Newsmakers

Signed: After spending much of the offseason wondering if he would continue his baseball career in Baltimore, Chris Davis formally signed a $161 million, seven-year contract, a deal that includes $42 million in deferred money that won’t be fully received until he is 51.

“Not only do I get the opportunity to spend the majority of my career in one place, but the opportunity to be with a franchise that has had so much success in the past and has so much history,” Davis said. “It’s something that not a lot of guys get the opportunity to do.”

Davis, 29, became a free agent after the 2015 season. He was pursued heavily by the Orioles, who finally struck a deal over the weekend pending a medical examination.

Davis will receive salaries of $23 million annually, but $6 million a year is deferred without interest. He will receive 10 payments of $3.5 million each July 1 from 2023-32 and five payments of $1.4 million every July 1 from 2033-37.

Davis had 47 homers and 117 RBIs last season. Since 2012, Davis leads the majors with 159 home runs and ranks fourth with 412 RBIs. Although he’s only been with the Orioles for 4 1/2 years, the slugger is 10th on the team’s career home run list with 161.

–Shortstop Alexei Ramirez and the San Diego Padres have finalized a $4 million, one-year contract.

The 34-year-old gets a $3 million salary this season under the deal, which includes a $4 million mutual option for 2017 with a $1 million buyout.

An All-Star in 2014, Ramirez dropped to a .249 average with 10 homers and 62 RBIs last season. He had spent his entire eight-year big league career with the Chicago White Sox, batting .273 with 109 homers and 542 RBIs.

–Left-hander Antonio Bastardo and the N.L. champion New York Mets have completed a $12 million, two-year contract.

Bastardo gets a $250,000 signing bonus, payable on June 30. The deal includes salaries of $5.25 million this year and $6.5 million in 2017.

The 30-year-old Bastardo was 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA and one save in 66 games last season as Pittsburgh won an NL wild card. He struck out 64 and walked 26 in 57 1-3 innings.

–Right-hander Kevin Jepsen has avoided salary arbitration with Minnesota by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $5,312,500.

The agreement gives the pitcher a raise of more than $2 million from his earnings of $3,025,000 last year. The settlement was above the $5,225,000 midpoint between the $5.4 million he had asked for and the $5.05 million Minnesota had offered when the sides exchanged proposed arbitration salaries last week.

Jepsen was acquired last summer from Tampa Bay Rays and had a 1.61 ERA in 29 appearances with the Twins, including 10 saves while closer Glen Perkins was injured. Jepsen pitched in an AL-high 75 games.

–Former big league pitcher Jared Burton has been suspended 50 games under baseball’s minor league drug program following a second positive test for a drug of abuse.

The 34-year-old right-hander pitched for Cincinnati (2007-11) and Minnesota (2012-14), going 18-19 with a 3.44 ERA and 10 saves in 367 relief appearances. He spent last year with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Class A Tampa in the New York Yankees organization and Triple-A Round Rock in the Texas organization, going 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 16 appearances.

He is a free agent, and his suspension will start when he signs with a big league organization.

–Veteran Josh Smith has been traded to the Houston Rockets from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Smith finished last season with the Rockets before signing with the Clippers in the offseason. Houston also received the draft rights to forward/center Sergei Lishouk and cash considerations in Friday’s deal that gave Los Angeles draft rights to forward Maarty Leunen.

Smith signed with Houston in December 2014 after being released by Detroit. He played 55 games for the Rockets last season where he averaged 12 points, six rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.24 blocks. The 12-year veteran, who was the 17th overall pick in the 2004 draft, has averaged 14.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in his career.

He played in 32 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds.

–Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst has received a contract extension after a winning first season with the Badgers.

The University of Wisconsin Athletic Board on Friday approved extending Chryst’s contract through Jan. 31, 2021. The UW Department of Athletics had recommended the extension.

Chryst’s original contract was for five years, through Jan. 31, 2020. He took over the Badgers program a year ago after Gary Andersen left for Oregon State.

Chryst’s contract had a rollover clause pending a performance review. Under his contract, he is due a $100,000 increase each year. His salary last year was $2.3 million.

Chryst led the Badgers to a 10-3 record in his first year. Wisconsin beat Southern California 23-21 in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30.

–CONCACAF has announced that Javier Hernandez and Carli Lloyd have been selected as the players of the year.

Hernandez scored the first goal in a 3-2 CONCACAF Cup triumph over the United States, which gave the Tricolor a berth in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Lloyd scored 18 goals and led the United States to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title and earned the Golden Ball award.

Goalkeeper of the Year honors went to USA’s Tim Howard and Hope Solo, while Panama’s Hernan Dario Gomez and USA’s Jill Ellis earned Coach of the Year. Lloyd was selected for Goal of the Year for a 16th minute score against Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup final.