Sports briefs 11/22/05

Baseball

• Catcher Kenji Jojima and the Seattle Mariners agreed Monday to a $16.5 million, three-year contract.

Jojima will be the first Japanese catcher to play in the major leagues. He visited Seattle Nov. 11-14 and met with Mariners executives. He also toured the city to assess its suitability for his family.

A news conference likely will take place today in Fukuoka, Japan.

An All-Star for the Fukoka Softbank Hawks, Jojima became a free agent on Nov. 8 after hitting .309 with 24 homers and 57 RBIs in 116 games in a season cut short by a broken left leg. He has seven straight Gold Gloves.

Basketball

• Former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady is considering coming out of retirement after being offered a position with the Toronto Raptors.

Keady, who went 512-270 in 25 seasons with the Boilermakers, retired after last season and was fully satisfied with golfing and spending time with his wife. But Wayne Embry, the Toronto Raptors' assistant to the president, called Keady to offer him a job as a consultant or bench coach for the NBA franchise.

* The Portaland Trail Blazers have placed forward Ruben Patterson on the inactive list, after he cursed at coach Nate McMillan during Sunday's loss to the New York Knicks over his lack of playing time.

Patterson will remain in Portland while the rest of the team is on a six-game road trip.

Hockey

• The Anaheim Mighty Ducks claimed Columbus Blue Jackets center Todd Marchant off waivers on Monday.

The 32-year-old Marchant had three goals and six assists in 18 games for Columbus this season. He signed a free agent contract with the Blue Jackets in July 2003, after playing for Edmonton from 1994.

Marchant reportedly will earn $2.47 million this season and has three years remaining on his contract.

Columbus was looking for some room under the salary cap after acquiring Sergei Fedorov in a trade with the Ducks last week.

-- From wire reports