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TORONTO - The Toronto Blue Jays had to send Canadian third baseman Brett Lawrie south of the border to move their team forward. Wholesale Red Wings Jerseys .Lawrie, from Langley, B.C., was traded from Toronto to the Oakland Athletics on Friday for all-star third baseman Josh Donaldson. Shortstop Franklin Barreto as well as pitchers Sean Nolin and Kendall Graveman were also sent to Oakland as part of the deal.Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said it was very difficult to trade the 24-year-old Lawrie, who hit .247 with nine doubles, 12 home runs and 38 runs batted in through 70 games last season. He hit .265 with 61 doubles, 43 home runs and 157 RBIs over four years with Toronto.You get attached to these guys, said Anthopoulos. Obviously, Bretts been here a while and hes still so young and you love the way he plays, the energy he brings. I talked to him on the phone and it was a hard conversation. Rightfully so, he was a Toronto Blue Jay through and through. Tough to see him go.We would have loved to have kept him. We tried. But I dont think this deal was getting done without Brett.Athletics GM Billy Beane confirmed in a separate conference call that the deal would not have proceeded without the inclusion of Lawrie and all three prospects.We wouldnt have done the deal unless it addressed now and the future and they were able to do that. This deal in our minds addresses a little bit of everything, said Beane. It got pretty serious the last 48 hours. They were reluctant to give up all four players and we werent going to do it without those four players in the deal.The 28-year-old Donaldson finished eighth in AL MVP voting this year after hitting .255 for Oakland with 29 home runs and 98 RBIs. A right-handed hitter, Donaldson had a .342 on-base percentage while finishing sixth in the American League with 76 walks. He has a career batting average of .268 with 63 home runs and 228 RBIs and a .347 on-base percentage in 405 games.Anthopoulos also pointed to Donaldsons intangibles and how he would mesh with the rest of the Blue Jays batting order as factors in the deal.Hes a very good defensive player. Gamer, hard-nosed, durable, if you look at his games played the last two years. An intense guy, wants to win, said Anthopoulos. A guy that can hit in the middle of our order. Hes going to fit well with (Edwin) Encarnacion and (Jose) Bautista.I dont know how (manager) John Gibbons will set the lineup up, but I expect those guys to be somewhere in the middle. Hell just kind of solidify things in the middle of our order.Lawrie struggled with injuries throughout his time in Toronto, including breaking his hand this past season when he was hit by a pitch. He also ended the 2014 season on the Blue Jays 60-day disabled list with an oblique strain. Anthopoulos was quick to point out that many of Lawries injuries were accidental and that they played no role in Torontos decision to trade him.Put the obliques aside, but some of the injuries have been freak. Getting hit in the hand, those are some freak injuries. Guys throw and you break your hand, said Anthopoulos. No, (the injuries) didnt come into play. We really liked Donaldson. We wanted to get him. Those were the players that they needed, those were the players that they wanted.Ultimately, as much as you dont want to part with those guys, youre going to have to give up some pretty good players to get a guy like Donaldson.Nolin, 24, spent most of the 2014 season with triple-A Buffalo where he posted a 4-6 record with a 3.50 earned-run average in 17 starts. The left-hander appeared in one game for Toronto in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons, posting a 0-1 record and a 27.00 ERA.Graveman had a 14-6 record and a 1.83 ERA in 27 starts with four of the Blue Jays minor league affiliates, working his way up from single-A to Buffalo. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher was 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in five relief appearances for Toronto last season.The 18-year-old Barreto hit .311 last season for the single-A Vancouver Canadians with 23 doubles, six home runs and 61 RBIs in 73 games. In his two minor league seasons Barreto has hit .296 with 10 home runs and 61 RBIs.One of the hardest things about our game, saying goodbye to a great person, amazing teammate and friend! You will be missed! @blawrie13, said Bautisa from his verified Twitter account in a message that was retweeted by Lawrie.In contrast, we also get to welcome a new member to our squad!! Come on @BringerOfRain20 lets get those leg kicks going!! added Bautista in a second tweet, referring to Donaldsons Twitter account.Anthopoulos applauded Lawries professionalism in taking the news of being traded.He was surprised, but he was outstanding and he understood. Sad to see him go, said Anthopoulos. I told him that the organization, everyone really appreciated the way he plays, everything he did while he was here. I think he really wanted to be part of this.Brett was all about the Toronto Blue Jays and doing whatever he could to help us.___With files from The Associated PressFollow @jchidleyhill on Twitter Detroit Red Wings Pro Shop . "Hopefully well get all this out of the way," he said, "and everyone will be healthy the rest of the year." Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday and is expected to miss between four to six weeks. Detroit Red Wings Gear . Scrivens stopped 48 shots and captain Andrew Ference scored in overtime as the Oilers pulled off a 4-3 upset of the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. https://www.cheapredwings.com/ .com) - Top seed Klara Zakopalova reached the second round, while former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone came up a loser Tuesday at the inaugural Rio Open tennis event.DUBLIN, Ohio -- Even though he doesnt have an official title at the Presidents Cup, Jack Nicklaus remains a presence. Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. "Jack Nicklaus." The winner of a record 18 major championships is an unofficial host for this weeks biennial match-play competition between the U.S. and an International side. On Tuesday he discussed his pride over the course he designed, Muirfield Village, becoming the first to host a Ryder Cup (1987), a Solheim Cup (1998) and a Presidents Cup (in addition to the annual Memorial Tournament). "Obviously, thats pretty special," said the 73-year-old Columbus native. "We are the only ones who can say that." Nicklaus was a four-time captain of the Presidents Cup, which has been dominated by the Americans. A similar thing was happening in the older Ryder Cup until the Europeans upset the U.S. side at ... Muirfield Village. Nicklaus, as a veteran of elite match play competitions and as an ambassador of the game, addressed the course, the art of pairing players in matches, pressure on the International team to be competitive and, of all things, attending a hockey game. -- Nicklaus said he knew he had to lengthen the 18th hole at Muirfield Village when one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus, approached him at the 2012 Memorial. "Garrigus came in here last year and he says, Jack, remember I drove it up to 76 yards from the hole last year?" Nicklaus said. "I said I remembered. He says, I drove it to 64 yards today. I wanted to wring his neck." Now the par-4 hole stretches another 45 yards to almost 500 yards. Long hitters can no longer just drive over the nine bunkers along the right side of the fairway. Instead, theyll have to deal with a black walnut tree 305 yards off the tee then hit a long, uphill approach to a hard, fast, tilted green. "You have to play a very significant shot in," he said. -- Asked how he decided pairings when he was a captain in both the Ryder and Presidents Cups, Nicklaus said he left it up to the team. "Id ask all the guys at the beginning of the week, Who would you like to play with? Or, Who wouldnt you like to play with?" he said. Then he would try to pair players with friends and not with enemies, if at all possible. At the same time, if aa player wanted to play against someone, he would try to accommodate them. Red Wings Jerseys 2021. "Couples asked me to give him Vijay (Singh) one match. I remember I had (Phil) Mickelson) ask for (Angel) Cabrera," Nicklaus said. At Royal Melbourne in 1998, Tiger Woods requested playing Greg Norman in singles. "So my goal was to get Norman for him," Nicklaus said. He traded picks with International captain Peter Thomson until he was able to secure Woods vs. Norman. "I walked out and got the pairings and Norman said, Why did you do that to me? And I said, Hey, youre not on my team!" Nicklaus said. "We all got a big laugh out of that." Woods had the last laugh with a 1-up victory on Sunday. -- The U.S. is 7-1-1 in the Presidents Cup and has won the last four matches easily. The Internationals could turn the tide at Muirfield Village, much like the Europeans did there in the Ryder Cup. The U.S. team includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson, Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley -- all major-championship winners. Woods, who has won the Memorial five times, would like nothing better than to win the Presidents Cup, which gets under way on Thursday, on Nicklaus course. "It would be fun," he said. "It would be fun to win it in front of the home fans." Captain Nick Prices International side has Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Charl Schwarzel, Louis Ooosthuizen -- and several relatively obscure players yet to make their mark on the world stage. "The teams this year are probably skewed a little stronger toward the American side," Nicklaus said. "We hear about the American players because they are here every week. They have stepped up and done a good job. "But I think that goes in cycles. You know, four years from now, the Americans might be begging for mercy." -- Nicklaus has been chosen to drop the ceremonial first puck for the NHL opener of the Columbus Blue Jackets when they play the Calgary Flames on Friday night. "First of all, Ive never seen a puck dropped. Ive never heard the phrase until about two weeks ago," he said, laughing. "I dont know how far you drop it from. I dont know what youre supposed to hit and who youre not supposed to hurt with it. So Ill find out on Friday night. "I need to learn something; I need to broaden my horizons." ' ' '