Williams, Giants Agree to Terms on New Contract

Third baseman Matt Williams, who could have become a free agent after the 1994 season, agreed Tuesday to the eighth-highest average salary in the major leagues, a $30.75-million, five-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.

Combined with outfielder Barry Bonds’ record $43.75-million, six-year contract, the Giants have guaranteed $74.5 million to two players. San Francisco lost Will Clark to free agency, deciding not to offer a five-year contract, and the first baseman agreed last month to a $30-million, five-year deal with the Texas Rangers.

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Left-hander Brien Taylor, 22, selected first in the 1991 amateur draft by the New York Yankees, will sit out the 1994 season after reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder. He suffered a dislocated shoulder during a fight on Dec. 18 in North Carolina. . . . Catcher Chris Hoiles and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a one-year contract worth $2 million. . . . Outfielder Darrin Jackson and the Chicago White Sox agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract with performance bonuses that could double his pay. . . . Pitcher Greg Harris, acquired by the Colorado Rockies from the San Diego Padres on July 26, agreed to a one-year contract and avoided salary arbitration. . . . Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning home run in 1951 has been voted baseball’s most memorable moment in a survey of fans conducted by Baseball America.

Boxing

The manager of Riddick Bowe announced a plan for his fighter to meet World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield a third time next May or June, saying he has a commitment of at least $20 million to pay for the bout--though no commitment from Holyfield. Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, said he has been engaged in discussions with Holyfield’s adviser, the entertainer Hammer, Caesars World and pay-per-view channel TVKO.

Holyfield’s manager, Shelly Finkel, had been planning a unification bout against World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis, but both the WBA and IBF have said they will strip Holyfield of his titles if he doesn’t first fight No. 1 challenger Michael Moorer.

Finkel said he called Holyfield after hearing Newman’s comments, and that Holyfield said he will not fight anybody if it means being stripped of a title.

Former champion Vinny Pazienza knocked out Dan Sherry in the 11th round of a scheduled 15-rounder at Aspen, Colo.

Miscellany

Doctors determined that the soreness in Charlotte Hornet forward Larry Johnson’s lower back is a deep sprain not linked to a herniated disk that is on the mend. Johnson’s status is listed as day-to-day. . . . Craig Patrick, general manager of the Penguins, was charged with drunken driving and speeding charges in Pittsburgh early Tuesday. . . . John Quinn, lost overboard for five hours in his 13th Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race, was brought into Eden, Australia, a tiny fishing port, aboard the yacht that picked him up after a night treading water in waves up to 23 feet, whipped by 92-m.p.h. winds. . . . Ray (Muscles) Bray Sr., a guard for the Chicago Bears from 1939 to 1951, died Sunday in Mesa, Ariz. He was 76.

Drazen Petrovic, the New Jersey Net guard from Croatia who was killed in an automobile accident in Germany last summer, was honored as the best European player of 1993 in the yearly survey by Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport of Milan. . . . Fire gutted the suburban Philadelphia home of former Eagle linebacker Bill Bergey. There were no injuries. . . . USC’s ninth-ranked women’s basketball team will risk its 5-0 record tonight against Western Michigan (5-1) in the opening round of the USC Christmas Tournament at the Lyon Center. Second-ranked Iowa (5-0) will play Houston (5-3) in the first game of the doubleheader at 6. . . . Marine Cano, coach of the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Cal State Dominguez Hills since 1985, has become director of soccer and women’s soccer coach at UC Irvine.