SAN DIEGO — Kevin Towers, the longest-tenured general manager in the majors, was fired by the San Diego Padres.

Towers, in his 14th season as Padres GM, helped the Padres win four NL West titles and reach the 1998 World Series, where they were swept by the New York Yankees.

CEO Jeff Moorad leads a group that is buying the team from John Moores. He has spoken about making changes in the baseball operations department and apparently wants his own person in the GM job.

BALTIMORE — J.P. Ricciardi is out as the Toronto Blue Jays' general manager. As for embattled manager Cito Gaston, he isn't going anywhere.The Blue Jays fired Ricciardi on Saturday, ending an eight-year tenure marked by an inability to get past the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East and into the playoffs. Ricciardi, who joined the Jays in 2001, had one year left on his contract. The Blue Jays (75-87) finished fourth in the AL East this season.The Blue Jays said 32-year-old assistant general manager Alex Anthopoulos will assume Ricciardi's duties.

MIAMI — Chad Pennington's shoulder surgery was less extensive than feared, and the Miami Dolphins quarterback should be able to play next season if he so chooses, a person familiar with the results of the operation told The Associated Press on Sunday.The person didn't want to be identified because the Dolphins haven't released any information about the surgery. The person said the arthroscopic procedure was encouraging because there was no damage to the rotator cuff, and Pennington should be able to start throwing in eight to 12 weeks.Two operations on Pennington's right shoulder in 2005 involved the rotator cuff. He's already a two-time winner of the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, most recently in 2008.

TOKYO — Maria Sharapova won her first tournament since returning from a 10-month injury layoff when Jelena Jankovic retired because of an arm injury in the first set of the Toray Pan Pacific final SaturdaySharapova was up 5-2 at Ariake Colosseum when the seventh-seeded Serb took a timeout.