TORONTO (AP) — Right-hander Cody Ponce and the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays finalized a $30 million, three-year contract on Thursday.
He gets a $3 million signing bonus payable within 30 days of the contract's approval by Major League Baseball and salaries of $5 million next season and $11 million in each of the following two years. The contract specifies Ponce will be a free agent at the end of the agreement.
The 31-year-old was 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA for the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea this year. He set league records with 18 strikeouts in a game against SSG Landers and 252 for the season. He was selected the league's MVP while winning a pitching triple crown.
Ponce was selected by Milwaukee in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft and was dealt to Pittsburgh for right-hander Jordan Lyles ahead of the 2019 trade deadline. He was 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA over five starts and 15 relief appearances for the Pirates in 2020 and '21, then pitched in Japan for the Pacific League's Nippon Ham Fighters (2022-23) and the Rakuten Golden Eagles (2024).
He joins a team with a rotation projected to include newly signed Dylan Cease along with Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and José Berríos.
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FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Cody Ponce throws to a Washington Nationals batter during the third inning of a baseball game, Sept. 10, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
Aston Villa extended its winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel in the Europa League on Thursday to secure at least a playoff spot.
Villa is tied with Lyon and Midtjylland atop the standings of the second-tier European competition on 15 points with five wins from six games.
Villa bounced back from a poor start to the season and is now third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leader Arsenal on Saturday.
At St. Jakob-Park in Basel, summer signing Evann Guessand put Villa 1-0 ahead early following a corner kick before Flavius Daniliuc met Xherdan Shaqiri's curling free kick to equalize.
Halftime substitute Youri Tielemans needed just eight minutes to place a shot from 20 meters (yards) into the bottom corner of the net to restore Villa's lead for good.
Villa manager Unai Emery has won the Europa League trophy four times during stints in charge of Sevilla and Villarreal.
Afonso Moreira and Pavel Šulc scored inside the opening 11 minutes for Lyon to secure a 2-1 win over Go Ahead Eagles, while Cho Gue-sung netted the winner for Danish team Midtjylland in a 1-0 victory over Genk.
After eight games, the top eight in the 36-team table go directly to the round of 16 in March.
Teams placed ninth to 24th advance to the knockout playoffs in February.
In other games, Celta Vigo, which had stunned host Real Madrid 2-0 on Sunday in La Liga, came down to earth with a 2-1 defeat at home to Bologna. Anderson Talisca netted a hat trick for Fenerbahce in a 4-0 victory at Brann.
Earlier, Real Betis remained unbeaten after a 3-1 win over Dinamo in Zagreb.
Young Boys wasted a penalty but still earned a 1-0 win over Lille, which played an hour with 10 men after Ayyoub Bouaddi’s red card.
Stuttgart recovered from a 5-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga by routing Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-1.
Igor Jesus entered in the 86th minute and still had time to score a late winner for Nottingham Forest in its 2-1 win at Utrecht.
The forward claimed his fourth goal of the campaign two minutes from time after Utrecht goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas was unable to hold Dan Ndoye's header.
Arnaud Kalimuendo gave Forest the lead early in the second half before Mike van der Hoorn equalized with a header.
Since Sean Dyche took over as manager Forest has been unbeaten in the Europa League with three wins and a draw.
Barnabás Varga headed in the winning goal to complete a 2-1 comeback victory for Ferencváros over Scottish side Rangers and remained unbeaten with four wins and two draws.
Forward Bojan Miovski's acrobatic volley gave Rangers a 1-0 lead before Bence Ötvös equalized in first-half stoppage time for the hosts who are coached by former Celtic player Robbie Keane.
Rangers remains without a win in the league phase.
Nice remains the only Europa League team without a point after a 1-0 home defeat to Braga with Pau Victor scoring. It was the eighth straight loss for Nice across all competitions.
Celtic marked a European debut for new coach Wilfried Nancy with a 3-0 loss to Roma.
Defender Liam Scales started a night to forget for Celtic with an own-goal and Evan Ferguson added two more from inside the box still inside the first 45 minutes. Arne Engels had a chance to pull one back in first-half stoppage time but his spot kick went off the post.
Celtic had lost to Hearts 2-1 on Sunday in the domestic league in Nancy's first game in charge.
In the third-tier Conference League, Crystal Palace swept aside Shelbourne 3-0 away in Dublin with Christantus Uche, Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino on target.
Two-time runner-up Fiorentina beat Dynamo Kyiv 2-1, and Strasbourg won 1-0 at Aberdeen to lead the standings with 13 points from five games.
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Celta's players react after the Europa League soccer match between Celta Vigo and Bologna in Vigo, Spain, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Roma's Gianluca Mancini, center left, celebrates scoring during the Europa League soccer match between Celtic and Roma in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday Dec. 11, 2025. (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)
Villa's Eyann Guessand, front, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between FC Basel 1893 and Aston Villa in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP)
Stuttgart's Josha Vagnoman, left, scores his side's fourth goal during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)
Betis' Rodrigo Riquelme celebrates with Betis' Angel Ortiz, top, after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League soccer match between GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Real Betis in Zagreb, Croatia, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Ferencvaros' Barnabas Varga scores during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between Ferencvaros and Rangers in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Utrecht's Mike van der Hoorn, right, scores his side's opening goal during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between Utrecht and Nottingham Forest, in Utrecht, Netherlands, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Nottingham Forest's Igor Jesus, second right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between Utrecht and Nottingham Forest, in Utrecht, Netherlands, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Aston Villa players celebrate after Aston Villa's Emiliano Buendia, left, scored his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Arsenal in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Aston Villa's Emi Buendia, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash during a training session at Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, in Tamworth, England, Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
