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Ian Happ reportedly agrees to 3-year, $61 million contract extension with Chicago Cubs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ has reportedly agreed to a three-year, $61 million extension, according to ESPN.Happ, who would have been a free agent after this season, will be part of the Cubs through at least 2026.The two sides had talked about an extension this offseason, but failed to get another done before opening day. Happ has 105 career home runs and a .802 OPS in his seven season with the Cubs.He made the National League All-Star team last season and won his first Gold Glove award.More to come on a developing story. ()

Mets Notebook: Edwin Diaz ahead of schedule with rehab of torn patellar tendon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

Edwin Diaz didn’t immediately know how badly his knee was injured. He was elated after striking out the side for Puerto Rico on March 15, helping his country defeat the favored Dominicans and advance to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.The celebration just sort of happened. The team surrounded him and everyone began jumping around in a huddle. And then, suddenly, he was on the ground. His brother Alexis in tears, blaming himself for the injury.Next came the diagnosis — a torn patellar tendon — the controversy surrounding the WBC and surgery for the highest-paid closer in baseball.Lost in all of this was how Diaz himself felt about it all. He finally opened up about how it all went down and what comes next Wednesday morning at Citi Field. Already ahead of schedule on his eight-month rehab, Diaz continues to be upbeat and optimistic.“I’m feeling great and working hard to come back as soon as possible,” Diaz said. “Everything is going i...

Scott says GOP ‘starved for hope’ as he moves toward ’24 bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and MEG KINNARD (Associated Press)MARION, Iowa (AP) — Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Wednesday that conservatives are “starved for hope,” as he tried to present a more positive vision for the future than his potential rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.Scott, who announced plans earlier in the day to form an exploratory committee for president, told The Associated Press that voters he has spoken with respond favorably to his optimistic outlook for the country and his conservative ideals.“I think my candidacy is really designed around what the American people want to talk about, what their priorities are and what their issues are,” Scott said in the interview in Marion, a suburb of Cedar Rapids.Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, was in Iowa for a day of political meetings with evangelical pastors and Christian home-school parents, both subsets of the GOP leadoff Iowa caucuses’ influenti...

Yankees Notebook: DJ LeMahieu dealing with quad injury, Gleyber Torres feeling better

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

CLEVELAND — With DJ LeMahieu out of the lineup for the second time this series on Wednesday, some wondered if something was up with the Yankees’ infielder.Turns out LeMahieu felt tightness in his quad while running the bases during the Yankees’ win over the Guardians on Tuesday night. The veteran finished the game, during which he had two hits, but the tightness remained Wednesday morning.“It’s a day-to-day kind of situation, but something obviously we gotta pay attention to,” Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ series finale in Cleveland. “We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow with it.”Boone added that no tests are currently planned for LeMahieu, who is hitting .263 this season. The manager also said that LeMahieu’s foot/toe is “100%” after such injuries derailed his 2022 campaign.“I don’t think it’s related,” Boone said.Meanwhile, Gleyber Torres arrived at Progressive Field fee...

Massachusetts will receive $41M in massive settlement with Juul ‘for causing a nationwide youth vaping epidemic’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

The Bay State will receive $41 million as part of a massive $462 million settlement with vaping giant Juul for its alleged role in sparking the youth vaping epidemic that led to a rise in underage e-cigarette vaping nationwide.The funds from the largest multistate agreement with Juul will help young people quit vaping and support underage vaping abatement programs, according to the attorneys general who made the announcement on Wednesday.The agreement also requires Juul to secure its products behind retail store counters, and to verify the age of consumers that directly sell or promote its products online.“Make no mistake, Juul’s targeting of young people rolled back decades of progress in combatting underage tobacco and nicotine use, and has led to a nationwide public health crisis for young people all across this country,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said during the settlement announcement.“They (Juul) targeted those young people, and the...

