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MLB notes: New drug agreement in works

Baseball players and management hope to reach a new drug agreement this week that would increase initial penalties for muscle-building steroids and decrease suspensions for some positive tests caused by unintentional use, people familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.

For future suspensions, the deal also would eliminate the loophole allowing Alex Rodriguez to earn almost $4 million during his seasonlong ban, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in recent days because talks are ongoing.

The sides hope to reach an agreement by Sunday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers open the US portion of the major league schedule in San Diego.

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While the lengths have not been finalized, the sides are discussing a 100-game ban for an initial violation and a seasonlong ban for a second, one of the people said.

‘‘It will be a significant deterrent because players will know they’re not going to just easily walk back into a lineup,’’ Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the US Anti-Doping Agency, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. ‘‘It probably is the best policy in professional sports.’’

For inadvertent use, the penalty for a first violation would be 25 games.

‘‘What we’re all here for is to rid sports of the intentional cheats, those who are intending to defraud both the fans and their fellow teammates, the integrity of competition,’’ Tygart said. ‘‘You want to have provisions in place that allow for whether there’s an inadvertent or a truly non-intentional situation which may arise.’’

Since the 2006 season, the Major League Baseball’s drug agreement has called for a 50-game suspension for a first positive steroids test, a 100-game ban for a second, and a lifetime penalty for a third. Commissioner Bud Selig in March last year called for tougher penalties, and then-union head Michael Weiner said players would consider them for 2014.

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Weiner died in November and was succeeded by former All-Star Tony Clark, who has led the negotiations.

Major League Baseball’s investigation of the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic led to 14 suspensions last summer, including a 65-game penalty for former NL MVP Ryan Braun of the Brewers and a 211-game ban for Rodriguez, which was reduced to 162 games in January by an arbitrator.

Darvish to miss opener

Rangers ace Yu Darvish will miss his scheduled start in Monday’s season opener against the Phillies because of neck stiffness . . . The Rangers also sent former World Series and All-Star closer Neftali Feliz to the minors. The righthander allowed 13 hits and five runs in nine spring games.

Dodgers’ payroll is tops

The Dodgers have knocked the Yankees off baseball’s payroll perch, part of an offseason spending spree that has the average salary approaching $4 million for the first time.

Los Angeles is ending the Yankees’ 15-year streak as baseball’s biggest spenders and, as of Tuesday, had a projected payroll of $235 million.

New York was a distant second at $204 million. After that, it was another huge gap to Philadelphia at $180 million, followed by Boston at $163 million, and Detroit at $162 million.

Houston was last at $45 million.

Wolf granted release

The Mariners released lefthander Randy Wolf at his request. He had raised concerns about his role with the club after the first few weeks of the season. Wolf, who missed last season following Tommy John surgery, told reporters he was told he had a spot. But Wolf’s concern was whether he would be with the team beyond the first 45 days with two members of Seattle’s rotation — Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker — not expected to be ready until late April. Wolf said he was asked to sign a waiver allowing the team to release him within the first 45 days without paying his full season salary. He declined to do so . . . The Yankees announced Michael Pineda will be the team’s fifth starter . . . The Rays released veteran lefthander Erik Bedard. The ex-Red Sox had been in contention to be the club’s fifth starter, but the job went to Jake Odorizzi.

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