Wednesday Sports in Brief

Wed, Jan 27, 2021
By The Associated Press

NFL

SEATTLE (AP) - Former Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Chad Wheeler was charged with first-degree domestic violence assault on Wednesday following his arrest last weekend.

Wheeler was additionally charged with domestic violence unlawful imprisonment and resisting arrest by King County Prosecutors. Wheeler is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 9. The first-degree domestic violence assault charge is a Class A felony in Washington. The domestic violence unlawful imprisonment charge is a Class C felony.

Prosecutors also asked a judge to require Wheeler be placed on electronic home detention, and wear an ankle monitoring device be equipped with GPS monitoring.

The charging decision by prosecutors ended a whirlwind day that included Wheeler being waived by the Seahawks, according to the NFL's official transactions wire after details emerged of the alleged assault and his arrest.

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) - The Detroit Lions have hired offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, who led the Los Angeles Chargers for four seasons before being fired earlier this month.

Detroit added Lynn to first-year coach Dan Campbell's staff on Wednesday, days after hiring Aaron Glenn to be their defensive coordinator.

Lynn had a 33-31 record in the regular season and was 1-1 in the playoffs with the Chargers from 2017 to 2020. He was 0-1 as interim coach of the Buffalo Bills in 2016 when he also served as offensive coordinator for 14 games. Lynn played running back for Denver and San Francisco from 1993 to 1999.

The Lions also announced they hired assistant general manager Ray Agnew and senior personnel executive John Dorsey, a former general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns. The latest additions to the front office are designed to build a veteran-laden support staff to work with first-time general manager Brad Holmes.

NHL

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jim Rutherford arrived in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2014 tasked with jumpstarting a star-laden but stalled franchise to life.

By the end of his third season as general manager, the Penguins became the first team in a generation to win consecutive Stanley Cup titles.

Those banners will serve as long-lasting reminders of the success of Rutherford's tenure, one that came to an abrupt end on Wednesday when the 71-year-old Hall of Famer resigned just two weeks into the abbreviated 2021 season.

Rutherford, whose contract was set to expire in June, cited "personal reasons" behind the decision. He told team president and CEO David Morehouse on Tuesday night and confirmed it again when the two spoke Wednesday morning.

NBA

Washington's second-half schedule might not be as jam-packed as first thought, after the NBA said Wednesday it was rescheduling some Wizards games after a half-dozen of their contests were postponed in recent weeks for virus-related reasons.

Portland will now visit Washington on Tuesday, a game that was originally set for the second half. Washington will play at Charlotte on Feb. 7, a game that was rescheduled from Jan. 20. And that means the Blazers, who were scheduled to visit the Hornets that day, will now go to Charlotte in the second half of the schedule.

The league has postponed 22 games so far this season, 21 of them since Jan. 10. The original intent was to push all those postponed games into the second half, when possible; now, the league said it would move some games into the first-half schedules, "with a specific focus on the teams with the most postponed games to date."

MLB

NEW YORK (AP) - In a deal between two of baseball's busiest teams this winter, the New York Mets traded left-hander Steven Matz to the Toronto Blue Jays for three young pitchers Wednesday night.

New York received reliever Sean Reid-Foley and minor league right-handers Josh Winckowski and Yennsy Diaz in a move that could signal the Mets are pursuing a pricey free agent.

Matz, a New York product, is set to earn $5.2 million this year and can become a free agent after the season. He is coming off a miserable 2020, when he went 0-5 with a 9.68 ERA and lost his rotation spot during the pandemic-shortened season. He made six starts and three relief appearances, spending time on the injured list with shoulder discomfort.

Beset by injuries throughout his career, the 29-year-old Matz is 31-41 with a 4.35 ERA and 552 strikeouts over 579 2/3 innings in six major league seasons, all with the Mets.

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