S1P16 - Baseball - Spring Training 2019

Baseball News Since About 02/11/2019

Rangers

• New manager Chris Woodward. 
• 02/13 - Rangers pitchers and catcher report to spring training in Surprise, AZ.
• 02/18 - First Rangers full-squad spring training workouts.
• 03/02 - Adrian Beltre visits the Rangers camp.
• 03/06 - Rangers sign Jose Leclerc (25) to a four-year extension worth $14.75 million with two additional option years for $12.25 million. A total of $27 million. Leclerc receives a $2 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary for 2019. He will receive $2.25 million in '20, $4 million in '21 and $4.75 million in '22. The options are for $6 million in '23 and $6.25 million in '24, with $750,000 in buyouts.
• Some more info and renderings of the Rangers new Globe Life Field. 
• Predicted roster.
• Joey Gallo, OF - "If you had to sum up the modern game in a single player, it’s probably Gallo, he of the Babe Ruthian power and the Bob Ueckerian batting average."

Other MLB

• 02/18 - Most teams have full squads reporting today and still free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado have not been signed. MLB owner collusion or are the stars asking for way too much?
• 02/19 - Manny Machado (26) finally signs with the San Diego Padres. It's a record-setting 10 year, $300 million deal. Word is he will play third base. Since it's the Padres, we probably won't hear much about Manny for a couple of years. They are a bad team with a good farm system.
• 02/19 - Don Newcombe died at age 92. He was the MLB's first Black ace pitcher. He was NL Rookie of the Year in 1949. In 1956 he won the NL MVP and Cy Young awards. He as the first Black pitcher to start a World Series game. 
• 02/26 - The Rockies sign third baseman Nolan Arenado (27) for $260 million for eight years. That's $32.5 million/year. The largest per year position player salary. 
• 02/28 - Bryce Harper (26) signs a $330 million 13 year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Less per year than Machado and Arenado but more total dollars.The largest total contract in MLB history. In my opinion, this is the worst of the big three contracts for the team. Harper is overrated and not worth the money. Average or below defense, erratic offense. 
• Mike Trout becomes the highest paid MLB player with a 12 year $426.5 million contract. That's $35.54 million/year. No opt out.
• MLB is using the pitch clock in spring training games but it will probably not be used in the 2019 regular season. Why not? Will be part of a new MLPA contract, implement in 2022. 
• Tom Seaver (74), Tom Terrific, diagnosed with dementia. 1967 ROY, 12-time all star, 3 time Cy Young winner, 5 time K leader, 311 wins, 3,640 Ks, HOF.  
• A $1 million bonus for the home run derby winner in 2019.
• Rule Changes:
• Inning breaks reduced to 2 minutes in 2019, maybe 1:55 in 2020.
• A single trade deadline for 2019, 7/31.
• All-star voting in 2019, a primary fan vote then a top 3 runoff 1-day fan election.
• Mound visits reduced from 6 to 5 in 2019.
• Active rosters will rise from 25 to 26 in 2020. September rosters capped at 28.
• The three batter minimum for a pitcher will go into effect in 2020.
• The minimum DL stay will be returned to 15 days
• Continuing talks between now and the end of the current MLPA contract in 2021.
• Red Sox & Yankees will play a 2 game series in London in June. 
• Is it time for MLB to expand? If yes, where?
• 03/20 - The 2019 season officially started with the Mariners beating the A's 9-7 in Tokyo. Ichiro (45) started in right field and went 0-1 with a walk.  
• 03/21 - Ichiro retires after the game. Cooperstown in five years. 
• We have reached a new salary plateau for baseball stars. It is now $30+ million/year.

Other Baseball

• 02/15 - The #6 Florida Gators open their regular season against Long Beach State. The Gators are ranked from #3 to #6 in the various pre-season polls.
• The independent Atlantic League to experiment.  A Three-year partnership with MLB
• Trackman radar to help call balls & strikes
• 62'6" pitching distance in the 2nd half of the season
• No shift. Two infielders on each side of 2nd
• Three batter minimum for pitchers
• No mound visits except to change pitchers or injuries
• Increase base size from 15" to 18"
• Reduce time between innings and pitching changes from 2:05 to 1:45
• Some college teams are using a walkie-talkie and a catcher earpiece to call pitches. 

