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Avila gets fleeced again. The season is lost.

The Padres have agreed to a trade sending right-handers Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagán to the Twins, with left-hander Taylor Rogers and outfielder Brent Rooker going to San Diego, according to MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi on Thursday. Neither team has confirmed the trade.

The market may be in for some volatility post Fed Minutes release, in a serious way. Should be entertaining.

Minutes from the recent Fed meeting due to be published at 2 p.m. today. The 10 year benchmark is above 2.6% this morning. I would not be surprised at all to see the Fed raise 50 basis points next. I give it a 55-45 chance of happening. Thoughts?

This is bullshit. Agree. Traveling down and making lodging accommodations and every other consideration is a time consuming exercise. How about flight plans/tickets? This will be a major pain for those that had planned to attend tomorrows game.

As a Tar Heel, congratulations to Kansas. Winning it all would have been monumental in Hubert Davis’ first year as head coach. But hey, ruining Duke’s season and making their fan base, and EX-coach, believe the sun won’t ever shine again is quite the consolation prize.

My wife and I have been to numerous minor league games over the years. You never really know how many players you see in the minors that will eventually make the bigs. I go back and scour Austin Meadows track record out of curiosity. I didn’t realize he had committed to Clemson before opting to sign with Pittsburgh. Cutting to the chase here, we saw a game in Charleston, WV on August 5, 2014. That’s 2014 folks. We travelled up to follow the Asheville Tourists on a road trip. The West Virginia Power was the Low A affiliate of the Pirates at the time. I remembered the trip well and several details but didn’t find a box score on-line anywhere. So, I emailed an acquaintance with the Asheville Tourists this morning and asked if in his archives he had the box score of August 5, 2014. In less than 30 minutes he sent it to me. Austin Meadows made four plate appearances in that game. He was 1-3 with a BB. He batted third in the lineup that day. After going down the Power’s lineup I was in for another surprise. The number two hitter for West Virginia that day was none other than an aspiring Jacoby Jones!

I’m lifelong North Carolina stock but welcome to the boards. 👍

Best news in a long time regarding this team. Avila is serious about the “full bore” phrase I guess.

Your 2022 American League MVP Isaac Paredes

This comes over as huge. Wow. I seriously like this move while having a hard time believing Avila could get something like this done.

Was Greene’s injury career ending?

….and lead by example.

The Carolina sky is the perfect shade of blue where I am this morning.

Tough break for the Mets. deGrom had been named opening day starter. “Jacob deGrom underwent an MRI today that revealed a stress reaction on his scapula that has caused inflammation in the area. The immediate prescription is for Jake to discontinue throwing for up to 4 weeks and then reimage the area. At that time, we’ll update the plan of care.” ~NY Mets

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trickbot-pro-russia-hacking-gang-documents-ukrainian-leaker-conti-11648480564 This is an extremely good read if you can access it. One of the better pieces WSJ has done in a while. It appears in todays print edition, fwiw.

With the exception of Garneau, this looks like opening day.

I’m not registered as a Biden critic. It’s more about what was said and the current situation than who said it. From a psychological standpoint, the words aren’t productive.

~WSJ article When Russia unveiled previously secret details of its nuclear-weapons doctrine for the first time in 2020, it confirmed something U.S. war planners had long suspected: Moscow would be willing to use atomic arms to keep from losing a conventional war. Since Russian President Vladimir Putininvaded Ukraine last month, he has repeatedly raised the specter of nuclear war, invoking his country’s atomic arsenal in an effort to deter the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from getting involved in the conflict. But as Mr. Putin’s army has faced fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces strengthened by large infusions of Western weaponry, concerns have grown in Washington and allied capitals that Russia could consider using a so-called tactical nuclear weapon to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. Such weapons, which generally have a less powerful warhead than a strategic nuclear weapon carried on an intercontinental ballistic missile, were part of Cold War military thinking though they never figured into the arms-control agreements of the past between the U.S. and Russia or the Soviet Union. ———————— For the record, personally, I fully believe Biden’s comments being debated above were a mistake. There was nothing to gain anywhere as a result. Actions speak louder than words and to date the administration and western allies have been spot on in their execution.

Of the 10 parks in North Carolina currently home to an affiliated team, I would encourage folks to attend a game in Asheville (Tourists) and a game in Kinston, NC. (Down East Wood Ducks) Both of these parks are yesteryear parks and lack some of the creature comforts newer parks offer. However, both parks are unique in their own ways and both parks have their own histories. i’ve been to both parks numerous times over the years and hope to get to them both again this season. They will both face difficulties I believe in satisfying MLB’s mandates for upgrades. I hope I am wrong on this. Last year my wife and I completed a “bucket list” item that had been out there a while. We have now been to a game in all 10 active minor league parks in North Carolina. Three new parks in the state in the past several years put us in the catch up mode.

Not sure where to put this …. MLB is is currently communicating to the different minor league park/facility owners that the funding and plans to upgrade to MLB required standards will be due in 2023. The Durham Bulls (AAA) have determined that in order to meet the MLB demands the costs will be $10 million. The Asheville Tourists (A+) will be looking at a $30 million tab. Asheville is one of the oldest parks in use today. It’s a great fan experience. Some of the Asheville money will go for upgrading the fan experience that current ownership wants in addition to the the MLB core requirements. I’m sure many teams will face these challenges in the coming year. I could imagine that some teams may even be forced to relocate at some point if city and town officials don’t approve of spending money on ballparks. As I understand it, MLB is putting zero dollars into this.

This is good news and I would say that about any of the justices on the SCOTUS. It is very disappointing to read some of the comments attached to the above tweet. The lack of civility in political commentary is appalling.

I’ll fess up, I had no idea Faedo was ready to go live. His appearance today is very encouraging!

No drunken sailors on this boat.

While Dickerson and Jim Price return on the radio side, Matt Shepard begins his fourth full season calling play-by-play for the Tigers on television. Dickerson and Shepard will team up for the first internet-only broadcast on March 23 against the Pirates. Dickerson and Price will handle the call on the other webcast March 26 against the Phillies. Bally Sports Detroit will pair Shepard with a rotation of analysts, including Dan Petry, Craig Monroe, Jack Morris and Kirk Gibson. Here’s the full broadcast list for Spring Training (all beginning at 1 p.m. ET): March 18 vs. Phillies -- AM 1270, Bally Sports Detroit March 20 at Yankees -- 97.1 FM March 21 vs. Blue Jays -- AM 1270, Bally Sports Detroit March 23 vs. Pirates -- Tigers.com March 24 vs. Yankees -- AM 1270, Bally Sports Detroit March 25 at Blue Jays -- AM 1270 March 26 vs. Phillies -- AM 1270, Tigers.com March 27 at Orioles -- 97.1 FM March 28 vs. Yankees -- AM 1270, Bally Sports Detroit April 1 vs. Yankees -- AM 1270 April 2 vs. Orioles -- 97.1 FM or AM 1270 April 4 vs. Blue Jays -- AM 1270, Bally Sports Detroit