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Carlos Boozer is headed to the Lakers crowded frontcourt after Los Angeles made the winning bid for the veteran forward waived by the Chicago Bulls via the amnesty clause. The Lakers made the highest bid under the NBAs modified waiver process for players who were amnestied, the team announced Thursday. "Carlos is an established veteran and a proven All-Star, who will be a welcome addition to our team," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "Were very pleased to have won the bidding process and to have gained his rights, and look forward to his contributions next season." According to NBA rules, teams with room under the salary cap had to bid at least $1.4 million, the amount of the minimum salary for veterans next season. Details of the winning bid were not provided, though ESPN.com reported that it was $3.25 million. The amnesty clause allows teams to waive one player in the first five years of the current collective bargaining agreement without his salary counting for cap and tax purposes. Boozer will still be paid the $16.8 million he is due next season in the final season of a contract he signed in 2010. He will join a Lakers team that has already agreed to deals with fellow power forwards Jordan Hill and Ed Davis during free agency, and drafted Kentuckys Julius Randle with the No. 7 pick. Boozer, a two-time All-Star, averaged 15.5 points and nine rebounds in 280 games with the Bulls. His playing time diminished in recent seasons with the emergence of Taj Gibson, and the Bulls needed to clear his salary to sign Pau Gasol and European star Nikola Mirotic. . Pillar is batting .305 with 17 extra-base hits, 19 RBI and five stolen bases in 34 games for Buffalo this season. The right-handed hitter had an International League high, 18-game hitting streak this season and currently owns an IL high 26-game on base streak. . -- A year ago, Flavia Pennetta was close to retiring from tennis. http://www.footballsteelersjerseysauthe ... rs-Jersey/. When the next inning rolled around Wednesday, though, Nationals manager Matt Williams sent Strasburg to the mound to face the top of the Dodgers order in what would become a 3-2 victory for Washington, the first time this season the No. . Both moves were announced Tuesday. The Titans had waived Matthews on Saturday when they promoted wide receiver Michael Preston from the practice squad. . The Toronto Blue Jays general manager made a series of bold moves that reshaped the club ahead of what would turn out to be a disastrous 2013 campaign.GENEVA - A long-awaited day of judgment on World Cup hosts Russia and Qatar turned into another day of FIFA disarray.Nearly four years after FIFA chose Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the football bodys ethics judge exonerated the two countries of any corruption in their winning bids and cleared them to stage the sports showpiece tournament.The ruling by German judge Joachim Eckert came despite evidence of some improper conduct by eight of the nine bids.Eckerts report was denounced by critics as a whitewash and harshly contested by the American prosecutor who led the investigation.Michael Garcia, the former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said he will appeal Eckerts decision to close the case, saying it was based on materially incomplete and erroneous interpretation of his own findings — 430 pages of investigative work sealed by FIFA from public scrutiny.A 42-page report released by FIFA and designed to bestow integrity on the next two World Cup hosts had its own ethics attacked. Eckerts strongest criticism was levelled not at Qatar or Russia but at Englands failed 2018 bid — for aggressively wooing a key FIFA voter.I think its a bit of a joke ... the whole process, said Englands Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati, both members of FIFAs ruling executive committee, called for Garcias work to be released with appropriate redactions.Given the disagreement between the two chairmen of the Investigatory and Adjudicatory Chambers of the Ethics Committee and to ensure complete transparency, we believe the full report ... should be made public as soon as possible, the two said in a joint statement.Eckert refused to identify any FIFA voters placed under suspicion by Garcia and praised FIFA President Sepp Blatter, while omitting pointed criticisms in the investigation files.What wrongdoing had occurred, Eckert said, did not impair the integrity of voting in 2010 by an often-discredited FIFA executive committee.Todays decision by (Eckert) contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the Investigatory Chambers report, Garcia said in a statement released by his law firm. I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.Garcia had called for key details of his investigation to be published. That provoked clashes with Blatter, who has helped protect the privacy of his boardroom colleaguees implicated in seeking favours.ddddddddddddGarcias sealed report criticizes a culture of entitlement at FIFA and the quality of Blatters leadership, an official familiar with Garcias findings told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the dossier is supposed to be confidential.Garcia could be suspended by FIFA if he publicly reveals details of the case, and removed from office when the 209 member associations meet at their congress next May 29. On that same day, Blatter is expected to be elected to a fifth term.Eckerts report seemed to confirm that the 2022 World Cup would definitely be played in Qatar — though exactly when is still unclear as FIFA seeks an alternative to the desert heat in June and July. Qatar has also come under scrutiny for its treatment of foreign labourers.FIFA welcomes the fact that a degree of closure has been reached, the governing body said. As such, FIFA looks forward to continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, which are already well underway.Closure seems a long way off in an investigation which could take FIFA and some of its officials into sports courts into 2016.Eckert saw no proof of bribes or voting pacts in a probe hampered by unco-operative witnesses and a lack of access to evidence.The evaluation of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee, the German judge wrote in his FIFA statement.Both host countries, however, had issues highlighted by Eckert.Qatars bid had potentially problematic facts and circumstances, plus a significant lack of transparency in its use of advisers.Eckert played down previously reported Qatari payments which raised suspicion: Buying exclusive campaigning rights to an African football meeting in Angola, and a wealthy individual who lured Argentina and Brazil to play a match in Doha.Russias bid conduct was barely criticized, though Garcias team had little material to work with.Computers leased for use by Russia staffers were later destroyed, and bid officials said email accounts could not be accessed despite requests to Google.Asked Thursday if Russia had co-operated fully, bid CEO Alexei Sorokin said: Yes, we did. We think we did our best.Eckert condemned England for wooing disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and damaging the image of FIFA and the bidding process.The corruption case is still open for past and current members of FIFAs ruling board, but it is unclear who might be targeted. ' ' '