Jan 31, 2018 3 min read

Pirates get Smoker in deal with Mets

Left-hander Josh Smoker has been traded from the New York Mets to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league left-hander Daniel Zamora and cash.

The swap was announced Wednesday, five days after Smoker was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot after the Mets re-signed free agent infielder Jose Reyes.

Smoker was 3-0 with a 4.70 ERA for the Mets as a rookie in 2016, then went 1-2 with a 5.11 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings over 54 relief appearances last year. He was sidelined from June 14 to July 10 with a strained left shoulder and had a 2.63 ERA in 32 games following his return.

Smoker, who turned 29 in November, was the Washington Nationals’ first-round draft pick in 2007. He was released from the Nationals’ system and in 2014 played for the Rockford Aviators in the independent Frontier League, which includes the Washington Wild Things. Smoker had a 1-0 record and 6.52 ERA in 28 relief outings for Rockford.

The 24-year-old Zamora was 2-4 with nine saves and a 1.76 ERA last year from Class A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona, striking out 63 in 56 1/3 innings. He was a Florida State League All-Star.

Fox gets Thursday NFL games for $3B

Fox and the NFL have agreed to a five-year deal for Thursday night football games.

Those games previously were televised by CBS and NBC, two of the league’s other network partners. Fox announced Wednesday that it will televise 11 games between Weeks 4 and 15, with simulcasts on NFL Network and Fox Deportes.

Fox, which has the Sunday afternoon NFC package, will produce all of the games under the deal, which is worth a little more than $3 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the terms of the deal who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league didn’t announce its value.

“This is a single partner deal, we are not splitting the package,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call. “We had tremendous amount of interest from all the broadcast partners, all of whom wanted it exclusively.”

Goodell added that the league is exploring partnerships with digital outlets, also in conjunction with Fox.

The NFL has broadcast deals “five years out” with its other partners – ESPN has the Monday night package – so five years on this agreement made sense.

“Fundamentally, Fox was built on football,” said Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox, nothing that 25 years ago, the NFC package “helped launch a fledgling network into what it is today.”

CBS and NBC each paid $450 million for the previous two-year package.

Fox could have a conflict if weather causes a World Series game to be postponed from Wednesday to Thursday. In recent years, Series Game 2 and 6 have been scheduled for Wednesday.

Wild Things

sign pitcher

The Washington Wild Things have added a second pitcher out of the California Winter League. Washington announced Wednesday the signing of righthander Matt Kaster.

Kaster played four seasons of collegiate ball at Wilkes University and had a brief stint in the Frontier League with the Florence Freedom last summer.

In four years at Wilkes, Kaster logged 92 innings in 61 appearances. Kaster was a two-time all-conference selection and had a career ERA of 3.82. In 2016, he enjoyed his best year, when he was 3-3 in 20 outings with a 1.59 ERA in 34 innings.