Minors

Fernando Valenzuela, waived last Friday by the California Angels, has agreed to a minor-league contract with California. Valenzuela's agent, Tony DeMarco, his attorney, Dick Moss, and Angels senior vice president Dan O'Brien came to terms Wednesday on a deal that will send the left-hander to the minors for at least 30 days.DeMarco said Valenzuela's first pitching assignment will be tonight for Midland of the Class AA Texas League. The left-hander is expected to pitch several games before reporting to Class AAA Edmonton in the Pacific Coast League.

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman, in what is likely was his last test before re-joining the big league rotation, threw three innings against Tampa Bay Rays Triple-A players Tuesday and felt no pain in his sore abdomen. “Felt good. It was a good step in the right direction,” he said. Tillman, who hadn't pitched in a big league spring training game since March 3, pitched for the second time this week at the Twin Lakes minor league complex and said he expects to get back on his regular turn next time out. If he pitches on four days of rest, he'd likely be scheduled for Sunday in Bradenton.

Orioles left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada, who is recovering from last May's Tommy John surgery, will make his first minor league rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday afternoon at Lehigh Valley. It will be the first time Wada pitches in a minor league game since last April, when he lasted just 2 2/3 innings in a minor league rehab start for Norfolk. Wada, a former standout in the Japanese Pacific League who signed a two-year, $8.14 million contract before the 2012 season, has yet to pitch in a regular season game for the Orioles.

In an effort to increase voter turnout, the Baltimore City Council wants to allow minors to accompany their parents into voting booths.Councilwoman Helen Holton of 5th District introduced the resolution at last night's council meeting.The resolution asks the chairmen of the city Senate and House delegations to the Maryland General Assembly to introduce and support legislation that would permit children younger than 18 to be allowed into the booths. Children 5 and younger now are allowed to accompany their parents.

The minor leagues are full of players clamoring to get to the major leagues. The Orioles have a major-league player clamoring to get to the minors.The Chris Sabo saga grows stranger by the minute.Sabo, benched in favor of Leo Gomez, said yesterday that he requested a week ago that the Orioles send him to the minor leagues, where he could play on a daily basis."It would be a good test to see if I can play anymore," Sabo said. "Playing two weeks straight would be a good test for my back. Obviously, the way Leo is playing, I'm not going to play every day here."

A 42-year-old Western Maryland man convicted of child sexual abuse in 1986 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for videotaping himself having sex with three boys between the ages of 10 and 14, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Larry Cordell of Frederick pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting minors for the purpose of producing child pornography. Prosecutors said they seized 10 videotapes showing the abuse and that Cordell enticed the victims with money. The victims identified themselves from the tapes, prosecutors said.

Carroll County Deputy State's Attorney David P. Daggett apparently means it when he says, "If we find out that somebody over the age of 18 is buying alcohol for somebody under 18, we charge them." The legal drinking age is 21. Still, about a dozen adults in the county were charged last year with purchasing alcohol for minors, Daggett said. Some of the adults were younger than 21 and used fake identification. The county's new Task Force on Underage Alcohol Abuse will address that issue and try to figure out ways to improve patrols during prom and graduation weekends.

The Howard County Liquor Board has fined a Jessup tavern $300 and suspended its license for a week for selling beer to undercover police cadets who were underage.The sentence imposed on Three Nines Tavern on Washington Boulevard could have been far worse.F. Todd Taylor Jr., a senior assistant county solicitor in the county's legal office, had recommended the board revoke the license altogetheror suspend it for 30 days. Mr. Taylor had also recommended the tavern be placed on two years' probation if the license were suspended.

Seeking to battle diseases afflicting East Baltimore neighborhoods, a local group has been targeting merchants who sell cigarettes to minors, saying they say are a major part of the problem.In a two-week campaign that ended yesterday, members of Project BLESS (Baltimore Leading Everyone to Stop Smoking) visited more than 125 East Baltimore grocery and convenience stores to get their message across. At each store, they have tried to leave a poster that proclaims: "We don't sell cigarettes to minors.

A countywide program to reduce underage drinking will be launched today by Junction Inc., when police, state and county officials, and the head of the Maryland liquor retailers association, gather at the County Office Building in Westminster. The RAAM program -- for Reducing the Availability of Alcohol to Minors -- is a partnership between alcohol retailers and law enforcement agencies, said Bonnie Bosley, director of the project for Junction, a private, not-for-profit alcohol and drug treatment and prevention center at 98 N. Court St. Both groups have received training in the program, which will include putting plainclothes police officers in liquor stores and outside on the parking lots.