time overall champion, of his contest with the two-t

TORONTO - The Toronto Blue Jays had to send Canadian third baseman Brett Lawrie south of the border to move their team forward.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 Wholesale Custom Jerseys . Watch all the action unfold live on TSN and TSN Mobile TV at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. You can also watch the game live with the debut of Wednesday Night Hockey on TSN.ca and chat throughout the game with TSN. 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THE THUNDER & PACERS BENCHES: In a nutshell, not impressive at all.LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland - A dramatic season-ending crash for Maria-Hoefl Riesch on Wednesday denied Alpine skiing one of its two overall title duels at the World Cup Finals. Hoefl-Rieschs exit — from the downhill course into safety nets, then airlifted from the slope by helicopter — left Anna Fenninger of Austria favourite to win her first giant crystal trophy one month after becoming an Olympic champion. Fenningers sixth-place finish in the final downhill built a slim 11-point lead in the standings over the 2011 champion with three races remaining. Hoefl-Riesch will miss them all after sustaining upper leg, elbow and shoulder injuries on her left side. "Its tough," Germany womens head coach Thomas Stauffer said. "We were up and running for the World Cup all season and at the end you cant battle for it." Earlier, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway seized the mens overall lead from Fenningers teammate Marcel Hirscher, who skips downhill, in what also shaped as a back-and-forth duel this week on sunbathed slopes at Lenzerheide. Svindals fifth-place finish moved him only 41 points ahead and extended a series of results since the Sochi Olympics opened which left him just off the podium. The Olympic downhills proved a reliable guide Wednesday with mens champion Matthias Mayer of Austria repeating his gold-medal success in another tight race. Olympic silver medallist Christof Innerhofer tied for second with Ted Ligety of the United States, the Olympic giant slalom champion. They finished 0.11 seconds behind Mayers winning run of 1 minute, 29.99 seconds. Lara Gut of Switzerland, the downhill bronze medallist , delighted her home crowd with victory in 1:32.31. Runner-up Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was 0.05 back, and third-placed Swiss Fraenzi Aufdenblatten was 0.57 behind in her final World Cup race before retiring. Pre-race favourite Fenninger, trailing 1.07 behind Gut, failed to repeat her speedy training runs but 40 race points could yet be enough to clinch the sports most prestigious honour. "I hope Maria can race again," Fenninger said before the extent of her rivals injuries were known. "My focus is on the next two races. What she is doing, I cant change." Hoefl-Rieschs bitter-sweet day started atop the standings and goot better minutes before entering the start house.dddddddddddd Fenningers failure to lead assured the 29-year-old German of her first season-long downhill title after six years of domination by Lindsey Vonn, the injured and absent American. Hoefl-Riesch crashed midway down the bumpy course when her skis slipped beneath her at a sharp right-hand turn, sending her sliding off course. The downhill trophy ceremony was staged immediately after the race with an empty top step on the podium and the German anthem playing as the helicopter landed nearby. Hoefl-Riesch was driven to a nearby hospital for checks. Fenninger now leads Gut, a six-race winner, by 235 points and defending champion Tina Maze of Slovenia by 287. A maximum of 300 points are available in the final three races. Fenninger can secure the title outright by finishing first or second on Thursday in the super-G, in which she is Olympic champion. She also won Olympic silver in giant slalom, which is the World Cup season-ending race on Sunday. Svindal and Hirscher will both start in the mens super-G also scheduled Thursday. "If I had to put money on someone I have no idea who it would be," said Svindal, a two-time overall champion, of his contest with the two-time defending champion. "I used to be 1-2-3 every race, and now Im 4-5-6. But Marcel is too." Ligety is the super-G world champion and will be a contender on a steep slope that produces sharp-turning corners which suit his technical skills. "This is a hill I know I have a good chance on," said Ligety, whose career-best result in downhill improved on his fourth here in 2007. Bode Miller had seemed poised for victory Wednesday until going wide near the end of his run. He placed eighth, 0.62 behind Mayer, who got his first World Cup win. In a rare choice by World Cup race organizers, the men and women raced through the same gate-setting down the 2.3-kilometre (1.43-mile) Silvano Beltrametti course. Mayers time was 2.32 seconds ahead of Gut, who raced two hours later on a warm day. Gut had the 18th best time and was faster than two men who completed the course: Johan Clarey of France and Canadas Erik Guay. However, the woman who did not finish safely, Maria Hoefl-Riesch, left the most significant mark on the day. ' ' '