Sources: Pujols to manage in ’24-25 winter ball
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
Future Hall of Fame first baseman Albert Pujols has agreed to manage the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido during the 2024-25 winter league, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
The Leones play in Santo Domingo, where Pujols grew up. He later played for Escogido in the lead-up to a 2022 season that became his last as a major league player. Pujols — one of only two men, along with Hank Aaron, to reach 700 home runs, 3,000 hits and 2,000 RBIs — aspires to someday be a major league manager. His stint with Escogido will be a first step in his hopes of accomplishing that goal.
Since retiring after the 2022 season, Pujols, 44, has done on-air work for MLB Network and has been hired by Major League Baseball as a special assistant focusing mostly on the sport’s outreach in the Dominican Republic.
Pujols’ longtime St. Louis Cardinals teammate, Yadier Molina, managed the Puerto Rican Criollos de Caguas team that reached this year’s Caribbean Series.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and safety DeShon Elliott have agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million extension with $9.21 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Elliott, 28, was one of the Steelers’ best run defenders last year with 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 4 tackles for loss and 108 combined tackles.
NFL Network first reported the deal.
A former sixth-round pick, Elliott spent his first four seasons in the league with the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions before joining the Miami Dolphins for one year.
The Steelers signed Elliott as a free agent to a two-year deal before the 2024 season.
He has 395 tackles in 72 career games.
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Tisha Thompson
Ippei Mizuhara, the disgraced former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is in federal prison in Pennsylvania, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told ESPN on Monday.
Mizuhara, 40, was ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Monday. He is in custody at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood Low, a low-security facility, after being sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani.
Mizuhara was initially ordered to report to prison in March, but a federal judge granted the delay. The reasons for the delay remain under seal.
Mizuhara’s attorney declined ESPN’s request for comment, but previously stated that he expects Mizuhara, a Japanese citizen, to eventually be deported.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara in March 2024 after an ESPN investigation revealed he sent millions in wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to an illegal bookmaker. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return in June 2024, admitting that he placed about 19,000 bets with the bookie over a two-year period and accumulated over $40 million in debt.
The bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, pleaded guilty in August to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and subscribing a false tax return. He is awaiting sentencing.
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