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10 year treasury chasing 4.8 on very strong jobs report.

That’s what the Dodgers accountants are banking on anyway…

BlackRock BLK is pulling out of a United Nations-sponsored climate initiative, a remarkable U-turn for a company that was once a poster child of the environmental, social and governance investing movement. The world’s largest asset manager told clients in a letter Thursday that it has formally withdrawn from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, an international group of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. WSJ Nice

Verlander to Giants for a one year deal at $15 million.

Realistically, I don’t think the Tigers were interested in Verlander. The Giants got a one year deal which is exactly what you would want with Verlander at this point.

Good for the Giants. Wish him the very best.

Signing Matt Boyd would bring us full circle.

Agree. I believe it was Harris who signed Cobb to a contract in San Francisco in 2022. Cobb has been injury prone for the last three years.

So the Blue Jays have reportedly made an offer to Santander. If he accepts, I would think the talking heads would immediately conclude that Bregman is Motor City bound.

This year we’re staying at the Holiday Inn Express Lakeland North. It’s six minutes from the park and the pricing was very reasonable in comparison to other places we saw when we booked in early December.

When you speak of 1830, are you referring to Joseph Smith and the origin of Mormonism? Other than that, I’m not familiar with what/who you’re referring to.

I believe you are correct in saying that the word “Rapture” does not appear in the (KJV) Bible. The description and conversation around the event itself is indeed in the KJV across a number of scriptures. The event is clearly described in the following verses: 1 Corinthians 15:52 1 Thessalonians 4 13-18 Revelation 1:7 There are numerous other scriptures that discuss the event of the Rapture in the KJV Bible. The word Rapture, nor the description of the event itself, originated in the 1800’s.

I hope Rosenthal is correct.

Franklin accurately referred to it as a Republic. Benjamin Franklin is famous for saying, “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it” in response to Elizabeth Willing Powel's question about whether the new nation would be a republic or a monarchy. Franklin was aware of the new union's fragility and the difficulties the states would face.

Every now and then good news comes around…. The student government at the University of Michigan has removed its top two leaders, who vowed to block funding for campus groups unless the university agreed to divest from companies accused of profiting from the Israel–Hamas war. The student assembly’s president and vice president, Alifa Chowdhury and Elias Atkinson, were officially ousted late on Monday after they were impeached last month, the New York Times reported. Each received a guilty count of dereliction of duty for either missing council meetings or failing to organize them. NR

This has been my take from the day they initially called him up. Avila was under a lot of heat to show the fans some evidence that the rebuild was beginning to bear fruit. I thought Riley was called up too early as well at the time.

Generally the states with the higher taxes (CA/NY) compensate the player through their salary to cover the higher tax burden. If I’m not mistaken, when Josh Hamilton was traded from the Angels to the Rangers there were some adjustments to his existing contract to consider the lighter tax burden in Texas as opposed to California. I don’t recall the details but thought that was an unusual circumstance.

The Dbacks have had some tough luck for several years with free agent pitchers. Bumgarner, Erod, and Montgomery all were/are busts to date. Maybe Burnes works out for them.

I read last night that the Giants had an offer on the table for Burnes for some time but were ready to move on because he wasn’t interested. I don’t know what the years/$ were.

That’s what I’m guessing. But is it worth a roster spot?

So, is Tork toast?

Harris and Hinch stressed culture and character considerations when adding players to the organization. Torres doesn’t impress me here. Apparently he refused to play 3rd base with the Yankees and was benched on an occasion or two for lack of hustle. I’m hoping that he will take advantage of the chance to redeem himself across several performance metrics and impress with his attitude.

From pitching chaos to infield chaos,nice! Spring training will be interesting.

Indeed, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to one and all!

I’m fine with that. However, if Cobb is the big signing this off-season, my expectations for 2025 won’t be very high. I don’t expect Skubal to duplicate 2024. He’ll still be ace but not the 2024 ace. Lightening in a bottle the last six weeks of 2024 isn’t going to happen again either. That storyline is a classic but won’t repeat this coming year. It’s early yet, but I’m not optimistic that things will be much different at this point. I don’t believe Tork will move the needle much. I am cautiously optimistic Baez might surprise to the upside. Enough to make a difference, who knows… I am suspecting Harris is quietly looking for a trade he likes. That’s about the only avenue left at this point for this team’s budget. That and a good bit of fortune from the minors.