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Northwestern leading scorer Pete Nance announces he is transferring to North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Northwestern leading scorer and rebounder Pete Nance is transferring to North Carolina.The 6-foot-10, 225-pound senior forward announced his commitment to play his fifth year for the Tar Heels in a social media post Saturday. It’s a significant addition for North Carolina, offering a potential replacement for departing starter Brady Manek from a run to last season’s NCAA championship game.AdvertisementNance averaged 14.6 points and 6.5 rebounds for the Wildcats last season and shot 45.2% from 3-point range.The Tar Heels return four starters in big man Armando Bacot, guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis and versatile swingman Leaky Black. But Nance offers size with the ability to stretch defenses after UNC lost the 6-9 Manek, who transferred from Oklahoma and averaged 15.1 points while shooting 40.3% on 3-pointers.AdvertisementWith Manek helping to space the floor, the Tar Heels made a late-season push to a record 21st Final Four before falling to Kansas in the NCAA final in Hubert Davis’ debut coaching season.

Sports

Lorenzo Cain, a 2-time All-Star, is designated for assignment by the Milwaukee Brewers

CINCINNATI — On the same date that he reached 10 years of major league service, the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday designated for assignment two-time All-Star outfielder Lorenzo Cain.Cain, 36, hit .179 with one home run and nine RBIs over 43 games this season.Advertisement“It just got to a point where it’s probably time,” Cain told a small group of Brewers’ beat writers. “I haven’t been performing like I would’ve liked, but the situation is what it is. I’ve had a great career. I can’t really be upset about anything, but, yeah, it’s time. I wish all my teammates the best, coaches, trainers, everybody that I’ve played with or met throughout my entire career, I wish them nothing but the best. It’s been a really fun ride for me for sure.”Cain is in the last year of a five-year, $80 million contract he signed in January 2018 as a free agent. Milwaukee is responsible for the $10,897,121 remaining of this season’s $18 million salary. He is unlikely to be claimed off waivers because of his salary. If he is released, any team can sign him for a prorated share of the $700,000 minimum.AdvertisementWaiting until Saturday allowed Cain to be fully vested in the players’ pension fund.The center fielder played a key role for the 2015 World Series champion Kansas City Royals before signing with the Brewers, the team that originally drafted him before trading him in December 2010 to the Royals. He helped Milwaukee reach postseason play each of the past four seasons.“No doubt, he did his part,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “At the end, it was time for this. It was just time.”If Cain harbored any ill will, it didn’t show.“I would say it was mutual to part ways,” he said. “We have a really good team. I don’t think I was contributing the way I would’ve liked. I feel like they definitely had to make a move. I definitely would’ve liked to play a lot better – contribute to the team a little bit more – but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case this year.“At the end of the day, it’s been fun. I think that team can go really far. They’re really well-coached, well-managed. Those guys play their hearts out. I’m definitely gonna miss them. It’s been a fun ride for sure.”

Sports

Orioles GM Mike Elias says Angelos family lawsuit won’t ‘have any impact’ on team’s on-field plans

When Mike Elias was first introduced as the Orioles’ executive vice president and general manager in November 2018, he sat between brothers John and Louis Angelos as he promised to bring an “elite talent pipeline” to Baltimore. Now, that process again finds itself in the middle of the sons of principal owner Peter Angelos.On Saturday, Elias said he didn’t believe the lawsuit Louis Angelos filed last week against John Angelos and their mother, Georgia, partly regarding John’s handling of the club as the Orioles’ chairman and CEO, will have any impact on the team’s baseball operations department as it continues to oversee a rebuild now in its fifth season.Advertisement“It’s unfortunate and definitely not something that you like to see,” Elias told reporters gathered in the Orioles’ dugout at Camden Yards. “But, you know, this is a tough business. There’s always kind of crazy stuff going on in this business. We’ve had our challenges the last few years. We’re going to stay focused on the task at hand, work diligently, work smartly and keep doing the right thing for the Orioles. And I don’t think that this is going to have any impact on the play on the field or the team that you see.”Major League Baseball has encouraged Orioles icon Cal Ripken Jr. to join an ownership group if the team is sold, sources say.https://t.co/OAL9kmshEr— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) June 17, 2022

