Newsmakers

Signed The Washington Nationals agreed to terms with 2B Dan Uggla and veteran reliever Heath Bell on minor league deals with invitations to major league spring training. Uggla, 34, hit .194 last year with Atlanta and San Francisco. The Braves still owe Uggla $13 million for 2015. Bell, 37, a three-time All-Star with 168 career saves, had a 7.27 ERA in 13 appearances with Tampa Bay.

Returned Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda will return to Japan in 2015 to pitch for his first team, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Reports say Kuroda, who turns 40 in February, signed a one year contract worth $3.3 million. Kuroda pitched for Hiroshima from 1997-2007. He spent four years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and three seasons with the New York Yankees.

Retired West Virginia senior QB Clint Trickett is retiring from football because of concussions and won’t play in the Liberty Bowl on Monday against Texas A&M. Coach Dana Holgorsen indicated that Trickett wasn’t cleared to play and sophomore Skyler Howard would start. Trickett said he plans to go into coaching and referred to it as the “family business.” Trickett is the son of Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett. “I know he’s going to be a hell of a coach one day,” Holgorsen said.

Announced Pittsburgh announced longtime Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi as its new coach. Narduzzi replaces Paul Chryst, who left Pitt last week to become the coach at Wisconsin. Narduzzi won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant in 2013. The Panthers are 6-6 heading into the Armed Forces Bowl against Houston on Friday.

Fined New York Knicks forward Quincy Acy was suspended one game without pay for his flagrant foul against John Wall in a Christmas game. Wall was fined $15,000 for escalating the confrontation by pushing Acy. Acy will miss the Knicks’ game at Sacramento today.

Died Former Harlem Globetrotter Robert “Showboat” Hall, who spent nearly three decades with the team, died Wednesday in his hometown of Detroit, the team said. A cause of death and his age were not immediately available. Hall played in more than 5,000 games before his 1974 retirement.

• Joe Macko, who hit 306 home runs in nearly 2,000 minor league games before a long career as a clubhouse manager with the Texas Rangers, has died. He was 86. The team said Macko died Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.