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From The Associated Press

Mets, Twins reach tentative deal for Santana

NEW YORK—The Minnesota Twins reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to trade Johan Santana to the New York Mets.

After months of deliberation, the Twins agreed to send the two-time Cy Young Award winner to the Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey, a person familiar with the deal said.

The next step is for the Mets to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, who is eligible for free agency after this season. Santana is owed $13.25 million this year and likely will seek an extension of at least five years worth $20 million annually.

Teams are given 72-hour windows to reach agreements on contracts in tentative trades. If the Mets and Santana reach an agreement, players would have to pass physicals.

The tentative agreement was first reported by USA Today on its Web site.

Browns reward Crennel with 2-year contract extension

CLEVELAND—Willie McGinest always believed Romeo Crennel would turn the Cleveland Browns into winners.

For a long time, though, it seemed like the veteran linebacker was about the only who did.

“There was a lot of prejudgment about Romeo,” said McGinest, who played for Crennel in New England. “And it was really unfair. It takes time. It takes players, and it takes a coach to do that.”

Crennel did it.

The 60-year-old former defensive assistant, whose future in Cleveland was shaky after two forgettable seasons, signed a two-year contract extension on Tuesday with the Browns, who won 10 games in Crennel’s third season and finally appear repaired.

Crennel had two years remaining on the five-year deal he signed in February of 2005. The extension, believed to be worth about $4 million per season, takes Crennel through the 2011 season.

The Browns were one of the NFL’s surprise teams in 2007. One season after going 4-12, they went 10-6, won a franchise-record seven home games and only missed the AFC playoffs because of a tiebreaker.

Chris Webber set to return to Warriors

OAKLAND, Calif.—More than 13 years after Chris Webber demanded to leave the Golden State Warriors, the free-agent forward is all set to return.

Webber sent an e-mail to The Associated Press on Monday night confirming he will rejoin the Warriors and coach Don Nelson, who won a power struggle with the former No. 1 draft pick in their messy first stint with the franchise.

Webber might be with Golden State by Friday night when the club returns home to face Charlotte. The five-time All-Star isn’t expected to join the Warriors during a two-game road trip this week to Houston and New Orleans, said an NBA source who spoke on condition of anonymity because Webber hadn’t formally signed with the club. The team had no announcement planned Monday night.

Nelson apparently masterminded the Warriors’ decision to re-sign Webber, who hasn’t played in the NBA this season, as a backup big man and offensive playmaker. Nelson has spoken repeatedly about the team’s hopes of signing Webber in recent days.

Just a few days after Chris Mullin said he planned no significant changes to the club with the NBA’s second-most victories since mid-November, Nelson apparently convinced Golden State’s top executive to take a chance on Webber. The power forward’s diminished athleticism and uneven playoff performances convinced his hometown Pistons not to re-sign him last summer.

Barbaro’s ashes to be placed at Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The image of Barbaro blazing down the stretch at Churchill Downs, all four hooves off the ground as the powerful bay colt crushed the field in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, is seared in Roy Jackson’s memory.

It’s the way Jackson prefers to think of Barbaro, whose thunderous surge left a field of 19 fellow 3-year-olds in his wake and whose courage after a breakdown at the Preakness two weeks later made him an icon.

When it came time to decide how best to honor the horse, who was euthanized on Jan. 29, 2007 from complications of the breakdown, there was only one place Roy Jackson and wife Gretchen felt Barbaro would feel at home: a short gallop from the site of his greatest triumph.

Barbaro’s ashes and a bronze statue will be placed in front of an entrance gate at Churchill Downs sometime in 2009. The Jacksons announced plans for the memorial on the one-year anniversary of Barbaro’s death, a day they called one of the most difficult of their lives.