In Brief
BASEBALL
Marlins' Guillen believes he can
rehabilitate troubled Zambrano
The Miami Marlins are counting on excitable Ozzie Guillen to have a calming influence on quarrelsome pitcher Carlos Zambrano.
The plan may sound crazy, but say this for the Marlins: They've become harder to ignore.
Their latest offseason move was approved Thursday, when they acquired Zambrano from the Chicago Cubs for underachieving right-hander Chris Volstad. The Marlins believe Zambrano's career can be resuscitated by pairing him with fellow Venezuelan and good friend Guillen, the team's new manager.
"Ozzie has a long and close relationship with Carlos," president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. "We went with Ozzie on this one. The bottom line was Ozzie just really, really felt confident about this deal."
In Chicago, Zambrano was a three-time All-Star, but he also feuded with teammates, management and umpires. The final straw came Aug. 12, when he was ejected from a game, cleaned out his locker, talked about retiring and was suspended without pay.
Also: Apparently $240 million wasn't quite enough for Albert Pujols. In addition to his salary, the Los Angeles Angels are giving the slugger four season tickets to home games for the next decade.
He and the Angels still need to work out the location of the seats, which are his to enjoy for the duration of his contract. After that, if he still wants them, he has to pay.
Those details were contained in the terms of his deal that was filed with Major League Baseball and the players' association.
Other perks include:
■ Hotel suite on road trips.
■ Luxury suite at the ballpark for the Pujols Foundation, his charitable group, for 10 home games a year.
■ Right to buy a luxury suite between first base and third base for all home games.
Detroit Tigers standout Miguel Cabrera pleaded no contest in Florida to drunken driving.
Cabrera accepted a deal that spares him jail time. Charges of resisting an officer without violence and having an open container in a vehicle were dropped. The first baseman was arrested in Fort Pierce, Fla., in February after refusing to take a field sobriety test.
Boston Red Sox reliever Bobby Jenks has undergone a second spinal decompression procedure that could delay the start of his spring training.
Jenks, 30, is in the second year of a two-year, $20 million contract. He appeared in just 19 games last season with lingering back pain.
The Oakland Athletics have a familiar face to play center field after re-signing Coco Crisp to a $14 million, two-year contract with a club option for 2014.
Crisp hit .264 last season and tied for the American League lead with 49 stolen bases.
The Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed reliever Mike MacDougal to a $1 million, one-year contract with a club option for 2013.
The 34-year-old right-hander had a 2.05 ERA with a 3-1 record and one save in his first year with the Dodgers last season.
The Seattle Mariners signed free-agent Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to a one-year contract.
Iwakuma had a 107-69 record in 226 career games in Japan.
The New York Yankees said they failed to sign Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima.
The Yankees won negotiating rights to the 29-year-old Nakajima last month with a high bid of $2.5 million. But because they failed to reach an agreement within 30 days, they do not have to pay the posting fee and his rights revert to the Seibu Lions of Japan's Pacific League.
Nakajima hit .297 with 16 homers and 100 RBIs last season for the Lions.
TENNIS
Federer, Tsonga, Nadal, Monfils
reach semifinals of Qatar Open
Defending champion Roger Federer was tested for the first time at the Qatar Open in Doha before defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.
The third-ranked Federer set up a rematch of last year's semifinal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, after the Frenchman cruised past unseeded Albert Ramos of Spain, 6-2, 6-1.
Rafael Nadal also reached the semifinals, dispatching of Mikhail Youzhny, 6-4, 6-4. He will face Gael Monfils, who won the last four games in each set to beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 and ensure that the top four seeds reached the semifinals for the second straight year.
Also: France reached the Hopman Cup final in Perth, Australia, when Richard Gasquet defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-4 on his fifth match point to secure a 2-0 victory over Spain.
France will meet Australia in Saturday's final of the international mixed-team competition. Australia advanced with a 2-1 win over China.
The UNLV women's tennis team is ranked 36th and the men's team 60th in the first Campbell/Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of the year.
MISCELLANEOUS
Khan claims unidentified man
interfered in WBA/IBF title fight
British boxer Amir Khan posted a series of pictures on Twitter showing what he says is an unidentified man "interfering" with the WBA fight supervisor during his split-decision loss to American Lamont Peterson in their light-welterweight title bout.
Khan appealed the scoring and raised new questions about last month's fight on his Twitter feed, pointing out a man wearing a hat who sits down ringside next to WBA supervisor Michael Welsh during the bout. The man is seen leaning over Welsh several times and appears to pick up a scorecard at least twice.
Khan tweeted that the man's behavior is "strictly against the rules" and said: "Who is this guy? And what was he doing?"
The 25-year-old Englishman lost his WBA and IBF titles in the Dec. 11 defeat in Washington, D.C., after points were deducted twice for pushing.
Also: The Ottawa Senators are assured of having at least four familiar faces on the ice when they host the NHL All-Star Game this month.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson led all vote-getters in fan balloting, and captain Daniel Alfredsson and fellow forwards Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza also were elected for the Jan. 29 game.
The NHL said they will be joined by Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf and Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas in the game.
Mississippi basketball scoring leader Dundrecous Nelson was dismissed for a "violation of team rules" a day after he was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia by the Oxford Police Department.
The 5-foot-11-inch sophomore guard from Jackson, Miss., was averaging 11.6 points and also led the team with 20 steals.
Thomas Aiken shot a 9-under-par 64 at the Africa Open in East London, South Africa, for a one-shot lead after the first round of the European PGA Tour's season-opening tournament.
Aiken had five birdies and two eagles at the par-73 East London Golf Club to take his one-shot lead over fellow South Africans Retief Goosen and Jaco Ahlers.
