Reports: Mets to send Dickey to Blue Jays
NEW YORK, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The New York Mets have agreed to trade 2012 Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays, Fox Sports and others reported Sunday.
The broadcaster reported the trade first, followed by ESPN, The New York Times, the Sporting News and others.
Citing MLB sources, the outlets said the nine-player deal would send Dickey, catcher Josh Thole and a minor-league prospect to Toronto.
In exchange, catchers Travis d'Arnaud and John Buck, pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard and another unnamed prospect would reportedly move to the Mets.
The trade is dependent on whether the Blue Jays can negotiate a long-term deal for the knuckle-balling Dickey, who went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA in 2012, pacing the National League in innings, strikeouts, complete games and shutouts.
The deadline to reach a contract deal is Tuesday, Fox Sports said.
The prize for the Mets would be 23-year-old D'Arnaud, considered among the best hitting prospects in the minor leagues. He batted .333 with 16 homers in 67 games at Class AAA Las Vegas before ending his season in June with a torn left knee ligament.
Besides Buck, Toronto has already acquired all-star shortstop Jose Reyes, pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, and outfielder Emilio Bonifacio from the Miami Marlins during a busy off-season.
Ted Ligety wins men's giant slalom by 2.04
ALTA BADIA, Italy, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- American Ted Ligety turned in a blistering first run Sunday and cruised to victory in the World Cup men's giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy.
Ligety's first-run time of 1 minute, 17.10 seconds provided Ligety with a nice cushion that he parlayed into a 2.04-second win over second-place Marcel Hirscher of Austria.
"It's tough to go out in the second run when you're winning by 2.40," Ligety said. "You don't want to lose all that speed and not win but you also don't want to be so relaxed that you make big mistakes."
Ligety turned in a winning combined-run time of 2:37.27 on the icy, bumpy course. Thomas Fanara of France placed third with a 2:40.54.
Ligety remained in second place behind Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway in the overall World Cup point standings. Svindal finished in 12th place Sunday.
The win was Ligety's 14th in the giant slalom and tied him for fourth on the all-time win list for the demanding event with Austrians Benni Raich and Hermann Maier. Italy's Alberto Tombo has 15 GS wins and Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark leads the list with 46.
Schwartzel claims lopsided Euro Tour win
MALELANE, South Africa, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Charl Schwartzel cruised to his second lopsided win in two weeks Sunday, winning the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Arica by 12 strokes.
Schwartzel won the Thailand Golf Championship on Dec. 9, ending up 11 strokes ahead of the field. This week he had back-to-back 64s in building a 10-stroke lead through three rounds and used a 3-under-par 69 Sunday to finish off his ninth European Tour win.
It was his second Dunhill win -- his first European Tour win was at the event in December 2004. He's also finished second four times at the tournament.
His 72-hole total of 24-under 264 represented tournament records for score and strokes under par.
Kristoffer Broberg, was 2-under for the final round, and wound up at 12-under for second. Gregory Bourdy suffered a final-hole double bogey and shot 72 Sunday to slip into a tie for third with Scott Jamieson (68 Sunday), Garth Mulroy (68) and Andy Sullivan (69) at 11-under 277.
Schwartzel opened Sunday's play with seven consecutive pars and then had a bogey at the eighth hole. He answered with a birdie at No. 9 and had a solid second nine -- marked by birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 -- for his 70.
Play was delayed about 2 hours due to a thunderstorm when Schwartzel was about halfway through his round.
Vikings' Peterson nears NFL rushing record
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Adrian Peterson racked up 212 rushing yards Sunday in the Minnesota Vikings' 36-22 victory over St. Louis, nearing an NFL rushing record.
Eighty-four of Peterson's yards came on a long touchdown run for Minnesota, which improved to 8-6 and moved into a second-place tie with the Chicago Bears in the NFC North.
Peterson's total gave him 1,812 rushing yards on the season -- only 294 shy of Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season record of 2,105 with two games to play.
Christian Ponder went 17-of-24 for 131 passing yards and ran for a touchdown while Blair Walsh booted five field goals in the Vikings' victory.
