1776

Per MLB official: Best offer is coming before 5 EST. Sounds like a take it or leave it.

which would make one wonder if/when he would get desperate enough to do something radically stupid.

Center Fiona Hill discussing a 2019 meeting between Trump and Putin. Interesting. “Putin tried to warn Trump about this, but I don’t think Trump figured out what he was saying. In one of the last meetings between Putin and Trump when I was there, Putin was making the point that: ‘Well you know, Donald, we have these hypersonic missiles.’ And Trump was saying, ‘Well, we will get them too.’ Putin was saying, ‘Well, yes, you will get them eventually, but we’ve got them first.'” “There was a menace in this exchange,” she continued. “Putin was putting us on notice that if push came to shove in some confrontational environment that the nuclear option would be on the table.”

Zelensky: “A state that commits war crimes against civilians can’t be a member of the U.N. Security Council.” Pretty much says it all.

After President Joe Biden announced new sanctions intended to “degrade [Russia’s] aerospace industry, including their space program,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, noted on Twitter just how vulnerable the station would be to a withdrawal of Russian support. He implicitly threatened to crash the orbiting research laboratory into the U.S., Europe, or a highly populated country in Asia, where a crash would take the most lives.

Not looking good at all for scheduled opening day. Oh well…

France intercepted a Russia-bound cargo ship in the English channel early Saturday on suspicion it is subject to new European Union sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. French authorities said they were checking whether the 400-foot commercial vessel, named the Baltic Leader, is owned by a Russian entity on the EU sanctions list. The boat, which was carrying vehicles, is now docked in the French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where it is being inspected, a French official said, adding that its crew was being cooperative. The U.S. put a boat of the same name on the U.S. sanctions list for belonging to Promsvyazbank, a state-owned bank focusing on Russia’s defense sector that is also on the EU sanctions list. -WSJ

I thought Biden done pretty well overall regarding his speech.

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan Meetings are done. Progress was minimal. There are four days left for MLB and the MLBPA to get a new labor deal or regular-season games are going to be canceled. They've had four days to move and there's been next to nothing -- just incremental. And that's that.

Index or actively managed if you don’t mind me asking. Meta (FB) has been beaten up recently for sure. Keep in mind, you are unlikely to have an up to date knowledge of a fund’s holdings. Public disclosure of holdings generally lag by about six weeks. If the fund is actively managed the manager may have reduced that holding already.

French President Emmanuel Macron called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a turning point in the history of Europe and France, warning it will have lasting consequences for the continent’s economy and collective security. In a national TV address, Mr. Macron said Russia’s actions “will have lasting, profound consequences on our lives. They will have consequences on our continent’s geopolitics, and we will know how to respond to this together.” Mr. Macron, who holds Europe’s rotating presidency, said sanctions against Russia will be commensurate with the level of Russia’s aggression, targeting Moscow’s economy and energy exports as well as its military. “To this act of war, we will respond without weakness, with calm, determination and unity,” Mr. Macron said. 🙄

BERLIN—The German army is “more or less powerless” and can offer only limited support to allies as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ramps up support for its eastern members following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Germany’s top army commander said Thursday. “I wouldn’t have believed that after 41 year of service in peacetime I would have to experience another war,” Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais said in a statement posted on his LinkedIn profile. “And the armed forces that I lead are more or less powerless.” The U.S. and other allies have long criticized Germany for underspending on defense in the past decade as the country sought to balance the state’s budget while simultaneously ramping up welfare spending. “We all saw it coming, but we were not able to assert ourselves, to learn and prepare after the aggression on Crimea,” he added.

So, anyone still buying the dips? Big dips? The market is in a perfect storm for destruction…rising rates, war, inflation…you name it. The Fed has the ball now and it will be very interesting to see if they raise 50 basis points mid-March if things are as volatile as they are now-I would be surprised. They are in a Catch-22 spot.

I’d like to hear the basis of this perception if you don’t mind sharing.

…or a dollar sign, or three.

I read Cantor’s book on the ‘68 Tigers. Good book.

That hat is priced at $44 on fanatics site and the thing is 50% mesh. These ST hats look worse every year.

I’ m anxious to see how UM administration and Big Ten respond. I would expect this will lead to pretty severe consequences. We’ll see.

“While exact plans are not finalized, MLB and the MLB Players Association intend to hold multiple bargaining sessions — perhaps every day — as early as Monday, sources told ESPN. Multiple owners and players expect to fly in for sessions leading up to MLB’s stated Feb. 28 deadline.” -Jeff Passan

Part of the Putin playbook. Their state media has been running this falsehood for several days. Some things never change.

To expect pitchers to bat for a decent average would be naive. It’s the strategic part of having to manage a pitcher through a game, including from the offensive perspective, that I enjoy. I would think organizations that put an elevated focus on the pitchers offense in spring training drills could see dividends during a long season. The pitcher comes to bat with the lowest of expectations of anyone in the lineup to begin with. If a pitcher could lay down a decent bunt or have a disciplined strike zone it would be an advantage over the majority of other pitchers in the league, a difference maker. MLB has created a liability over time, in their view, of having a pitcher hit. Didn’t Lolich homer in the ‘68 series? Bob Gibson homered in the 1967 series against Boston. Like every position, some guys are going to be more skilled in certain aspects. You make a good point about the catchers. They’re the coach on the field and are preoccupied with every nuance of the game during play. For the majority of the history of the game the pitchers have had to bat. Removing this as a component that has to be managed will take something away from the game. Baseball has been referred to for years as, “the thinking man’s game.” In it’s current state and direction, I don’t see that as so much the case anymore.

Maybe when Lulu establishes a summary of her thoughts she’ll share them with us. Until then…

Very early on when Black Lives Matter was just gaining recognition a couple of years back I visited their official site to educate myself on who they were…call it old fashioned curiosity. It was an eye opener at the time. Initially, and this is in summary, they pretty much opposed western culture and values. They incorporated and projected a cynical view of the black male as the head of household. They were clearly outspoken regarding the family nucleus that is considered traditional in our history. They publicly stated their beliefs and objectives, front and center, on their website. There were no gray areas. Then and now, I was appalled at how many well meaning people flocked to their tent without having one bit of knowledge about who these people were. I take for granted here that everyone should be up to speed on who the three founders were. If not…google it. Recent discoveries surrounding this organization have begun to shed light on what a rotten outfit this was/is. To any thinking person, their credibility is shot. Black lives do matter. But these founders were mostly about themselves and the money they could grift from gullible people who had good intentions. They raked it in. Some months back I revisited their website and recognized that they had scrubbed many of their controversial viewpoints from their page. There is nothing credible about this organization.

I tuned in to a podcast last week that Bruce Bochy was doing with a Bay Area reporter. He was adamantly opposed to the DH overall and especially vocal about the NL adopting it. I agree with him entirely. The rationale used to eliminate the pitcher as a hitter because of his skills is flawed. The system has diminished his skills over the time he has been playing baseball from high school to present. Two wrongs don’t make a right is how I perceive it.

Who cares? Surely you jest. Unfortunately, racial makeup is a huge component in some cases when employment and advancement are being considered. Yes, it is ridiculous. Liz knew this, that’s why she pulled the card.