Yankees add INF/OF Mazzilli in rare trade with Mets

Yankees add INF/OF Mazzilli in rare trade with Mets

The New York Yankees acquired minor league utility man L.J. Mazzilli from the New York Mets on Tuesday in exchange for outfielder Kendall Coleman.

Mazzilli, a fourth-round pick by the Mets in 2013, is the son of former major leaguer Lee Mazzilli. The elder Mazzilli was also drafted by the Mets and played the first six seasons of his career with them before a 37-game stint with the Yankees by way of a trade from the Texas Rangers in 1982.

Lee Mazzilli currently works in the Yankees’ organization as a spring training coach. He was the team’s first base coach from 2000-03 and bench coach in 2006.

L.J. Mazzilli, 27, has played 528 games in the minor leagues. He began this season in Triple-A after stints there in 2014, ’16 and ’17 and has two hits in seven at-bats for the Las Vegas 51s this year. Overall, Mazzilli has a .268 career batting average in the minors and has yet to make his major league debut.

Coleman, 22, has yet to advance past Class-A after being drafted in 2013. He hit .212 with three home runs and 25 RBIs in 63 games with short-season Staten Island last year.

Trades between the crosstown rival Yankees and Mets are rare. The two teams reportedly discussed a deal to send outfielder Jay Bruce to the Yankees last season before the Mets traded him to the Cleveland Indians.

NHL moving 2019 ASG up to Saturday

The NHL will be moving the events of 2019 All-Star Weekend up a day, the league announced Monday.

The All-Star Game, which usually takes place on Sunday, will instead be played on Saturday, Jan. 26 next season. As a result, the skills competition, usually a Saturday event, will be held Friday, Jan. 25.

When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced in January that the San Jose Sharks will host the 2019 NHL All-Star Game at SAP Center, the game was originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 27, with the skills competition a day prior.

San Jose last hosted the event in 1997.

Villanova’s Bridges enters NBA draft

Villanova All-American Mikal Bridges is entering the 2018 NBA Draft.

Bridges, a junior who won the national championship with the Wildcats twice in three seasons, made the announcement Tuesday. He is projected as a top-15 pick because of his position flexibility at 6-foot-7.

In 2017-18, Bridges won the Julius Erving Award as the top small forward in college basketball.

Bridges redshirted his first year on campus and was the MVP of the Big East tournament. He averaged 17.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and shot 43.5 percent from 3-point range as a junior.