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Analysis: As Orioles’ player spending plunged from pre-pandemic levels, team income and value soared

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

With a playoff spot in the bag, the Orioles’ rebuild is paying dividends on the field and seemingly in the team’s finances.Earlier this year, before the O’s remarkable 2023 season began, Forbes magazine valued the Baltimore MLB franchise at $1.7 billion, up 24% from a year earlier.According to Forbes’ annual analysis, Baltimore’s ballclub generated about $150 million in operating income during the prior two seasons. That’s a significant improvement from the years before the coronavirus pandemic when the O’s often lost money.As part of the rebuild, the Orioles focused on developing younger, inexpensive talent, shrinking its player payroll by shedding more expensive players that acted as a drag on its finances. According to Forbes, the Orioles went from spending more than $160 million a year on players in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons to spending $66 million in 2021 and $83 million last year.Instead, the club has focused spending on more sus...

Should the Chicago Bulls trade for Damian Lillard or Buddy Hield? Exploring the pros — and cons — of both stars.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

Training camp begins soon for the Chicago Bulls — but that hasn’t slowed the NBA trade rumor mill, which continues to churn as key players seek new homes for the 2023-24 season.After two conservative seasons, should executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and the front office make a major move?Speculation surrounding a Damian Lillard trade reignited this week after Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports reported the Bulls have entered conversations to negotiate a multi-team trade to “get into the Lillard sweepstakes.” A day later, The Athletic reported Buddy Hield is seeking a trade from the Indiana Pacers, making one of the best 3-point shooters available.Both Lillard and Hield are enticing options for the Bulls, but a path to landing either star is unclear.Let’s start with the big one: could the Bulls land Lillard?The Bulls have floated around the outskirts of the Lillard negotiations — which appears to be thoroughly ...

Orioles’ Brandon Hyde ‘without question’ should be AL Manager of the Year. Just ask his players.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

Amid the chaos of the Orioles’ post-playoff clinch celebration Sunday, outfielder Austin Hays reflected on the mayhem that preceded it.Baltimore spent the final three innings of an 11-inning victory against the Tampa Bay Rays with a pitcher in its lineup as manager Brandon Hyde abandoned the designated hitter in pursuit of a key victory. He deployed his bench again in the ninth, with speedster Jorge Mateo pinch-running for Hays and soon dashing home from first to tie the game. After further defensive shuffling, Hyde trusted slugger Ryan O’Hearn to lay down his first career sacrifice bunt, enabling Cedric Mullins to deliver a game-winning sacrifice fly.“He managed his [butt] off,” Hays said as champagne and beer sprayed around him. “For the last four innings, I’m looking up at the board and there’s a pitcher’s name in the lineup, and we’re trying to maneuver everything.“Hyder does an amazing job of just putting everybody in ...

Patriots already have NFL’s next great special teamer in Brenden Schooler

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

FOXBORO — By now you’ve seen the play, whether you were watching live on “Sunday Night Football” or caught ESPN’s Pat McAfee breaking it down on Twitter.Patriots special teamer Brenden Schooler — with a golden lion’s mane flowing out of his silver helmet — running along the line of scrimmage and turning upfield at the snap like Tyreek Hill on a wheel motion. But Schooler wasn’t motioning into a route, he was about to fling his 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame at a football traveling 90 MPH off the right leg of Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders to block a field goal.BLOCKED KICK : #MIAvsNE on NBC: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/Algkk6q1IN— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2023Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots add third QB Will Grier, place CB Marcus Jones on IR New England Patriots | Patriots-Jets injury report: Pats defensive starter returns Thursday, O-lineman downgraded New England Patriots | Patriots ...

