Mike Redmond is hired as Marlins manager

The Miami Marlins’ celebrity manager was a bust, so they’re calling one up from the minors.

Mike Redmond, who spent the last two years managing Class A teams in the Toronto Blue Jays’ system, was hired Thursday by the Marlins to replace Ozzie Guillen.

A former major league catcher, Redmond had not interviewed for a big league job until he met with the Marlins last week. He received a three-year contract and will be introduced as the Marlins’ fifth manager since mid-2010 on Friday.

Guillen was fired last week after only one season with the Marlins. A year ago they traded two minor league players to obtain him from the Chicago White Sox and gave him a team-record $10-million, four-year deal.

Former major league pitcher Pascual Perez, who had a troubled 11-season career that included two suspensions for drug use, was killed at his home in the Dominican Republic in an apparent robbery, police said.

No one was in custody and authorities did not reveal whether they had any suspects. Police said that there were several assailants and that the house in San Gregorio de Nigua appeared to have been ransacked.

The Dodgers have hired Bob Engel as their vice president of international scouting.

Engel, 62, held the same title with the Seattle Mariners, where he had been since 2004. He has also worked for Baltimore and Toronto, and is credited with signing Cy Young Award winners Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Pat Hentgen and Felix Hernandez.

—Steve Dilbeck

ETC.

Kings’ Brown to play in Switzerland for now

Kings captain Dustin Brown signed to play for the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League for the duration of the NHL lockout and is expected to make his debut on Nov. 13, after the team returns from a break.

Brown’s agent, Scott Norton, said they had discussed options in Russia’s KHL, another European league and the ECHL. Norton said Brown ultimately “felt comfortable” with going to Switzerland.

On the lockout front, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said he had been in contact with representations of the players’ association but no negotiations were scheduled.

The league is expected on Friday to announce the cancellation of the Winter Classic outdoor game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

—Helene Elliott

The chief executive of IndyCar’s parent company said it was premature to say who might be “on our short list” of candidates to replace departed IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard.

Bernard, who led IndyCar the last three seasons, left the series Sunday in what Jeff Belskus, chief executive of IndyCar parent Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp., said was “a mutual separation” but that many IndyCar watchers asserted was Bernard’s ouster.

In his first public comments since then, Belskus said in an interview that Bernard “was not fired” but that it was “counterproductive to talk about the specifics of the conversations. It was between the board and Randy.”

—Jim Peltz

Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott each had a seven-under-par 65 to lead the HSBC Champions at Shenzen, China, after the first round.

Two-time HSBC Champions winner Phil Mickelson was a stroke back along with Masters champion Bubba Watson, Shane Lowry of Ireland and Peter Hanson of Sweden.

Defending champion Jay Don Blake birdied three of the final

four holes for a six-under 64 and the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Scottsdale, Ariz.

The winner last year at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, the 54-year-old Blake had a one-stroke lead over Gary Hallberg.