Mariners acquire Gordon in trade

The Miami Marlins began a payroll purge by trading AllStar second baseman Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners.

Gordon, who is set to make $10.8 million in 2018 and about $38 million over the next three years, will be moved to center field by the Mariners, who already have an All-Star second baseman in Robinson Cano.

“He’s a terrific athlete and I don’t think the transition to center field will be a terribly difficult one for him,” Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said of Gordon.

Miami acquired right-hander Nick Neidert, the Mariners’ No. 2 prospect, along with infielder Chris Torres and right-hander Robert Dugger in the deal.

Right-hander Tyler Chatwood and the Chicago Cubs have agreed to a $38 million, three-year contract.

Chatwood, who turns 28 next week, was 8-15 with a 4.69 ERA in 33 appearances, including 25 starts, for Colorado last season. Basketball: LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball, the younger brothers of Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard Lonzo Ball, have hired agent Harrison Gaines, officially ending their NCAA eligibility.

The news comes three days after LiAngelo Ball withdrew from UCLA, which had suspended him from its basketball team following his arrest for shoplifting in China last month.

LaMelo Ball withdrew from Chino Hills High in San Bernardino County, where he was a junior, to be home schooled in early October.

The players’ father, LaVar Ball, told ESPN that his plan is for LiAngelo and LaMelo to play together overseas. Horse racing: Hundreds of elite thoroughbreds sprinted away from flames as one of the Southern California wildfires tore through a training center in San Diego County, but trainers at San Luis Rey Downs estimated that at least a dozen had died, possibly far more. The facility is home to horses that run at nearby Del Mar and other top-flight California tracks including Santa Anita. Figure skating: Nathan Chen finished first in the men’s short program at the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan. He has 103.32 points, with Japan’s Shoma Uno second with 101.51 points. Golf: Keenan Davidse shot an 8-under-par 63 to take a onestroke lead over six players after the first round of the European Tour’s Joburg Open in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tennis: Two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova has withdrawn from next month’s Australian Open after having surgery on her left wrist.