In his suit, Louis F. Angelos, 52, claimed John P. Angelos, 54, went against their 92-year-old father’s wishes in how he’s handled the family’s fortune, including ownership of the Orioles. Louis Angelos’ suit claims Peter Angelos, who has been in declining health for several years, wanted his sons to run the team equally but that John Angelos has seized control of the organization. The suit also claims that Georgia Angelos suggested selling the team, with John Angelos preventing a sale on at least one occasion.AdvertisementThe legal action brought the club’s future in Baltimore into question, though John Angelos has previously said, and reiterated in a statement following the suit, that the Orioles will play in the city “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.” The team’s lease at Camden Yards, which includes a non-relocation clause, goes through the 2023 season.Elias is mentioned in the suit, with Louis Angelos claiming that his brother directed Elias to fire then-club executive and former Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson because of Anderson’s loyalty to their father. On Saturday, Elias noted how vital John Angelos was in his decision to join the Orioles almost four years ago, citing the respect he had for the owners he had previously worked under in Bill DeWitt as a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals and Jim Crane as a scouting director and assistant general manager for the Houston Astros.“When I came here, I had other options, and John was a big part of why I came,” Elias said. “I think that we’ve got things moving in the right direction. Like I said, it’s been a tough couple of years. We’ve had a lot to navigate. There were a lot of unique challenges to the Orioles, and we’ve still got a lot of challenges ahead of us, but I look at the shape that we’re in in terms of being set up for the future and still continue to feel very bullish about that and excited about the way that this team is playing and what’s going on in the farm system and what’s going on in the Warehouse. We’re just gonna power through this, as you do in this industry for a lot of different stuff.”Wife of Orioles owner Peter Angelos says she has ‘full faith’ in son John Angelos as head of the team https://t.co/YIbB5eMLlx— Baltimore Sun Sports (@BaltSunSports) June 15, 2022

Under Elias, the Orioles have dramatically reformatted their front office, building out an analytics department and diving into international amateur scouting at a far steeper level than the organization had previously. Those investments have come as the major league team has had diminutive payrolls; Elias’ first three seasons leading the front office have each resulted in a top-five draft pick, based on the standings of the previous year.Although the Orioles (29-37) again have a losing record more than a third of the way into the 2022 season, they are improved in many areas and have one of the best minor league systems in the sport, the products of which are beginning to reach the majors. Adley Rutschman, baseball’s top prospect, was called up last month, and Grayson Rodriguez, the sport’s top pitching prospect, was excelling in Triple-A before a lat muscle strain shut him down.“I think I’ve been very consistent about the stuff that I’ve said since being hired in 2018, dating back to that press conference,” Elias said. “The support and relationship that the baseball ops department has had with the ownership group and John, leading the team and leading the ownership group, has been phenomenal. It’s been nothing but constructive, and it will continue to be so. We’re set up with a very talented and stable management team, both in terms of the baseball ops department, but the business side. John’s added a lot of depth to the organization. We’ve had to make a lot of tough changes and necessary changes to the way that the Orioles have done business. And, you know, it’s been a difficult few years, and it’s been a difficult process, but I continue to have nothing but good things to say about the way that he’s been running the company since taking the helm.”

Sports

Column: Tony La Russa vs. Dusty Baker is a rivalry that never grows old as the managers square off again

Baseball’s best rivalry grabs the national spotlight Sunday night when the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros meet in the finale of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park.Tony La Russa vs. Dusty Baker remains the gold standard of managerial rivalries, a throwback to the days of Billy Martin-Whitey Herzog or Tommy Lasorda-Sparky Anderson, when the battle of wits in the dugouts was as intriguing as the pitching matchups.AdvertisementThe narrative La Russa and Baker don’t like each other has softened since La Russa’s return to the Sox dugout last year. The 2021 postseason matchup gave both managers an opportunity to speak kindly of each other, and they outdid themselves in praising their old foes the first three games of the series.Then Astros reliever Kendall Graveman plunked José Abreu in Game 4, and after the series-ending loss an angry La Russa questioned the Astros’ character.Advertisement“That’s just a character shortage there they should answer for,” he said. “If they don’t admit it, they’re very dishonest.”Baker responded there was no ill intent on Graveman’s part.“I beg to differ with Tony,” Baker said.Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker Jr., left, and Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa greet each other before Game 3 of a baseball American League Division Series, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)The Sox signed Graveman in the offseason, and the two rivals are back to being BFFs, at least for now.As everyone knows, Baker has “begged to differ” with La Russa a time or two in the past. But at least there have been no expletives shouted at each other from opposing dugouts in the latest iteration of the feud. Who says you can’t mellow with age?Baker, 72, became the 12th manager to join the 2,000-win club last month, and the 77-year-old La Russa ascended to second on the all-time win list last season. So the “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast no doubt will focus on the numbers that certify both as Hall of Fame managers. La Russa, obviously, already is in, while Baker should be a shoe-in as the first Black manager to reach 2,000 wins.But it’s not the number of wins that define these two. It’s their ability to survive in an era in which managing a baseball game might be the least of their responsibilities.It’s hard to pinpoint the most difficult part of a manager’s job in 2022.AdvertisementDealing with reporters who ask too many negative questions before and after games? With highly educated executives who throw analytical reports on their desks as though they’re equals? With general managers who insist on pregaming pitching moves hours before the first pitch is delivered? With fans who complain on Twitter and talk radio that the managers are out-of-touch? More than anyone else in the baseball hierarchy, they’re getting it from all sides. No one boos the GMs or presidents because they’re heard but rarely seen.Managing is a job for a young person, someone with energy, enthusiasm and the ability to work in tandem with bosses they may not agree with on how to beat an opponent. La Russa and Baker have adapted to the new norm in different ways. They still make their own decisions, wear their mistakes, ignore the outside noise and project an image of authority. They’re comfortable in their own skin, having already accomplished more than their peers.But Baker looks relaxed and happy in the Astros dugout, chewing on his ubiquitous toothpick and aging gracefully in what could be the final season of his career. La Russa often looks spent after White Sox losses. He has been more confrontational in postgame news conferences, questioning reporters for asking innocuous questions about his decision-making, and pretending to be surprised anyone could disagree with his decision to intentionally walk Trea Turner on a 1-2 count, a move panned by virtually everyone.The guy screaming “He has two strikes, Tony!” after Tony La Russa intentionally walked Trea Turner on a 1-2 count to pitch to Max Muncy who proceeded to hit a three-run homer is peak chef’s kiss. (via @NBCSWhiteSox)pic.twitter.com/C9yaR0ZdBU— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 9, 2022

