Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 9-11-20

Sports
Bucs Restructure
Deshaun Watson Becomes 2nd Highest Paid
Tom Seaver Dies – Mets Legend Dead At 75
Evans’ Contract To
QB Behind Patrick Mahomes
Create Salary Cap
Legendary New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver has died at the age of 75.
The New York Daily News
shared the news last week that Seaver died last Monday from complications of Lyme disease and dementia. The Baseball Hall of Fame adds that Seaver also had COVID- 19.
Seaver dropped out of public life in March 2019 after being diagnosed with demen- tia.
“We are heartbroken to share that our beloved hus- band and father has passed away,” Tom’s wife Nancy Seaver and daughters Sarah and Anne said in a statement to the Baseball Hall of Fame. “We send our love out to his fans, as we mourn
Room For Fournette
With the recent acquisi- tions of kicker Ryan Succop and running back Leonard Fournette the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were tight against the 2020 salary cap and had to once again go to Mike Evans for relief.
For the second time in two years since the team signed Evans to a five-year, $82.5 million contract in 2018, Bucs general manager Jason Licht and director of football administration Mike Green- berg have restructured the Pro Bowl wide receiver’s con- tract to create cap space.
The Bucs had just $2,185,547 worth of cap space available before adding run- ning back Fournette’s $2 million base salary to the team’s Top 51 cap values, which is how NFL team’s
MIKE EVANS
salary caps are calculated. Fournette has agreed to terms with the Bucs, but is in the COVID-19 testing protocol and won’t be finished with the protocol until Sunday – as- suming he does not test posi- tive – when he will be allowed inside the team’s headquarters to take his physical and sign his one-year deal, which is worth a maximum of $3.5 mil- lion with incentives.
DESHAUN WATSON Patrick Mahomes and
the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs host De- shaun Watson and the Houston Texans on Thursday in the NFL season opener at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs are the favorite to win this game.
After a Super Bowl MVP performance that gave the Chiefs their first Lombardi Tro- phy for 50 years with victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February, 2018 league MVP Mahomes was handed a colossal 10-year extension worth $503M that is the largest contract in American profes- sional sports history.
Watson received a four- year extension that will pay him a maximum of $177.5M.
Ja Morant Wins 2019-20 Kia NBA Rookie Of The Year Award
JA MORANT
The Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant has been named the 2019-20 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year. The 6-foot-3 guard is the second player to win the Rookie of the Year Award with the Grizzlies, joining Pau Gasol (2001-02).
Morant received 99 first- place votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earned 498 total points. Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn finished in second place with 204 points. New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson received one first-place vote and fin- ished in third place with 140 points.
TOM SEAVER
his loss with you.”
Seaver spent the bulk of
his 20-year MLB career with the Mets. He was NL Rookie of the Year in 1967 and won three Cy Young Awards dur- ing his career. Seaver is the Mets’ all-time leader in wins and won 311 games during his career. He also racked up 3,640 strikeouts, 61 shutouts, and posted a 2.86 earned run average during his Hall of Fame career.
Baseball Great Lou Brock,
Who Once Held The
Single-Season Stolen
Base Record, Dead At 81
Lou Brock, the Hall of Fame St. Louis Cardinals' out- fielder who topped 3,000 hits and retired as the all-time leader in stolen bases, has died at 81.
Dick Zitzmann, Brock's longtime agent and friend, confirmed Brock's death to The Associated Press, but he said he couldn't provide any details. In 2017, Brock was diagnosed with cancer, and in recent years, he lost a leg from diabetes.
Brock stole 938 bases in his career, including 118 in 1974 -- both of those were MLB records until they were broken by Rickey Hender- son.
Brock, who had a career batting average of .293, led the majors in steals eight times and scored 100 or more runs seven times. He also accumu- lated 3,023 career hits. In the postseason, Brock was even
LOU BROCK
more impressive. He had a .391 batting average, with four home runs, 16 RBIs, and 14 steals in 21 World Series games. He led the Cardinals to World Series titles in 1964 and 1967.
Brock's death came after Hall of Fame pitcher and New York Mets legend Tom Seaver died last Monday. Brock and Seaver faced each other 157 times, the most prolific matchup for both of them in their careers.
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