Upton says no to Mariners trade

Baseball: The Seattle Mariners, at least for now, have lost out on an opportunity to make a dramatic addition to their perennially bottom- feeding offense.

The Mariners reached agreement on a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that would have brought two-time All-Star outfielder Justin Upton, a former No. 1 overall draft pick, to Seattle.

But Upton vetoed the trade, which was first reported by Fox Sports and confirmed by the Seattle Times. Upton’s contract has a limited no-trade clause that includes the Mariners and three other teams, identified by ESPN as the Blue Jays, Cubs and Red Sox.

The package put together by the Mariners for Upton was portrayed as “substantial,” believed to include shortstop Nick Franklin as well as one pitcher from the “Big Three” triumvirate of Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen and James Paxton. All four are universally rated not only among the Mariners’ top five prospects, but among the best in MLB.

Seattle Times

Pangos makes cut on Cousy list

College basketball: Gonzaga University sophomore Kevin Pangos is among the 20 watch list finalists for the 2013 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award.

The finalists were announced Thursday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in men’s college basketball. An original list of 80 candidates was trimmed down by a nationally-based committee to the list of 20.

Pangos, from Newmarket, Ontario, is averaging a team-high 3.7 assists per game this season and has a 2.57 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s averaging 11.8 points and 2.3 rebounds.

• Gonzaga redshirt- junior center Kelly Olynyk is the West Coast Conference Player of the Month for December. 

Olynyk averaged 18.1 points per game last month, connecting on 70.8 percent of his field-goal attempts (51-62).