LOS ANGELES (AP) — Right-hander Dustin May, sidelined by injuries since May 2023, agreed to a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers worth $2,135,000 ahead of Friday's tender deadline.
A member of the Dodgers' 2020 World Series championship team, May has been limited to 20 starts since then.
He had Tommy John surgery on May 12, 2021, 11 days after leaving a start at Milwaukee in the second inning following a 94.3 mph fastball to Billy McKinney. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said May felt a shooting sensation on a curveball earlier in the plate appearance.
May returned to the Dodgers on Aug. 20, 2022, then left a start against Minnesota on May 17, 2023, after the first inning, when his fastball velocity dropped about 2 mph below his season average. May had Tommy John surgery for the second time that July 18.
Expected to return during the second half of the 2024 season, May had surgery this July to repair a tear in his esophagus.
May is 12-9 with a 3.10 ERA in 34 starts and 12 relief appearances over five seasons with the Dodgers. He is eligible for free agency after the 2025 World Series.
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FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Dustin May works against a San Diego Padres batter during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 6, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kendrick Lamar gave music listeners an early holiday present Friday with the surprise drop of a new album.
The Grammy winner's 12-track “GNX” is the rapper's first release since 2022's “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” and his sixth studio album overall. It also comes just months after his rap battle with Drake.
Lamar first teased the album with a cover art of “GNX,” which features multi-instrumentalist Jack Antonoff as a co-producer on every track except for “Peekaboo.” Other notable producers includes Sounwave and DJ Mustard, who both contributed production on the hit “Not Like Us,” the ubiquitous diss track emanating from the Drake feud.
Lamar's former Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate SZA appears on a couple songs including “Gloria” and “Luther,” which also features sampled vocals from Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn through “If This World Were Mine."
On the opening track “Wacced Out Murals,” Lamar raps about cruising in his Buick GNX (Grand National Experimental) car with listening to Anita Baker. He brings up Snoop Dogg posting Drake's AI-assisted “Taylor Made Freestyle” diss track on social media and Nas congratulating Lamar for being selected to headline February's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans.
Lamar also shows admiration for Lil Wayne, who expressed his hurt feelings after being passed over as the headliner in his hometown.
Lamar, 37, has experienced massive success since his debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012. Since then, he’s accumulated 17 Grammy wins and became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album “DAMN.”
The surprise release caps a big year for the Lamar, who featured on the song “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin — a track that spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year.
Lamar is up for seven Grammys, fueled by “Not Like Us,” which earned nods for record and song of the year, rap song, music video as well as best rap performance. He has two simultaneous entries in the latter category, a career first: “Like That” is up for best rap performance and best rap song, too.
FILE - Kendrick Lamar performs during the Festival d'ete de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada on July 7, 2017. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)