“Fire Tony” chants erupted at White Sox Park one game during the last homestand. The 10-run inning off Sox pitchers during Friday’s 13-3 loss at Minute Maid Park didn’t exactly appease the anti-La Russa faction. Delegating bench coach Miguel Cairo to conduct the in-game interview with Apple TV announcers suggested La Russa felt he was too important to be bothered. Baker did his in-game interview.When the 2022 schedule was unveiled, this weekend was marked as the biggest series of the first half. The Sox could prove their worth against the team that ousted them in the postseason.AdvertisementFriday was a complete flop, spoiling the momentum from the sweep of the lowly Detroit Tigers. La Russa, it has been said, hates to lose. And whether he admits it or not, he probably hates losing to Baker more than most managers. Their battles have been legendary, often surrounding someone being hit by a pitch or some other perceived slight. It was at its most heated in 2003 and ‘04 when Baker arrived in Chicago and La Russa had yet to win his first of two titles in St. Louis.“The Cardinals back then, with Tony, they never did much wrong, (but felt) most people were doing wrong to them,” Baker recalled in a Tribune interview years later. “Know what I mean?”Baker changed the culture of losing and briefly was beloved on the North Side for sticking it to La Russa and the hated Cardinals. Then he made the unfortunate prediction in 2003 that if the Cardinals manager “thinks (the fight) has been on so far, he has a whole decade of us coming.”It turned out to be one year.“Boy was I wrong,” he said with a laugh years later. “I said that?”Baker’s point was the tide had turned, and the Cubs no longer were a laughingstock.Advertisement“The Cardinals didn’t like you beating them,” he said. “They weren’t used to the Cubs beating them. Most of the time they were used to having their way with the Cubs.”St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker meet with umpires prior to the start of a game at Wrigley Field on May 9, 2003. (BONNIE TRAFELET / CHICAGO TRIBUNE)Now the shoe is on the other foot. The Sox are the ones trying to challenge Baker’s Astros in the American League, but Houston is having their way with them in the first year-and-a-half of the La Russa reboot. Injuries have depleted the Sox, but La Russa left spring training talking up the team’s depth, so injuries should not be a viable excuse for their sub-.500 record.This could be the last season to watch La Russa and Baker go head to head, so savor every moment.Baker signed a one-year extension with the Astros after taking his team to the World Series in 2021 and losing to the Atlanta Braves. He’ll be a free agent again, and has given no indication he’s ready to retire. La Russa’s deal wasn’t announced in 2020, but sources told MLB Network contributor and New York Post columnist Jon Heyman that La Russa was signed through 2023 at $3.75 million per year.Entering Saturday afternoon’s game, both had an all-time winning percentage of .536, with La Russa ahead by a mere .0007 of a percentage point.Not that either one is counting, of course.

Sports

Naomi Osaka pulls out of Wimbledon for the 2nd straight year, citing a lingering Achilles problem

Naomi Osaka pulled out of Wimbledon on Saturday, citing a lingering problem with her left Achilles tendon and marking the second consecutive year she’s decided to sit out the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.The four-time major champion and former No. 1-ranked player posted a photo of herself on a grass court and wrote on Twitter: “my Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time.”AdvertisementOsaka has not played an official match since losing in the first round of the French Open to Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-4 on May 24. During that match, for which she said she took a painkiller, Osaka tried to stretch her tendon by tugging on the toe of her shoe at changeovers and squatting to flex her lower leg between points.After that defeat, Osaka said she was leaning toward missing Wimbledon because the professional tennis tours aren’t ranking points awarded — a response to the All England Club’s decision to bar all players from Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine.Advertisement“I’m not sure why, but I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%,” Osaka said then. “I didn’t even make my decision yet, but I’m leaning more towards not playing, given the current circumstances.”Eugenie Bouchard, who was the runner-up at the All England Club in 2014, announced Friday on social media that she would not play at Wimbledon because there are no ranking points available. Bouchard is working her way back from surgery on her right shoulder.Osaka did not play at Wimbledon a year ago as part of a mental health break she took after pulling out of the French Open before her second-round match.She has not won a match at the All England Club since getting to the third round in 2018. Osaka lost in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019, and the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.All four of Osaka’s Grand Slam titles came on hard courts: at the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020 and at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.The 24-year-old Osaka has played only 17 matches this season and her ranking fell to No. 43 this week.