Alex Rodriguez might retire, report says

Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to ever play for the New York Yankees again, people familiar with the Yankees’ situation with their troubled third baseman told the New York Daily News, no matter what happens regarding new allegations that he is again involved with performance-enhancing drugs.

According to numerous people in baseball, the hip surgery Rodriguez is now recovering from will probably derail his playing career, leaving him in such a diminished role that he might consider a settlement or an outright retirement. He still has five years and $114 million left on his contract.

“I don’t know why he would want to go through the pain of rehabbing and trying to play up to the caliber of player he was, and come back to a game where nobody wants him,” a baseball official said.

::

The Angels reached an agreement with Japanese relief pitcher Hiroyuki Kobayashi on a minor league deal that is expected to include an invitation to spring training. Kobayashi, 34, is a right-hander who had a 26-36 record with a 3.65 earned run average in five seasons for Chiba Lotte and Hanshin of the Japanese pro league.

Veteran utility man Bill Hall received a similar deal. Hall, 33, has played for six big league organizations in the last four years.

The Angels also hired Omar Vizquel as a roving infield instructor. Vizquel played 60 games for Toronto last season at age 45. He won 11 Gold Glove awards and had 2,877 hits in a career that spanned four decades.

—Mike DiGiovanna

::

With one week left in the high school basketball regular season, the Nike Extravaganza tournament at Santa Ana Mater Dei on Friday and Saturday could affect Southern Section and City Section playoff seedings.

The tournament’s most highly anticipated games will be played Saturday. Long Beach Poly, ranked No. 3 by The Times, faces No. 6 Bellflower St. John Bosco at 6 p.m., followed by No. 4 Etiwanda against No. 7 Los Angeles Loyola at 7:30 p.m. and No. 2 Mater Dei facing No. 12 Westchester at 9 p.m.

On Friday, Mater Dei’s girls’ team, ranked No. 1 in Southern Section 1AA, will play Westlake Village Oaks Christian at 9 p.m.

General admission tickets are $12.

—Eric Sondheimer

::

Kansas State football Coach Bill Snyder, 73, signed a new five-year contract that includes an increase in base compensation to $14.75 million over the life of the contract.

The new deal, which rolls over annually, replaces one signed in 2009 that did not specify Snyder’s compensation past the fifth year.