The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed catcher
Jake Fox to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Fox appeared in 27 games with Baltimore last season, batting .246 with a pair
of homers and six runs batted in. He spent most of the campaign at Triple-A
Norfolk.

The 29-year-old journeyman began his big league career with the Cubs in 2007
and has also played for Oakland. He belted 11 homers and drove in 44 runs in
82 games for Chicago in 2009, and is a career .237 hitter in 193 major league
games.

Pittsburgh also signed outfielder Brandon Boggs and pitcher Shairon Martis to
minor league deals with spring training invites. Boggs had two homers in 16
games for Milwaukee last season and has hit .209 in 130 games for the Rangers
and Brewers over parts of four seasons. Martis hasn’t pitched in the majors
since 2009 with Washington and has a record of 6-6 with a 5.33 earned run
average in 20 games, including 19 starts over parts of two seasons.

The Pirates also signed infielder Stefan Welch and pitchers Kyle Cofield and
Jose Diaz to minor league contracts.

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Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) – The Pittsburgh Pirates have declined club
options on pitcher Paul Maholm, infielder Ronny Cedeno and catchers Ryan
Doumit and Chris Snyder.

Maholm, who has spent all seven of his major league seasons with Pittsburgh,
struggled to a 6-14 record and 3.66 earned run average in 26 starts this past
year.

Cedeno batted .249 with two homers and 32 RBI in 128 games with Pittsburgh in
2011.

Doumit hit .303 with eight home runs and 30 RBI over 77 games, while Snyder
batted .271 with three homers and 17 RBI in 34 contests.

The Sports Network

OK, smart guy: Let’s see you solve the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Michal Pleskowicz of Poland captured the World Rubik’s Cube Championship final in Bangkok, Thailand, averaging just 8.65 seconds to finish the puzzle.

Holding The Bag Dept.

Tiger Woods, after splitting with caddie Steve Williams, is now going with Joe LaCava.

Here’s hoping Tiger got a pre-nup this time.

Headline of the day

At SportsPickle.com: “Vikings RB Adrian Peterson moves himself to Los Angeles.”

Drawing Board 101

This month’s best out-of-the-box innovation is:

a) A hikers’ outhouse on top of Mount Everest.

b) The Japanese toilet bike.

c) Rock-’Em Sock-’Em Robots, featuring Jim Schwartz and Jim Harbaugh.

Pass the Bug-weiser

“A recent study showed drinking beer can help ward off mosquitoes,” wrote Brad Rock of Salt Lake City’s Desert News. “Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen a can of OFF! at a Raiders game?”

$1 mill for the ages

An unnamed actress is suing Amazon.com for more than $1 million for revealing her age on its Internet Movie Database website.

“Why didn’t we think of that?” about 500 Dominican ballplayers moaned.

Splitting A Pair Dept.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie have finally agreed to a settlement in their highly contentious divorce case, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He keeps the team; she gets $130 million and a chauffeur to be named later.

Quote marks

• Alabama football coach Nick Saban, to the nearby Talladega Daily Home, after his team rushed for 389 yards in a 52-7 win over Ole Miss: “We’re more like Joe Frazier than we are like Ali. We have to pound it.”

• Ex-heavyweight champ George Foreman, to the L.A. Times, on Bernard Hopkins still fighting at age 46: “You might as well. There’s not gonna be any Social Security left.”

• Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, to AP, on his team’s World Series prospects: “We’ve got that experience. It wasn’t a very good one, but we have the experience.”

• John Henderson of The Denver Post on Pac-12 newbie Colorado going from Saturday’s 52-24 pasting by Washington to this week’s date with high-octane Oregon: “Can you say, ‘Thank you, sir! May I have another?’ “

Clean hit on the play

Titans rookie defensive back Tommie Campbell was once a janitor at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

No wonder he does so well during garbage time.