Donnelly signs one-year, $1.4m deal

The Red Sox avoided arbitration with 35-year-old reliever Brendan Donnelly last night by agreeing to a one-year, $1.4 million contract. Donnelly, who made $950,000 last season, sought $1.65 million and the Sox offered $1.15 million. Donnelly, who was 6-0 with a 3.94 ERA last season, was acquired last month from the Los Angeles Angels for lefthander Phil Seibel. The Sox' last remaining arbitration-eligible player is Wily Mo Peña. The 24-year-old outfielder is asking for $2.2 million; the Sox have offered $1.725 million.

The Red Sox will place single-game tickets for most 2007 home games on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. by phone and the internet. The club will limit purchases to eight tickets per person. Tickets can be purchased at (617) 482-4SOX or online at redsox.com . . . Righthander Tomo Ohka reached a preliminary agreement with Toronto on a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Ohka went 4-5 with a 4.85 ERA in 18 starts with Milwaukee last season, although he missed more than two months because of a partial tear of his right rotator cuff and didn't pitch in late September because of a strained right hamstring . . . White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik will be sidelined six weeks after having groin surgery, and the team is also close to signing first baseman/outfielder Darin Erstad, the Chicago Tribune reported on its website . . . Angels third baseman Dallas McPherson underwent surgery to remove a herniated disk in his lower back and is expected to be sidelined for most, if not all, of the upcoming season . . . Righthander Antonio Alfonseca, 34, agreed to a one-year contract with the Phillies for the major league minimum. Alfonseca was limited to 19 games last season for Texas because of a sore right elbow, but proved he's healthy playing in the Dominican Winter League . . . The Athletics traded righthander Kirk Saarloos, who went 7-7 in 16 starts and 19 relief appearances last year, to the Reds for minor league righthander David Shafer. The Reds also agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Mark Bellhorn . . . Reliever Rudy Seanez, 37, and infielder Fernando Tatis, 32, agreed to minor league contracts with the Dodgers. Seanez appeared in 49 games last season with the Red Sox and Padres, going 3-3 with a 4.92 ERA in 53 innings . . . Robinson Cano is switching numbers just in case Roger Clemens joins the Yankees, giving up No. 22 and taking No. 24. "He asked for that personally," Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said.

Soccer

The New England Revolution re-signed defender/midfielder Marshall Leonard and goalkeeper Doug Warren, and elevated midfielder Jeff Larentowicz to the team's 18-man senior roster. The Revolution also announced that developmental goalkeeper T.J. Tomasso has left the team . . . Manchester City terminated midfielder Claudio Reyna's contract, leaving the former US captain free to sign with Major League Soccer . . . Andriy Shevchenko scored twice to end a goal drought as Chelsea beat Wycombe, 4-0, to advance to the final in English soccer's League Cup. Chelsea next faces Arsenal or Tottenham, which begin their semifinal today.

Auto racing

NASCAR is revamping the format of its annual All-Star event, the Nextel All-Star Challenge, to add at least one more driver. The race, held annually at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C, will now be run in four 20-lap segments with an expanded field, which will now include both the first- and second-place finishers of the Nextel Open, as well as one driver voted in by the fans . . . Petty Enterprises, which has fielded stock cars from its headquarters in Level Cross, N.C., since NASCAR was formed in 1949, might move to Charlotte, 89 miles away, to better meet technical and personnel changes.

Colleges

An NCAA committee decided it will not expand its ban on postseason championships in South Carolina and Mississippi, where Confederate emblems are displayed on State House grounds. The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee had said the NCAA should continue its moratorium on bringing predetermined events, such as NCAA basketball regionals, to the two states. The ban, put in place in 2001, will not be expanded, however, to sites awarded on merit, such as baseball tournaments or football playoffs . . . Notre Dame sophomore point guard Kyle McAlarney, 19, was suspended for his arrest Dec. 29 on a marijuana possession charge, his mother said.

Miscellany

Former cycling world champion Johan Museeuw admitted he resorted to doping during the last year of his career. "I did things that I really could not do," he said. Museeuw, 41, and six other riders must stand trial later this year in a 2003 doping case where the retired champion and the others are charged with possessing the endurance-boosting drugs EPO and Aranesp. Museeuw always claimed in his defense that he never failed a doping test. "I did things which were not 100 percent by the rules," he said . . . Three-time Pro Bowl lineman Lincoln Kennedy, who retired from the NFL in 2004, signed with the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League . . . Former world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne announced on her website that she is separating from her husband, Yves, and plans to return to the WTA Tour next month in Paris . . . Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kyle Wellwood, 23, underwent successful hernia surgery and is expected to be out of eight weeks.