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Mitch Marner spent nine seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, trying to bring back the Stanley Cup to that city for the first time since 1967. As the newest member of the Vegas Golden Knights, who landed the most coveted player in NHL free agency this week, his location has changed but his goal remains the same.

“You want to be in a place where you can win. That’s the whole goal of why we do this. You want to hoist a Stanley Cup. This team has shown that they can do it. I’m lucky enough to now hopefully help bring it back here,” Marner said of the Golden Knights, who won the Cup for the first time in 2023.

Marner, 28, came to Vegas in a sign-and-trade with the Maple Leafs before NHL free agency started on July 1. The Golden Knights sent center Nicolas Roy to Toronto, who signed Marner to an eight-year, $93-million contract before trading him to Vegas. The contract carries a $12 million annual cap hit, currently the highest on the team.

The trade ended a tumultuous tenure for Marner in Toronto. He was drafted No. 4 in 2015 and became a cornerstone young player for the Leafs along with center Auston Matthews. With a charismatic personality and a great two-way game, Marner quickly became a fan favorite. He’s fifth all time in franchise history with 741 points, with 221 goals and 520 assists in 657 regular-season games.

“Mitch is going to go down as one of the great Leafs. The statistics prove it,” Toronto general manager Brad Treliving said Tuesday.

But public sentiment slowly started turning against Marner in Toronto. A difficult contract negotiation ended with him taking a six-year deal with a lofty $10.893 million cap hit. Marner took criticism for the Leafs’ lack of playoff success, as Toronto failed to advance past the second round during his time with the franchise. Marner’s points per game in the postseason (0.90) was demonstrably lower than in the regular season (1.13).

“We didn’t win, obviously. We didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Marner said of the Maple Leafs. “They took a risky pick on a small kid from Toronto that was forever grateful to be able to wear a Maple Leaf jersey. But now, being a family man and a father, we were ready to look somewhere else and find a new place to grow our family.”

Marner said he first started considering Vegas at the NHL trade deadline. The Leafs came to him with a trade proposal to play for another team — widely reported to be the Carolina Hurricanes — that Marner denied, having a no-movement clause in his contract.

“My wife was seven or eight months pregnant at the time, and we weren’t really going to go somewhere that was maybe just going to be a short stint. If we were going somewhere, we were going to sign for an extension, raise our child there,” he said.

Treliving acknowledged that the Maple Leafs tried to move Marner.

“Ultimately, the player has a choice. We certainly approached Mitch to engage him on a contract. Mitch and his representative wanted to wait until his year was done. As it became clearer to us that the potential might not be there, we started to look at alternatives. As negotiated, Mitch has a full no-move clause, so, he controlled the process,” he said.

Marner heard that Vegas was trying to put together a trade for him at the deadline in a three-way deal. It didn’t come to fruition, but it planted the seed that it might be his next NHL destination. He had teammates in Ryan Reaves and Max Pacioretty, former Golden Knights that he spoke with about life in Vegas.

Marner sat down with his family and agent after the Leafs’ season ended to discuss his options as a free agent. Though there were other teams he was interested in, Marner got word last Friday that Vegas and Toronto were discussing a trade for his rights.

“We thought about going to free agency, but this is the place we want to be. We didn’t want to lose that opportunity and we want to join this hockey team,” he said.

That the Golden Knights traded Roy to Toronto for Marner was a point of intrigue. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on his podcast that there was talk around the NHL that “the Maple Leafs will go after Vegas for tampering” with Marner if he signed with the Knights. “If they make a deal with Toronto and send a good player to Toronto, I’m betting that any chance the Maple Leafs file for tampering goes away,” Friedman said.

Treliving declined to discuss the possibility of tampering charges. “Any reporting, I’m not going to comment on any of that,” he said.

Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon wasn’t asked about tampering allegations outright but emphasized exactly why the Golden Knights made the trade with Toronto on multiple occasions in his news conference.

