgery Aug. 2, will start his rehab next week but was at the Colts’ training camp practice Tuesday without a walking boot and without limping.
The Colts hope to have a better indication of both players’ rehabilitation status once they are two weeks post-surgery.
With Wentz out, sixth-round rookie Sam Ehlinger has split the first-team practice snaps with Jacob Eason and will continue to do so in Thursday and Friday’s joint practices with the Carolina Panthers.
Eason had been considered in the lead to start if Wentz did not recover in time to face the Seahawks, but coach Frank Reich referred to Eason as the starter “right now” multiple times after Saturday’s practice.
How much Wentz plays in 2021 will affect the Colts’ compensation in their trade for the quarterback. The Colts gave the Philadelphia Eagles a conditional 2022 second-round pick that could become a first-rounder if Wentz either plays at least 75% of Indianapolis’ offensive snaps or plays 70% of the snaps and the team reaches the playoffs.
Nelson, who underwent surgery Aug. 3, has been an All-Pro in each of his three NFL seasons while starting all 48 regular-season games and three playoff games.
Information from ESPN’s Mike Wells was used in this report.
WESTFIELD, Ind. — Colts owner Jim Irsay has locked up head coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard with contract extensions through the 2026 season, the team announced Wednesday.
Ballard’s new deal has been complete since June, while Reich finalized his deal last week, a source told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
“We have as great a general manager-head coach combination as there is in the NFL, and I can’t tell you how proud I am to have them leading our franchise,” Irsay said in a statement. “I truly believe this football team is on the doorstep of great things, and that’s because of the culture both have cultivated in their time with the Horseshoe.”
Irsay, who constantly talks about winning multiple Super Bowls, gave an indication of Ballard’s and Reich’s contracts in March.
“I really believe that you will see a golden era develop as we go into this decade sitting here in 2021,” Irsay said at the time. “I believe it with all my heart and soul. There is good reason to believe it. You talk to people around the league and people that know, they are going to agree with what I’m saying when they look at Chris Ballard and Frank Reich and the expectations going into this decade that we have for both of them leading the team.”
Ballard replaced Ryan Grigson as general manager in February 2017. Reich was not even Ballard’s first choice to be head coach. Reich didn’t get in the mix for the job until Josh McDaniel reversed course and decided to return to New England as offensive coordinator after agreeing to be the Colts’ head coach in February 2018. Ballard acknowledged later that he made a mistake by not putting Reich on the list of his initial head-coaching candidates.
Reich and Ballard’s relationship has been strong because of their common vision on how a roster should be built while having the patience to see it through.
Rather than spend substantial money on free agents, Ballard has taken a patient approach to building the roster through the draft. Some of Ballard’s notable draft picks have been guard Quenton Nelson, linebacker Darius Leonard, right tackle Braden Smith and running back Jonathan Taylor. Nelson has been named an All-Pro in each of his first three seasons in the NFL, while Leonard has been named to the All-Pro team twice.
Ballard and Reich have endured almost nonstop issues at quarterback. It started with Andrew Luck missing the 2017 season with a shoulder injury, then surprising everybody by retiring two years ago this month; now Carson Wentz is out five to 12 weeks with a left foot injury.
The Colts are 32-32 and have made the playoffs in two of four seasons under Ballard. Reich is 28-20 in three seasons with the Colts.
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 10: Lionel Messi poses with the Paris Saint-Germain jersey after signing a 2 year contract at Parc des Princes on August 10, 2021 in Paris, France.
Photo by Paris Saint-Germain Football/PSG via Getty Images
Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi says the world will be “shocked” by the financial revenues generated by the club’s signing of global soccer superstar Lionel Messi.
Messi signed a two-year deal with PSG, with an option for a third, that will net him an annual salary of $41 million plus bonuses and a reported $30 million signing fee.
The signing is expected to bring a windfall of commercial revenues, through such avenues as jersey sales. When Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Italian giants Juventus in 2018, more than $60 million worth of his shirts were sold in just 24 hours.
Speaking at a press conference for Messi’s unveiling as a PSG player on Wednesday, Al Khelaifi suggested the club may release more precise figures behind the deal at a later date, but told reporters that they would be “shocked, honestly, at the numbers we have.”
“I just hope [Messi] will not ask for more salary,” he joked.
Messi left FC Barcelona last week after financial rules imposed by Spain’s La Liga made it fiscally impossible for the troubled club to follow through on his five-year contract agreement.
The 34-year-old Argentine broke down in tears when bidding farewell to Barcelona on Monday, and told Wednesday’s press conference that the past week had been an “emotional rollercoaster.”
He has won FIFA’s player of the year award and the European Golden Shoe for the continent’s top scorer a record six times each, and departed Barcelona after two decades with the Catalan club, in which he contributed 672 goals in all competitions and won 34 trophies.
Kieran Maguire, lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, told CNBC on Wednesday that while the deal may not have a huge commercial impact on France’s ailing Ligue 1, it will further bolster the already dominant PSG.
“They put 150,000 shirts on sale on their website last night at 10 p.m. U.K. time and they had sold out within seven minutes, so there are certainly opportunities from commercializing and monetizing the Messi name, and that will have allowed the club to have funded his salary,” Maguire explained.
Champions League dreams
Messi — considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time — will line up at PSG alongside his former Barcelona teammate, Brazilian superstar Neymar, and 22-year-old French phenom Kylian Mbappé, to form a formidable front three at the Parisian giants.
Along with looking to regain the French Ligue 1 title, PSG is seeking an elusive first UEFA Champions League crown, having fallen to Manchester City in the semi-final last year. Owners Qatar Sports Investment have spent extravagantly to build a star-studded squad in the hopes of dominating European football.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out there in the field and my hopes of winning remain intact, and that is the reason why I am here,” Messi told the press conference.
“I want to win another Champions League and I think I’m in the right place to do that.”