Briefs
Ausmus lands
with Angels
Former Detroit manager Brad Ausmus has joined the Los Angeles Angels as a special assistant to general manager Billy Eppler.
The Angels announced the move Wednesday.
Ausmus managed the Tigers for the past four seasons, going 314-332 and winning the AL Central in 2014. Detroit went 64-98 this season, and Ausmus’ contract was not renewed.
The veteran big-league catcher worked in the San Diego Padres’ front office between his playing career and his four-year stint with the Tigers.
Ausmus is filling a role in Anaheim previously held by Bud Black, who was a special assistant to Eppler from November 2015 to November 2016, when he was hired as the Colorado Rockies’ manager.
Minnesota, Fleck agree to extension
The University of Minnesota and coach P.J. Fleck have agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2022 season.
Fleck signed a five-year, $18 million contract in January. The Gophers are 5-6 this season under the 36-year-old Fleck, who was hired by Minnesota to replace Tracy Claeys after four seasons as the coach at Western Michigan. He led the Broncos to a Cotton Bowl bid and a 13-1 record last year.
Claeys was fired after the football program became embroiled in a standoff with the administration over the suspension of 10 players in connection with allegations of sexual assault.
Fleck’s contract extension needs approval from the Board of Regents, which meets in December.
Police investigating tennis star
Maria Sharapova is being investigated by police in India in a cheating and criminal conspiracy case involving a real estate company who used the tennis star to endorse a luxury housing project that never took off.
Real estate firm Homestead Infrastructure is accused of taking tens of millions of rupees (millions of dollars) from home buyers for a project named “Ballet by Maria Sharapova,” a luxury apartment complex with its own helipad, tennis academy and other amenities.
The five-time Grand Slam champion travelled to India in 2013 to launch the project at a glitzy ceremony. Police began the investigation on Nov. 16.
Piyush Singh, a lawyer representing one of the home buyers, said Wednesday that Sharapova’s celebrity was the reason most people put their money into the project.
“The project never saw the light of day,” Singh said.
Singh said the police investigation based on his client’s complaint was testing relatively new legal ground – that celebrities endorsing projects that draw vast sums of money from investors had a responsibility “to do some due diligence” on the project before lending their name and credibility to it.
Sharapova isn’t the only international sports celebrity that the real estate firm roped in. Its website also advertises a project with Formula One great Michael Schumacher called the Michael Schumacher World Tower.