KANSAS CITY, Mo. Jalen Collins Jersey . -- The Kansas City Royals agreed to a $32 million, four-year contract with left-hander Jason Vargas on Thursday, trying to fill the void in their rotation created by Ervin Santanas free agency. Vargas was 9-8 with a 4.02 ERA in 24 starts for the Angels last season. He was 6-4 with a 3.65 ERA before going on the disabled list with a blood clot in his arm that required surgery. Kansas City was searching for a veteran to replace Santana, another former Angels pitcher who rediscovered himself in Kansas City. Santana went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA last season, driving up his price in free agency to the point where the Royals are unlikely to sign him. "Our medical team felt very comfortable, our scouting judgment was very sound, with the length of the contract as well. It all kind of lined up together," general manager Dayton Moore said. "We felt very confident and secure in making him a Royal." Vargas, a soft-tossing lefty who turns 31 in February, gets $7 million next season, $8.5 million in each of the following two years and $8 million in 2017. He had shown a propensity for giving up home runs, but that should be mitigated by cavernous Kauffman Stadium. That was the case with Santana, who also allowed homers by the bushel in Los Angeles before getting things under control in Kansas City. "The biggest thing for me was being in a place where I knew I would be at for a significant amount of time, and with an organization where I felt comfortable," Vargas said, "and I believed in what theyre doing and continuing to get better, and Kansas City was definitely at the top of that list going into the off-season." Vargas will be joining a club that finished 86-76 last season, its best finish since 1989, and was in contention for a playoff berth until the final weeks of the season. "What excited me about the team is how Ive seen the team grow and progress a lot over the last four or five years," Vargas said. "Their defence is spectacular and Im just hoping I can be a piece of the puzzle that helps move us forward." The Royals designated catcher George Kottaras for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. Vargas isnt the sort of splashy signing that will make Royals fans salivate, but he does solidify the back end of whats expected to be a young rotation. James Shields returns next season as their clear-cut ace and Jeremy Guthrie provides a dependable No. 2 starter. Danny Duffy is a near-lock to make the rotation out of spring training after he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery this past season, leaving one more spot in the rotation up for grabs among a handful of in-house candidates. Among those would could land the fifth spot are Wade Davis, Luke Hochevar and Will Smith -- all former starters who spent time last season in the bullpen -- and hard-throwing right-hander Yordano Ventura, who made his big league debut last season and dazzled in three September starts. Most people within the organization believe that Ventura will be in the rotation at some point next season, even if he doesnt earn a spot in spring training. Theres also a chance that Kyle Zimmer, their former first-round pick, will be ready at some point next season. Zimmer finished last season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. "Theres still ways we can improve our team, through the rotation, trying to add another bat, we feel like we have some quality young pitchers who are going to be competing for spots," Moore said. "Theres still a lot of opportunity out there to improve our starting pitching." Vargas, who missed the 2008 season with a torn labrum in his hip, is 51-58 with a 4.30 ERA in parts of eight seasons spent with the Marlins, Mets, Mariners and Angels. His best season came two years ago, when he went 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA in 33 starts for Seattle. If nothing else, Vargas should be able to eat innings. He was limited to 150 by his surgery last season, but went over 200 innings each of his final two seasons with the Mariners. "You try to get 200 innings out of your starters and Jason has been able to do that," Moore said. "Hes been one of the more consistent pitchers in all of baseball over the last few years, and we feel like hes right in the prime of his career." Dontari Poe Jersey .Y. - Everyone expected Clayton Kershaw to pitch a shutout, and he did — a unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. Courtney Upshaw Jersey . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. http://www.thefaclonsshoponline.com/Youth-Ricardo-Allen-Falcons-Jersey/ . -- Two nights after losing to the Eastern Conferences worst team, the Phoenix Coyotes handled the best.UNIONDALE, N.Y. - When Winnipeg defenceman Mark Stuart got crunched into the boards early in the second period, the Jets woke up from their doldrums — and that was even before they made the New York Islanders pay on the power play.A sluggish start put the Jets into a hole, but they snapped out of it, withstood a comeback, and put the finishing touches on a 4-3 win when Andrew Ladd scored his second goal of the game in the third period Tuesday night.It definitely feels like were kind of growing as a team, said Bryan Little, who had three assists. Were learning fast from our mistakes and were doing a better job of kind of handling the game.It turned 24 seconds into the second when New Yorks Nikolay Kulemin slammed Stuart into the boards in front of the penalty boxes. Kulemin was given a major penalty and was ejected.The Jets grabbed a 2-1 lead and the momentum,Getting two goals out of that and getting ahead and being able to play with the lead for a little bit definitely energized our bench, Ladd said.The Jets coughed up a 3-1 lead and were tied going into the third, but a turnover by Kyle Okposo led to the winning goal. Ladd put in a rebound of Littles shot to put Winnipeg ahead to stay at 3:31.We didnt go hard to the net enough to get it done, said Islanders captain John Tavares, who got New York within 3-2. You gave a team like that enough chances on the power play and they will hurt you.Mikhail Grabovski got the Islanders even at 3 in the second, and Brock Nelson staked New York to a 1-0 lead in the first. Jaroslav Halak stopped 26 shots.Defencemen Paul Postma and Jacob Trouba also scored for the Jets, who began a four-game trip. Ondrej Pavelec made 18 saves.We got our feet moving after the first period, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. The power play gave us some life and we responded well to them coming back on us and played our best hockey in the third.Following Kulemins hit, Stuart laid on his stomach for several moments. He got up on all fours after being attended to by a trainer and skated off. He returned soon after.The Jets used the extended power play well as Ladd and Postma scored 2:552 apart during the advantage that generated six shots. Steve Bartkowski Jersey. .Ladd made it 1-1 at 1:14 when he got to a rebound of Toby Enstroms shot and punched it past Halak for his third goal. Postma pushed Winnipeg in front with an unassisted goal. Of the defencemans six career NHL goals, three have been scored against the Islanders.For some reason I get pucks to the net in this rink and they manage to go in for me, Postma said.Winnipeg widened its lead to 3-1 when the teams played 4-on-4. Trouba took a pass from Stuart in the neutral zone, carried the puck into the New York end and snapped a wrist shot from the high slot that ticked off Halaks glove and carried into the net.We lost the game, and bottom line is I need to do better, Halak said.The Islanders made the most of a minor boarding penalty by Mark Scheifele on Thomas Hickey when Tavares scored a power-play goal with 5:32 left in the second. Grabovski tied it 1:24 later.New York drew a hooking penalty on Blake Wheeler just 1:02 in and then capitalized on the power play 14 seconds later when Nelson netted his fifth goal. Defenceman Johnny Boychuk rocketed a shot from the left circle off the left post, and the carom came right to Nelson, who easily steered it into the net.But New York was only 2 for 5 on the power play, including an advantage in the games closing minutes. The Islanders mustered only 12 shots in the final two periods and now head out on a five-game Western trip.We had some pretty good chances, but when you dont move the puck well, you dont deserve to win, Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. Its going to be a long road trip is we dont figure it out.New York had the better of the play throughout the first period, putting constant pressure on the Winnipeg defence and holding a 9-7 shots edge.We tired them out in our end, Maurice said with a laugh. That was part of the plan.NOTES: Jets D Zach Bogosian (upper body) sat out and was replaced by D Adam Pardy. LW Evander Kane (knee) is with the team but isnt expected to play for at least one week. ... 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