Heat need Bam Adebayo to rise to occasion to avoid falling short of playoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

On a night both teams needed something big from their big men, the Atlanta Hawks shrunk Bam Adebayo down to size. Now the question becomes whether the Miami Heat’s All-Star center can rise to the occasion in a winner-take-all Friday play-in game.With the Atlanta Hawks getting 21 rebounds from center Clint Capela, they easily moved on to the first round of the NBA playoffs with Tuesday night’s 116-105 kick in the teeth to the Heat at Kaseya Center.With Adebayo again something less than his All-Star self, the Heat now either must win their Friday night second-chance home play-in game or miss the playoffs for the first time since 2019.While Adebayo closed with 12 points and nine assists against the Hawks, as well as four assists, three steals and two blocked shots, his 5-of-12 shooting was indicative of an effort that failed to meet the challenge.Since playing in the Feb. 19 All-Star Game, Adebayo has been reduced to something less than an All-Star. In his 54 games before t...

Saquon Barkley won’t sign franchise tag to join Giants at start of offseason program: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

The ideal time for Saquon Barkley to get his preferred contract extension, to leverage his talent, to hold out, would have been after the 2020 NFL season.A resurgent third season, if he’d bounced back to the level of his impressive 2018 rookie year, probably wouldn’t have made it difficult for Barkley to sway a Giants franchise led by the GM that drafted him No. 2 overall.But Barkley tore his right ACL in Week 2 and missed almost the entire 2020 season. He badly sprained his left ankle in Week 5 of the 2021 season and was barely a factor that year, too.Dave Gettleman got fired. And in stepped new GM Joe Schoen with fresh eyes and a modern perspective on running back value and roster construction.So even after an improved rushing season in 2022, Barkley didn’t have the leverage he and his representatives hoped or believed they did.And once Schoen placed the $10.091 million franchise tag on Barkley in March, that left him with only one remaining move to get a better ...

US stocks edge higher following report of cooling inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

By STAN CHOE (AP Business Writer)NEW YOR (AP) — Stocks are edging higher Wednesday following the latest update to show inflation continues to cool.The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in afternoon trading after bouncing between small gains and losses earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99 points, or 0.3%, at 33,785, as of 12:44 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was relatively unchanged.The main focus on Wall Street for more than a year has been high inflation and how much painful medicine the Federal Reserve will have to dole out to contain it. A report Wednesday morning showed that prices at the consumer level were 5% higher last month than a year earlier. That’s still well above the Federal Reserve’s comfort level, and some underlying trends within the data were also concerning. That weighed down financial markets. But on the upside for investors, the overall inflation number was still better than the 5.2% that economists expected. It also mark...

Emmanuel Macron says his position on Taiwan is unchanged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron commented on his published remarks on China and Taiwan that raised questions after he visited Beijing last week, insisting Wednesday that his views have not changed. “The position of France and the Europeans on Taiwan is the same. We are for the status quo, and this policy is constant,” Macron told reporters in Amsterdam near the end of a two-day state visit to the Netherlands. “It hasn’t changed. It’s the policy of one China and the peaceful settlement of the question.”He was referring to remarks published Sunday from an interview with French newspaper Les Echos and Politico Europe. The remarks elicited doubts about whether Macron’s views were in line with the European Union’s position on Taiwan’s status. Beijing claims that the island is a Chinese territory that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary. “The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: is it in our interest to accele...

Big flames, raining embers in New Jersey Pine Barrens fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:03:28 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.J. (AP) — Firefighters in New Jersey were confronted by 200-foot (60-meter) flames as they battled a wildfire tearing through 6 square miles of the state’s Pine Barrens, raining down embers and prompting evacuations but leaving no one injured and property intact, officials said Wednesday.The blaze in Manchester, near Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, forced the evacuation of around 170 homes late Tuesday, with police and fire officials going door-to-door to ask people to take temporary shelter at a nearby high school. Helicopters were filling large containers with water from a nearby lake Wednesday and dropping it on the flames.“We saw the red glow in the sky, and every time the wind would shift, it got worse,” said Jason Cylenica, who lives in the neighborhood closest to the fire. His wife, Cynthia Tiemper, said burning embers were landing in their back yard Tuesday night, making them decide to evacuate even before the fire department knocked on their door at 10:45 p....