The pretend games are over. The regular season started today. Just a short 162 games from now we will be ready for the postseason.

Let the games begin. Play Ball! Batter Up!

wjh

S1P15 - Peroni Nastra Azzurro

Peroni

• Peroni Brewery is a brewing company, founded by Francesco Peroni in Vigevano, Italy in 1846.
• The Peroni company was established under the founding family name in the town of Vigevano, Italy, in 1846. The company was moved to Rome by Giovanni Peroni in 1864, six years prior to Rome becoming the Italian capital in 1870.
• Best known worldwide for its premium lager, Nastro Azzurro
• Peroni was bought from SABMiller by the Japanese brewing giant Asahi in February 2016. Part of merger/divestiture.
• Beers under the Peroni brand include:
• Crystall, a 5.6% abv pale lager;
• Peroni Gran Riserva, a 6.6% abv strong lager;
• Peroncino, a 5% pale lager;
• Peroni Leggera, a 3.5% pale lager.
• Wuhrer brand – a 4.7% pale lager launched in Brescia in 1829.
• The main brands are Peroni (4.7%) the best selling beer in Italy and Nastro Azzurro (5.1%)
• Nastro Azzurro was launched in 1963. The name means Blue Ribbon
• The small town of Bergamo in northern Italy is home to our Nostrano dell’Isola maize, exclusively produced for us.
• INGREDIENTS:
• Italian Maize: A blend including Nostrano dell’Isola
• Hops: Saaz-Saaz and Hallertau Magnum
• Barley: Two-row spring barley
• Water: Pure, ‘soft water’, with low carbonates
• $10 @ Goody Goody for 6 pack 11.2 oz cans.

This beer is a fairly standard lager. Crisp and clean with a light yellow color. It should obviously pair well with Italian dishes like pasta, veal, and pizza.

Dennis and I both rated this a solid three bottle caps. You can hear our commentary on the 2OGDB podcast starting at the 41-minute mark. CHEERS!

wjh

S1P14 - News & Politics

A recap of politics and news since about 03/01/2019

National & International

• Washington governor Jay Inslee announces he is running for president. He is the first governor in the Democratic race.
• Otto Warmbier's family speaks out against Trump's defense of Kim Jong-un. It is normal behavior for Trump to speak glowingly of evil dictators. 
• 03/01 - Pakistan returns the captured Indian pilot. Kashmir tensions de-escalate. Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed. No nuclear war this week.
• 03/01 - Trump's golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland was ordered to pay the Scottish government's legal bills after losing a battle over a wind power development that the president argued would spoil the view from his course.
• 03/01 - A dozen mature trees were cut down and dumped into the Potomac River from Trump National Golf Course property in Virginia last week. Our pro-environment president at work. 
  