The most valuable airline miles might surprise you

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

By Meghan Coyle | NerdWalletGetting the most value out of travel rewards matters to a lot of frequent flyers.According to a 2023 NerdWallet survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted online by The Harris Poll, 35% of travel rewards credit cardholders say they try to get the best possible value when redeeming their earned points/miles for travel.For the last four years, if you wanted to collect the most valuable airline miles among U.S. carriers, you’d probably collect Southwest Rapid Rewards points. According to NerdWallet’s valuations, Southwest Airlines points have hovered around 1.5 cents per point since 2019 (when we started collecting the data). That means travelers can usually redeem 10,000 Southwest points for a $150 award flight.Let’s put that in perspective. In 2020, Southwest Rapid Rewards points were worth a whopping 1.6 cents, while every other major U.S. airline’s points were worth only 1 to 1.1 cents. Southwest Rapid Rewards members could book more flights (or mor...

Targeted auto strikes may spread to other states and cities as noon deadline set by union nears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

The nation’s biggest automakers – and car buyers everywhere — will learn Friday whether the United Auto Workers union will escalate its strike over a demand for higher wages, a shorter work week and other benefits.UAW President Shawn Fain is expected to announce whether the union will expand a weeklong strike that has so far been limited to three plants – one each at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.Fain said earlier this week he would call on workers at more plants to strike unless there was significant progress in contract negotiations with the carmakers. Bargaining continued Thursday, although neither side reported any breakthroughs, and they remained far apart on wage increases.The strike so far involves fewer than 13,000 of the union’s 146,000 members. The companies have laid off a few thousand more, saying some factories are running short on parts because of the strike.Still, the impact is not yet being felt on car lots around the country – it will probably take a few...

Norway can extradite man wanted by Rwanda for his alleged role in the African nation’s 1994 genocide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A man arrested in Norway who is wanted by Rwanda for his alleged role in the African nation’s 1994 genocide can be extradited, Norwegian police said Friday.The man in his 40s, who was not identified, was arrested in the Norwegian capital of Oslo nearly a year ago based on an extradition request by Kigali.Oslo District Court ruled Sept. 19 that the man can legally be extradited to Rwanda, police said. It is now up to the Scandinavian country’s justice ministry to decide whether he be deported, which is considered a formality.Thea Elise Kjæraas, a spokeswoman for Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, known by its Norwegian acronym KRIPOS, said it had carried out “a number of investigations to clarify whether the conditions for extradition have been met.”“We note that the district court shares KRIPOS’ assessment that the conditions for extradition have been met,” Kjæraas said.An estimated 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda’s genocide, whic...

ATS signs deal to buy water purification company Avidity Science for $265 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — ATS Corp. has signed a deal to buy Avidity Science LLC, a designer and manufacturer of automated water purification solutions for biomedical and life science applications, for $265 million.Based in Waterford, Wisc., Avidity has customers including pharmaceutical, biopharma, health care, government and academic research facilities. Avidity employs about 380 people across six facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, China and Japan.ATS says the deal will help boost its life sciences business and aligns with other acquisitions it has made.The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth of this year.ATS says it plans to fund the deal with cash and by drawing on its revolving credit facility.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:ATS)The Canadian Press

Amazon Prime Video will soon come with ads, or a $2.99 monthly charge to dodge them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon Prime Video will include advertising during shows and movies starting early next year, joining other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions. Members of Amazon Prime can pay $2.99 per month in the U.S. to keep their service ad-free, the company said Friday. Amazon said limited advertisements will be aired during shows and movies starting early next year so that it can “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”Ads in Prime Video content will start in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year. The Associated Press

The US East Coast is under a tropical storm warning with landfall forecast in North Carolina

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:59 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A storm moving closer to the U.S. East Coast will deliver tropical storm conditions to North Carolina on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.The storm was off the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina early Friday with top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph). A storm surge watch was in effect, with surges between 3 and 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) forecast for parts of North Carolina, the center reported.As of Friday morning, the storm was located about 330 miles (530 kilometers) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and about 325 miles (525 kilometers) south Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and moving north around 14 mph (22 kph), the center said.Rainfall of 3 to 5 inches (7.6 to 12.7 centimeters), with localized amounts up to 7 inches (17.7 centimeters), was expected across eastern North Carolina and into southeast Virginia through Saturday, the center said.Though the system had reached tropical storm strength, it was yet to be given a name and the center wa...