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OAKLAND, Calif. -- First baseman Justin Smoak has agreed to an $8.5 million, two-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays covering 2017-18.Smoak is making $3.9 million this year and was eligible to become a free after this season. The 29-year-old will earn $4,125,000 annually in 2017 and 18, and Toronto has a $6 million option for 2019 with a $250,000 buyout.The option price would escalate to $7 million if Smoak has 950 plate appearances in 2017-18 combined, $7.5 million if he has 1,000 and $8 million if he has 1,100.We love Toronto, me and my family, and we wanted to stay here as long as we can, Smoak said after the agreement was announced Saturday. So we just wanted to get something done.Smoak is in his seventh season in the majors with his third team. He was the 11th overall selection in the first round of the 2008 draft by the Texas Rangers.He batting .234 with nine home runs and 23 runs batted in this season. In seven major league seasons, hes had a .225 batting average with 101 home runs, 316 RBI and a .310 on-base percentage.Smoak, by his own admission, says he hasnt lived up to the expectations of his elite pre-draft status.No, not even close, Smoak said Saturday before the game against Oakland. I know I can be a better player. Its all about staying consistent. Thats what you strive for every day and thats the goal to keep working on ... to be a more consistent player.Smoak, an everyday player with the Seattle Mariners for four seasons, has accepted being a role player with the Blue Jays.I know what it takes to play every day for a full season, and I also know what it takes to be a guy off the bench and be ready to help this team out, Smoak said. I want to play every day, thats always the goal. But if thats not the case, thats not the case.Whatever it takes to help this team win ballgames.Toronto Blue Jays Shirts . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Blue Jays Jerseys China . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. Custom Toronto Blue Jays Jerseys . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Blue Jays Jerseys 2019 . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate.Purdue fired football coach Darrell Hazell on Sunday after he compiled a 9-33 record in three-plus seasons.Wide receivers coach Gerad Parker will serve as Purdues interim coach for the remainder of the season. Hazells contract ran through the 2018 season, and Purdue will owe him a $4.45 million buyout.College athletics cant have a better man than Darrell Hazell, and I would like to see more individuals with his virtues in Division I athletics, director of athletics Mike Bobinski said in a statement. But while character is mandatory every day at Purdue, positive performance also must be there. With new leadership and the rapidly evolving Football Performance Complex, Im confident that better days are ahead. The Board and I fully understand and support the need for a successful football program and recognize the positive impact it brings to the intercollegiate athletics department, the campus community and Boilerrmaker alumni and fans everywhere.ddddddddddddHazell was 3-3 this season but had won no more than three games in his previous three seasons. His dismissal comes a day after Purdues 49-35 home loss to Iowa, which dropped Hazell to 3-24 in Big Ten play.I am doing everything right to help these guys become better, Hazell said after the Iowa loss. Theres no question that we are moving forward. Obviously, it doesnt feel good right after this game, but weve done a lot of good things, and we just need to keep pushing.Hazell came to Purdue after guiding Kent State to an 11-3 record in 2012. He served on Jim Tressels staff at Ohio State from 2004 to 2010.The school has a new athletic director in Mike Bobinski, who came in from Georgia Tech in August. Purdue visits No. 8 Nebraska on Saturday. ' ' '