“We wanted to do a sign and trade with Toronto so that we could get the eighth year on the contract. The only team that can give the player the eighth year is the team that he’s on,” McCrimmon said. “For us, the eighth year really helped us in terms of what the AAV might be for his contract. If it was a seven-year contract, to get to $96 million, you’ve got an AAV of $13.7 million. That really impacts our ability to take the player onto our team.”

He also said that the Golden Knights wanted to get ahead of the July 1 free agency period by securing Marner early. “We wanted to eliminate other teams. We wanted to be able to create a one-on-one relationship with his representatives in terms of trying to do a contract. And that’s how the deal came together,” he said.

McCrimmon also said that the trade discussions at the deadline “were initiated by Toronto.”

The Vegas general manager did lash out at some of the reporting around the trade, specifically that Marner was seeking a shorter-term deal and that players such as Vegas centers William Karlsson and Tomas Hertl might be traded to make room for Marner.

“That wasn’t true. It just wasn’t true. It’s on that long list of things that have gone on the last month that had absolutely [no] credibility. It’s shameful, to be honest, that I’ve got a phone William Karlsson and say, ‘Carly, I’m sorry, you got to go through this s—. You’re not for trade. Tomas, relax, you’re not for trade.’ That’s ridiculous,” McCrimmon said. “We did the trade because we wanted the eighth year. They wanted the eighth year.”

However Marner ended up in Vegas, the fact is that the Golden Knights just landed NHL free agency’s biggest prize: a player who can score 100 points, be among the best defensive forwards in the league and who is motivated to finally win a championship in his family’s new home.

“I’ve been very lucky to be with some very good teams and very good players. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get over the hump and that sucks a lot, to be honest,” he said. “But you’ve got to look past things. We’ve got a new great opportunity here, with an unbelievable team.”

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

NEW YORK — A blunder that typifies the current state of the New York Yankees, who find themselves in the midst of their second six-game losing streak in three weeks, happened in front of 41,401 fans at Citi Field on Saturday, and almost nobody noticed.

The Yankees were jogging off the field after securing the third out of the fourth inning of their 12-6 loss to the Mets when shortstop Anthony Volpe, as is standard for teams across baseball at the end of innings, threw the ball to right fielder Aaron Judge as he crossed into the infield from right field.

Only Judge wasn’t looking, and the ball nailed him in the head, knocking his sunglasses off and leaving a small cut near his right eye. The wound required a bandage to stop the bleeding, but Judge stayed in the game.

“Confusion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I didn’t know what happened initially. [It just] felt like something happened. Of course I was a little concerned.”

Avoiding an injury to the best player in baseball was on the Yankees’ very short list of positives in another sloppy, draining defeat to their crosstown rivals. With the loss, the Yankees, who held a three-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings entering June 30, find themselves tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for second place three games behind the Blue Jays heading into Sunday’s Subway Series finale.

The nosedive has been fueled by messy defense and a depleted pitching staff that has encountered a wall.

“It’s been a terrible week,” said Boone, who before the game announced starter Clarke Schmidt will likely undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

For the second straight day, the Mets capitalized on mistakes and cracked timely home runs. After slugging three homers in Friday’s series opener, the Mets hit three more Saturday — a grand slam in the first inning from Brandon Nimmo to take a 4-0 lead and two home runs from Pete Alonso to widen the gap.

Nimmo’s blast — his second grand slam in four days — came after Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez misplayed a ball hit by the Mets’ leadoff hitter in the first inning. On Friday, he misread Nimmo’s line drive and watched it sail over his head for a double. On Saturday, he was slow to react to Starling Marte’s flyball in the left-center field gap and braked without catching or stopping it, allowing Marte to advance to second for a double. Yankees starter Carlos Rodon then walked two batters to load the bases for Nimmo, who yanked a mistake, a 1-2 slider over the wall.

“That slider probably needs to be down,” said Rodon, who allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings. “A lot of misses today and they punished them.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing woes at third base — a position the Yankees have asked him to play to accommodate DJ LeMahieu at second base — continued in the second inning when he fielded Tyrone Taylor’s groundball and sailed a toss over first baseman Cody Bellinger’s head. Taylor was given second base and scored moments later on Marte’s RBI single.