• 03/01 - Israel’s attorney general recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges.
• 03/01 - Justice Clarence Thomas has been maneuvering behind the scenes to whip votes for Rao, his former clerk. He reached out privately to at least two Republican senators. Supreme Court justices shouldn't be playing politics. 
• 03/04 - Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper enter the field for the Democratic presidential nomination.  
• Trump now blames the Democrats and Michael Cohen for the failed summit with Kim Jong-un. Of course, we all knew it couldn't possibly be Trump's fault. 
• 03/04 - The House Judiciary Committee has sent document requests to 81 individuals and entities tied to the president.
• 03/04 - A coalition of 20 states and California separately have filed lawsuits seeking to block Trump administration changes to the Title X family planning programs. Even more suits are expected. 
• 03/04 - There are allegations that Fox News squashed stories to help Trump and gave him some of the questions before a debate with Clinton. Shocking.
• 03/05 - FDA Commissioner Scott Gotlieb is resigning.
• 03/05 - Michael Bloomberg will not run for president in 2020. Good.
• According to US military analysts, North Korea has started rebuilding their missile test facility. So much for a successful summit. The master dealmaker at work. 
• The federal budget deficit is $310 billion, up 77%, in the first four months of the fiscal year. Mostly because of the GOP tax cut that was supposed to pay for itself.
• The trade deficit for 2018 rises to a record $891.2 billion, $419 billion with China. This despite Trump's tariffs and promise to reduce trade deficits. 
• Don, Jr., and Eric employed an illegal immigrant as the caretaker of their private hunting retreat. 
• 03/07 - Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sues the Trump Organization for nonpayment of $1.9 million in legal costs. He also sued for an additional $1.9 million in reimbursements for fines, forfeitures, and restitution. 
• 03/07 - Paul Manafort sentenced to 47 months in prison for bank and tax fraud. Too little time for his crimes. 47 months is only 20% of the minimum recommended sentence. 
• 03/08 - Jobs growth falls to only 20,000 in February. Expected job growth was 175K. The unemployment rate remains low at 3.8%.
• 03/08 - White House communications director Bill Shine resigns. He will move to Trump's reelection campaign. Shine is the former president of Fox News. He left Fox amid the sexual harassment and discrimination troubles at the network.  
• 03/08 - The House passes H.R. 1, a combination voting rights and campaign-finance/ethics reform bill. The GOP controlled Senate probably won't even consider the bill. 
• 03/11 - The Democrats choose Milwaukee as their 2020 convention site.
• Trump releases his latest budget. It's $4.7 trillion. A $1 trillion deficit, $8.6 billion for the Wall, big cuts to Medicare, by $845 billion over 10 years, and other domestic programs, increases for the military budget to $750 billion, a 5% increase. Typical Trump shit. Build a wall, boost the military, fuck the ordinary people. Why does the largest, most powerful military in the world need more money? 
• Congress invites NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg to address a joint session.
• Nancy Pelosi on impeaching Trump, "He's just not worth it."
• 03/12 - Australian Cardinal George Pell sentenced to six years in prison for sexual abuse. Not a long enough sentence but it's a start.
• 03/13 - Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is sentenced to 73 months in prison in his DC conspiracy and fraud case. 30 months will run concurrently with his 47 month Virginia sentence. That leaves Manafort a total of 7½ years of prison time. 
• 03/13 - Manafort is charged with 16 crimes in New York including mortgage fraud. If convicted, Trump will not be able to pardon him on these state charges. 
• 03/13 - The Senate rebuked Trump with a 54-46 vote ordering the US military to end support of the Saudi's war in Yemen. Now onto the House.
• 03/14 - Beto O'Rourke enters the presidential race.
• 03/14 - The New York appellate court allows the Summer Zervos defamation suit against Trump to proceed.
• 03/14 - A judge has ruled that the Sandy Hook families' suit of gun maker Remington can proceed. 
• 03/15 - Trump vetoes the bill opposing his border emergency declaration. His first veto. Back to Congress to see if they can override the veto, probably not going to happen. Will wind up in the courts.

Texas & Local

• The Texas Senate unanimously passes a bill giving teachers a $5,000/year pay raise.
• A proposed House bill includes higher school funding but not the $5K raise.
• The legislature is considering a bill to make possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a civil offense, not a criminal offense. Good idea. 
• Hardly any bills actually get passed until the last week of the session.

