KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals agreed to a $32 million, four-year contract with left-hander Jason Vargas on Thursday, trying to fill the void in their rotation created by Ervin Santanas free agency. Vargas was 9-8 with a 4.02 ERA in 24 starts for the Angels last season. He was 6-4 with a 3.65 ERA before going on the disabled list with a blood clot in his arm that required surgery. Kansas City was searching for a veteran to replace Santana, another former Angels pitcher who rediscovered himself in Kansas City. Santana went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA last season, driving up his price in free agency to the point where the Royals are unlikely to sign him. "Our medical team felt very comfortable, our scouting judgment was very sound, with the length of the contract as well. It all kind of lined up together," general manager Dayton Moore said. "We felt very confident and secure in making him a Royal." Vargas, a soft-tossing lefty who turns 31 in February, gets $7 million next season, $8.5 million in each of the following two years and $8 million in 2017. He had shown a propensity for giving up home runs, but that should be mitigated by cavernous Kauffman Stadium. That was the case with Santana, who also allowed homers by the bushel in Los Angeles before getting things under control in Kansas City. "The biggest thing for me was being in a place where I knew I would be at for a significant amount of time, and with an organization where I felt comfortable," Vargas said, "and I believed in what theyre doing and continuing to get better, and Kansas City was definitely at the top of that list going into the off-season." Vargas will be joining a club that finished 86-76 last season, its best finish since 1989, and was in contention for a playoff berth until the final weeks of the season. "What excited me about the team is how Ive seen the team grow and progress a lot over the last four or five years," Vargas said. "Their defence is spectacular and Im just hoping I can be a piece of the puzzle that helps move us forward." The Royals designated catcher George Kottaras for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. Vargas isnt the sort of splashy signing that will make Royals fans salivate, but he does solidify the back end of whats expected to be a young rotation. James Shields returns next season as their clear-cut ace and Jeremy Guthrie provides a dependable No. 2 starter. Danny Duffy is a near-lock to make the rotation out of spring training after he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery this past season, leaving one more spot in the rotation up for grabs among a handful of in-house candidates. Among those would could land the fifth spot are Wade Davis, Luke Hochevar and Will Smith -- all former starters who spent time last season in the bullpen -- and hard-throwing right-hander Yordano Ventura, who made his big league debut last season and dazzled in three September starts. Most people within the organization believe that Ventura will be in the rotation at some point next season, even if he doesnt earn a spot in spring training. Theres also a chance that Kyle Zimmer, their former first-round pick, will be ready at some point next season. Zimmer finished last season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. "Theres still ways we can improve our team, through the rotation, trying to add another bat, we feel like we have some quality young pitchers who are going to be competing for spots," Moore said. "Theres still a lot of opportunity out there to improve our starting pitching." Vargas, who missed the 2008 season with a torn labrum in his hip, is 51-58 with a 4.30 ERA in parts of eight seasons spent with the Marlins, Mets, Mariners and Angels. His best season came two years ago, when he went 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA in 33 starts for Seattle. If nothing else, Vargas should be able to eat innings. He was limited to 150 by his surgery last season, but went over 200 innings each of his final two seasons with the Mariners. "You try to get 200 innings out of your starters and Jason has been able to do that," Moore said. "Hes been one of the more consistent pitchers in all of baseball over the last few years, and we feel like hes right in the prime of his career." Wholesale Custom Baseball Jerseys . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . The club says its first-choice centre back "underwent medical tests on Wednesday morning" which confirmed he has injured his right hamstring. The injury was caused in the second minute of Tuesdays 4-1 league win over Real Sociedad in the Camp Nou when teammate Sergio Busquets accidentally struck Mascherano just above the knee with an outstretched boot. https://www.custombaseballnikejerseys.co...es-nike-jerseys. Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Custom Miami Marlins Nike Jerseys . Globo TV and other news outlets said early Monday that Scolari will not remain as coach after the national teams failure to win the World Cup at home. Custom Los Angeles Dodgers Nike Jerseys . Coming off a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal endured another demoralizing result after rallying for a 2-1 lead -- only to concede a fluke equalizer. LOS ANGELES -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says if the Los Angeles Clippers sell for US$2 billion, he has franchises worth more. The estranged wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling has said she has agreed to sell the NBA franchise to former Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer for that amount. Bettman said sports franchises are becoming increasingly valuable because of their prominence as media content. Speaking before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final, the NHL commissioner said the Clippers sale may be a unique case due to the Los Angeles market, the number of people in the L.A. area who wanted to buy the team and Ballmer himself. "It went for $2 billion, whether that means all franchises, either in the NBA or in any sport are proportionally impacted, Im not so sure to the dollar," said Bettman. "But if the Clippers are worth $2 billion, we have plenty of franchises that are worth at least that, if not more." On other matters, Bettman said the speed and timing of the game presented obstacles to expanding instant replay. The league would move slowly on the issue "and if we did do more things, youll see incremental -- youll see a handful of things that are vvery discreet.dddddddddddd And well have to test it. "But as you see in other sports its not so easy to implement it. And Im very comfortable with what we have. And Ive got to be as least as comfortable with anything new we try to undertake." Bettman gave a thumbs-up to the leagues divisional realignment and revamped playoff format, saying "by almost any measure this may have been the successful season on and off the ice in league history." He said concussions were down this season "moderate, low double-digits" as a percentage, with man-games lost down by about half. He said the concussion protocols were working and the league and players association were serious about them. "Theyre being enforced and we are doing what is necessary to enforce the concussion protocols. And if we think theres been a violation, we follow up. If in an appropriate case there needs to be discipline imposed, we will do it." He declined to provide specifics, however. But he did say that players have to be open about symptoms so they can be addressed. "Obviously its difficult for us to get into a players head, no pun intended, with this concussion discussion." ' ' '