Griffin Canning agreed to a $4.25 million, one-year contract with the New York Mets, giving them another option for the back end of their revamped rotation.

The 28-year-old right-hander can earn an additional $1 million in performance bonuses.

Canning went 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA during a disappointing 2024 season with the Angels, who traded him to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler on Oct. 31.

Canning was cut by the Braves weeks later, making him a free agent. He would have been eligible for arbitration, but Atlanta declined to offer him a 2025 contract.

Over five major league seasons, the 28-year-old Canning is 25-34 with a 4.78 ERA in 94 starts and five relief appearances — all with the Angels. He won a Gold Glove in 2020 but missed the 2022 season with a back injury.

Canning pitched a career-best 171 2/3 innings last season in 31 starts and one relief outing. He also set career highs in home runs (31) and walks (66) allowed.

He joins a Mets team with a projected rotation that includes Kodai Senga and David Peterson, plus newcomers Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes.

Canning, a Santa Margarita High graduate, was selected by the Angels in the second round of the 2017 amateur draft out of UCLA.

Left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who was non-tendered by the Angels last month, and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a two-year, $18.25 million contract. Sandoval will make $5.5 million in 2025 and $12.75 million in 2026, sources said.

Sandoval, 28, underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is not expected to pitch until the second half of 2025. The Mission Viejo High graduate struggled this year, going 2-8 with a 5.08 ERA in 16 starts before needing the surgery for elbow ligament replacement.

Over six MLB seasons, all with the Angels, he is 19-45 with a 4.01 ERA in 107 games (100 starts). In 2022, he posted a 2.91 ERA over 27 starts, throwing 148 2/3 innings, striking out 151 and walking 60. He followed with 28 starts and a 4.11 ERA in 2023.

The Dodgers paid the cost for their success in 2024.

The World Series champions topped Major League Baseball with a $353 million payroll and a $103 million bill for exceeding the Competitive Balance Tax threshold. In both cases, the New York Mets were a close second — a $347.15 million payroll and $97.12 million luxury tax bill.

The Dodgers’ payroll (and luxury tax) would have been much higher if not for deferred salaries included in several contracts (most notably Shohei Ohtani’s). The deferred salaries lower the average-annual value of those contracts as figured for CBT purposes.

A record nine teams topped the CBT threshold in 2024 with payrolls higher than $237 million – the Dodgers, Mets, New York Yankees ($316.2 million), Atlanta Braves ($276.144 million), Texas Rangers ($268.445 million), Houston Astros ($264.759 million), Philadelphia Phillies ($264.314 million), San Francisco Giants ($249.1 million) and Chicago Cubs ($239.85 million).

The nine teams will pay more than $310 million in luxury tax penalties with a small portion of the money going to funding player benefits and the majority going to lower-revenue teams. Six of the nine made the playoffs in 2024.

The Dodgers have exceeded the CBT threshold nine times in the past 12 seasons, including each of the past four, and have paid a total of $312.5 million in luxury tax penalties over that time.

The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and Phillies were taxed at a base rate of 50% because they’ve been over the tax in three or more consecutive years. The Braves and Rangers exceeded the threshold for the second consecutive year, earning a 30% tax rate. The Astros, Giants and Cubs were first-time offenders, earning a 20% tax on overages.

If a team dips below the threshold in any one season, its tax rate resets to 20%.

Because the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees were also all $60 million or more over the $237 million threshold, they were taxed an additional 60%, making their marginal rate at the maximum 110%.

A team’s CBT figure is determined using the average annual value of the contract of each player on the 40-man roster, plus any additional player benefits. Every team’s final CBT figure is calculated at the end of each season.

Teams were notified of their luxury tax bills earlier this month and must pay in January.

— Bill Plunkett

Three-time Gold Glove first baseman Christian Walker and the Houston Astros agreed to a $60 million, three-year contract.

Houston acquired infielder Isaac Paredes from the Cubs last weekend in the trade that sent outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago, and Walker’s agreement likely means the Astros plan to start Paredes at third and won’t re-sign third baseman Alex Bregman.

Walker, 33, hit .251 with 26 home runs, 84 RBIs, 55 walks and 133 strikeouts this year. That was down from 2023, when he batted .258 with 33 homers and 103 RBIs. He slugged a career-high 36 homers in 2022.

Walker played at South Carolina and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. He made his big league debut with the Orioles in 2014 but couldn’t stick in the majors and was claimed off waivers by Atlanta, Cincinnati and Arizona in a five-week span.

Third baseman Gio Urshela has reached agreement on a one-year contract with the Athletics.

The 33-year-old Urshela batted .250 with nine home runs and 52 RBIs last season between Detroit and Atlanta. A slick defensive player, He has also played for the Yankees, Cleveland, Toronto, Minnesota and the Angels during a nine-year major league career.

Outfielder Max Kepler and the Philadelphia Phillies finalized a $10 million, one-year contract.

Kelpler spent his entire 10-year career with the Minnesota Twins. Over 1,072 games, Kepler is a .237 hitter with 161 home runs and 508 RBIs.

He had just eight homers and 42 RBIs last season.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Parker Navarro ran for three touchdowns and passed for a fourth in the first half and Ohio held off Jacksonville State 30-27 on Friday in the Cure Bowl in Orlando.

The Mid-American Conference champion Bobcats (11-3) won their seventh straight game to set a school record for wins and won their sixthstraight bowl game, led 27-7 at halftime. Navarro scored on runs of 24, 8 and 7 yards before tossing an 11-yard pass to Anthony Tyus III.

The Gamecocks (9-5) were Conference USA champions.

DJ Lagway shrugged off a couple of first-half turnovers and threw for 305 yards and a touchdown to lead Florida to a 33-8 victory over Tulane (9-5) in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa.

Trey Smack kicked a Gasparilla Bowl-record four field goals for the Gators (8-5), who finish the season on a four-game win streak.

Tulane was outgained 529 yards to 194 and didn’t score until Ty Thompson threw a touchdown pass in the final minute.

NFL

The Kansas City Chiefs activated wide receiver Marquis “Hollywood” Brown from injured reserve, clearing the way for their biggest free-agent acquisition of the offseason to make his regular-season debut today against the Texans.

Brown dislocated the sternoclavicular joint in his shoulder on the first play of the preseason against Jacksonville.

Brown has 313 receptions and 28 touchdpowns over five NFL seasons with Baltimore and Arizona.

Baltimore waived wide receiver Diontae Johnson following a brief and troubled stint with the team in which the Ravens said he refused to enter a game against Philadelphia.

The former Steelers standout received a one-game suspension for that, missing last weekend’s win over the New York Giants. Baltimore then said it had excused him from practice this week. On Friday, he was cut loose as the Ravens prepare for a big game against Pittsburgh today.

Baltimore acquired Johnson from the Carolina Panthers in an October trade, but he caught only one pass in four games for the Ravens.

SOCCER

Expansion club San Diego FC selected 19-year-old Manu Duah, a 6-foot-4 freshman defensive midfielder from Ghana who started 14 games for UC Santa Barbara, with the No. 1 overall pick in Major League Soccer’s SuperDraft on Friday.