The Yankees were charged with their second error in the Mets’ four-run seventh inning when center fielder Trent Grisham charged Francisco Lindor’s single up the middle and had it bounce off the heel of his glove.

The mistake allowed a run to score from second base without a throw, extending the Mets lead back to three runs after the Yankees had chipped their deficit, and allowed a heads-up Lindor to advance to second base. Lindor later scored on Alonso’s second home run, a three-run blast off left-hander Jayvien Sandridge in the pitcher’s major league debut.

“Just got to play better,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. It’s fundamentals. Making a routine play, routine. It’s just the little things. That’s what it kind of comes down to. But every good team goes through a couple bumps in the road.”

This six-game losing skid has looked very different from the Yankees’ first. That rough patch, consisting of losses to the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels, was propelled by offensive troubles. The Yankees scored six runs in the six games and gave up just 16. This time, run prevention is the issue; the Yankees have scored 34 runs and surrendered 54 in four games against the Blue Jays in Toronto and two in Queens.

“The offense is starting to swing the bat, put some runs on the board,” Boone said. “The pitching, which has kind of carried us a lot this season, has really, really struggled this week. We haven’t caught the ball as well as I think we should.

“So, look, when you live it and you’re going through it, it sucks, it hurts. But you got to be able to handle it. You got to be able to deal with it. You got to be able to weather it and come out of this and grow.”

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Former White Sox pitcher, world champ Jenks dies

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Former White Sox pitcher, world champ Jenks dies

Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series, died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, the team announced.

Jenks, 44, who had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer, this year, spent six seasons with the White Sox from 2005 to 2010 and also played for the Boston Red Sox in 2011. The reliever finished his major league career with a 16-20 record, 3.53 ERA and 173 saves.

“We have lost an iconic member of the White Sox family today,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “None of us will ever forget that ninth inning of Game 4 in Houston, all that Bobby did for the 2005 World Series champions and for the entire Sox organization during his time in Chicago. He and his family knew cancer would be his toughest battle, and he will be missed as a husband, father, friend and teammate. He will forever hold a special place in all our hearts.”

After Jenks moved to Portugal last year, he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. That eventually spread into blood clots in his lungs, prompting further testing. He was later diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and began undergoing radiation.

In February, as Jenks was being treated for the illness, the White Sox posted “We stand with you, Bobby” on Instagram, adding in the post that the club was “thinking of Bobby as he is being treated.”

In 2005, as the White Sox ended an 88-year drought en route to the World Series title, Jenks appeared in six postseason games. Chicago went 11-1 in the playoffs, and he earned saves in series-clinching wins in Game 3 of the ALDS at Boston, and Game 4 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.

In 2006, Jenks saved 41 games, and the following year, he posted 40 saves. He also retired 41 consecutive batters in 2007, matching a record for a reliever.

“You play for the love of the game, the joy of it,” Jenks said in his last interview with SoxTV last year. “It’s what I love to do. I [was] playing to be a world champion, and that’s what I wanted to do from the time I picked up a baseball.”

A native of Mission Hills, California, Jenks appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox and was originally drafted by the then-Anaheim Angels in the fifth round of the 2000 draft.

Jenks is survived by his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, their two children, Zeno and Kate, and his four children from a prior marriage, Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In search of infield options, Yanks add Candelario

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In search of infield options, Yanks add Candelario

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees, digging for options to bolster their infield, have signed third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the affiliate announced Saturday.

Candelario, 31, was released by the Cincinnati Reds on June 23, halfway through a three-year, $45 million contract he signed before the start of last season. The decision was made after Candelario posted a .707 OPS in 2024 and batted .113 with a .410 OPS in 22 games for the Reds before going on the injured list in April with a back injury.

The performance was poor enough for Cincinnati to cut him in a move that Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall described as a sunk cost.

For the Yankees, signing Candelario is a low-cost flier on a player who recorded an .807 OPS just two seasons ago as they seek to find a third baseman to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base, his natural position.

Candelario is the second veteran infielder the Yankees have signed to a minor league contract in the past three days; they agreed to terms with Nicky Lopez on Thursday.

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