Braves Keep Wohlers in $13.1-Million Deal

Reliever Mark Wohlers is becoming the newest multimillionaire with the Atlanta Braves.

Wohlers agreed to terms on a three-year contract on Wednesday, one that will pay him $13.125 million. The club has an option for a fourth year at $5.5 million with an $800,000 buyout clause.

Wohlers, who will be 27 on Jan. 23, set a franchise record with 39 saves in 1996, striking out 100 batters in 77 1/3 innings. He was Atlanta’s 10th selection (eighth round) in the 1988 June draft.

In a four-year career, Wohlers has a 26-14 record with a 3.28 earned-run average and 71 saves.

The two-time defending National League champions have already given a four-year, $31-million deal to Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz and a four-year, $18-million pact to starting pitcher Denny Neagle.

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Baseball’s 10-man executive council will serve as the search committee for a new commissioner, owners meeting in Arizona said.

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig, who heads that ruling body, will not participate in the search. Selig told the council in a Tuesday night meeting that he does not want to retain the post, owners said. Selig’s statement is consistent with his public position, but many in baseball believe he could be talked into the full-time role.

Either Colorado Rocky owner Jerry McMorris or New York Met co-owner Fred Wilpon is expected to serve as chairman of the council’s search.

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David Wells, who broke his pitching hand in a brawl Sunday only weeks after signing a three-year, $13.5-million free-agent contract with New York, was expected to recover in four weeks instead of the original six, Yankee doctors said after examining him. It would put Wells, who could still be charged in the incident, back on schedule to report to spring training with pitchers and catchers.

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Dodger center fielder Brett Butler, preparing for another year of baseball after cancer surgery last May, says he might eventually pursue a career as a broadcaster, a manager or a general manager after receiving the Branch Rickey Award in Denver. The award is given annually by the Rotary Club to a baseball person who excels in community involvement.

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Less than a year after moving a three-game series from San Diego to Mexico, the Padres are considering moving a two-game series against the Houston Astros from Jack Murphy Stadium to Honolulu’s 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium on April 22-23. They would be the first regular-season major league games in Hawaii, where the Padres once had a triple-A affiliate.

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Vowing not to fly again, Tony DeMarco will give up his job as lead baseball beat writer for the Denver Post after his wife, Maureen, was killed in last week’s crash of Comair Flight 3272 near Detroit. “I’m not afraid to fly . . . but it makes me sick to go to the airport,” said DeMarco, who will write stories that don’t involve travel.

Soccer

Major League Soccer has sold 24,116 season tickets, 18% ahead of last year’s pace, and is nearly halfway to its target of 50,000, more evidence the sport may be stronger in the United States than believed.

The New England Revolution, which finished with the next-to-worst record in the 10-team league’s inaugural season, was leading the pack with 5,721 season tickets.

MLS begins its second season of 32 games on March 22. Last year it sold about 40,000 season tickets by the first game on April 6.

Football

The All-American Football League plans to begin play in March 1998 with financial backing from Credit Suisse First Boston, an investment banking firm. CS First Boston has committed to match $40 million that must be raised by the league from other investors.

AAF expects to play in 12 of the top 25 television markets, including Los Angeles-Anaheim, New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

The Big Ten will play the Big East for the second time in three years when Wisconsin faces Syracuse in Kickoff Classic XV on Aug. 24 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Winter Sports

Taking the lead in the overall standings, Finland’s Samppa Lajunen earned his second victory of the Nordic combined World Cup season by combining a ninth-place finish in the 15-kilometer cross-country ski race with a third-place in Tuesday’s ski jumping to finish 44.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Andrea Longo of Italy in Lago Di Tesero, Italy.

Lajunen, who completed the race in 38 minutes, 2.2 seconds, has 640 overall points. Countryman Jari Mantila (575) was second and Austria’s Mario Stechler, the previous leader, was third with 525.

Miscellany

U.S. athletes will face top-level international competitors in five sports this August in California, the U.S. Olympic Committee announced in New York.

The first Olympic Cups, designed to prepare American teams for the rigors of foreign competition and keep interest in Olympic sports high in the United States, will include triathlon, cycling, mountain biking, beach volleyball and swimming and be staged Aug. 9-16 in Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco area.

A schedule has not been set.