wjh

S1P13 - News & Politics

A recap of politics and news since about 02/13/2019

National & International

• NASA Mars rover dies after over 14 years of exploration.
• 02/13 - FEMA administrator William "Brock" Long will resign. His tenure included allegations of improper use of government vehicles. 
• 02/13 - The House votes 248-177 to end US military aid to Saudi Arabia in Yemen. 
• 02/13 - A federal judge has ruled that Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors on Mueller's team, voiding his cooperation agreement.
• 02/14 - William Barr is confirmed for Attorney General by the Senate.
• 02/14 - Amazon abandons plans to build a headquarters in NYC. The state and city save $3 billion in incentives.
• 02/14 - Both Houses of Congress pass the government funding bill. Now it's up to Trump to keep the government open.
• 02/15 - Trump caves and signs a government funding bill that includes $1.4 billion in border fence money, far less than was on the table before the shutdown or in 2017. At the same time, he says he will declare a national emergency so he can reallocate funds from other sources. 
• 02/15 - Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld says he will challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.  
• 02/15 - The Supreme Court will decide the census citizenship question issue this session.
• Pope Francis defrocks former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexually abusing minors and seminarians. Too little and about 50 years too late. 
• 02/16 - Trump's nominee for UN Ambassador, Heather Nauert, withdraws from consideration. The former Fox News employee said the past two months had been grueling. She has an illegal nanny and tax problems in her past. 
• 02/18 - 16 states file suit to stop Trump from using emergency powers to build the wall.
• 02/18 - The Catholic church has secret rules and procedures for priests who father children or break their celibacy vows. More scandal for the corrupt organization. 
• 02/19 - Bernie Sanders enters the race for president.
• 02/19 - News that the Catholic church ignored reports of systemic sexual and physical abuse of deaf children in their care. 
• 02/19 - Trump nominates Jeffrey Rosen for deputy attorney general.
• 02/20 - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to limit state and local fines and civil forfeitures. Excessive fines are unconstitutional. 
• 02/20 - A Coast Guard lieutenant was arrested on weapon charges and planning a terrorist attack targetting politicians and journalists. He is a self-proclaimed white nationalist. Yet, the national emergency is at our southern border. Also, no comment on this by Trump.
• 02/20 - Putin threatens US if we deploy missiles in Europe. No response from Trump.
• 02/20 - Trump plans to convene the Presidential Committee on Climate Security. It will be headed by a physicist, not a climate scientist, who thinks CO2 is a good thing. Typical Trump appointment. 
• 02/20 - Shockingly, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated his ethics agreement by filing false financial disclosures.
• 02/21 - The presiding judge issues a gag order against Roger Stone in his criminal case.
• 02/21 - The North Carolina State Board of Elections ordered a new election in the 9th Congressional District because of widespread ballot tampering by the Republicans. 
• The last of six NYC condos remove the Trump Place name from the building. Trump is now a toxic name in NYC. 
• 02/22 - New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is charged with soliciting a prostitute. Is that a Super Ball? Trump will probably give him an award.
• 02/22 - Manhattan prosecutors are preparing state charges against Paul Manafort.
• 02/22 - Trump to nominate Kelly Knight Craft for UN Ambassador. She is the current ambassador to Canada and more importantly, a major GOP and Trump donor. Her husband is the CEO of a coal producer although I'm sure it is clean coal.
• 02/24 - The pope calls for an "all-out battle" against clerical sexual abuse. No specifics so I don't hold out much hope for significant change. Words, not actions.
• 02/24 - Trump delays the 3/1 increase in tariffs deadline with China. No new deadline indicated.
• The British Labour Party is now prepared to support a second Brexit referendum. The whole Brexit issue has become a complete clusterfuck. The deadline is March 29th. 
• 02/25 - A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security officials issued a statement saying that “there is no factual basis” for President Trump’s proclamation of a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. 
• 02/26 - The House voted to block Trump's border emergency declaration. The vote was 245-182. Thirteen Republicans voted with the majority. The resolution now goes to the Senate. This is the first time Congress has sought to overturn a presidential emergency declaration. 
• 02/26 - Chicago will have a Black female mayor. There is a runoff election on 4/2.
• 02/27 - Former Trump fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen testifies before the House Oversight Committee. 
• 02/27 - Trump meets with North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam. 
• 02/28 - Trump and Kim abruptly cut short their summit with no agreement.  
• India and Pakistan have another dustup over Kashmir. Both have nuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
• 02/28 - The US economy grew at a 2.6% rate in the fourth quarter. Good, but down from the previous two quarters. The annual growth rate for 2018 sits at 2.9%. 
• 02/28 - The GOP Senate confirms ex-coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to run Environmental Protection Agency. Thanks for putting another nail in the environmental coffin. 
• 02/28 - North Korea says they sought partial sanction relief, not the full relief Trump stated. Both sides are habitual liars so there is no way to determine the real story.

Texas

• Still, no significant bills have been passed by the Texas legislature.
• Many local elections in Texas are scheduled for May 2019. Dallas will get a new mayor. There are also municipal, school board elections, regional water districts, etc. all over the state. Bedford has two city council seats on the ballot. 

wjh