While Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will be the biggest names on the free-agent market this offseason, it could be a player already under contract for the foreseeable future who could make the biggest splash.
According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Los Angeles Angels are expected to approach Trout with extension talks that could lead to his being an Angel for life.
Trout still has two years and $66.5 million remaining on the six-year, $144.5 million extension he signed back in March 2014, perSpotrac.
Even though he is under club control through the 2020 season, Los Angeles would be wise to lock him up long-term. At 27, he is already widely considered to be one of the greatest players in MLB history.
Since debuting in 2011, Trout has hit .307/.416/.571 with 234 home runs, 221 doubles, 44 triples, 188 stolen bases and 637 RBI. He has made the American League All-Star team in each of his first seven full seasons. Not only that, but he has won the AL Rookie of the Year award, two AL MVPs (including three second-place and a fourth-place finish), two All-Star Game MVPs and five Silver Sluggers.
Again, he turned 27 in August.
The biggest factor that could keep Trout from agreeing to a lifetime contract with the Angels is that the club has made the postseason just once in his career despite his lofty numbers. Los Angeles was swept by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 American league Division Series.
Trout will get paidregardless of when he decides to ink his next deal, but as one agent told Heyman, the outfielder would be wise to wait until after Harper and Machado sign, allowing his fellow All-Stars to set the market. New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton is the owner of the largest and longest contract in MLB history, a 13-year, $325 million deal he signed with the Miami Marlins in November 2014.
Kathy Hochul has said it’s important the governor and the lieutenant governor project a united front publicly and that she can influence policy from the inside. | AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul fended off New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams in a tighter-than-expected Democratic primary Thursday, completing an establishment sweep in the statewide contests as progressives took down a number of legislative targets.
The race quickly became the statewide primary to watch Thursday with Cuomo defenestrating Cynthia Nixon — the race was called only about half an hour after the polls closed — and New York Public Advocate Tish James handily besting her competitors for attorney general. Williams had held a steady, if modest, lead over Hochul as the five boroughs’ returns came in.
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That held for much of the night, until the upstate results started to mount — particularly when Hochul’s home county of Erie began to report. Hochul took the lead with about two-thirds of precincts reporting and did not relinquish it.
The Associated Press called the race about two hours after the polls closed. With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Hochul had 53 percent of the vote to Williams’ 47 percent.
“Western New York, upstate New York, the entirety of New York, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Hochul said following her victory, according to the Buffalo News “Every day I say, ‘I don’t want to let the people of my community, my home town, down.’ I fought for you, I fought alongside of our governor, and you made this victory happen.”
Williams, who is likely to pursue higher office now, gave an emotional concession speech.
“Tonight hundreds of thousands of people across the Empire State struck back, our revolution is stronger than ever,” he said of his narrow defeat. “I’m going to stand tall right here, making good trouble, fighting the good fight.”
The race largely centered on two key themes: Whether a lieutenant governor should be independent of or in lockstep with the governor he or she serves with. And both sides tried to argue that the other did not sufficiently exude progressive values and harbored conservative beliefs.
Hochul has said it’s important the governor and the lieutenant governor project a united front publicly and that she can influence policy from the inside. Meanwhile Williams repeatedly bashed Hochul as a ceremonial functionary at ribbon cuttings, rather than capitalizing on the office’s potential to pressure the governor and other lawmakers to effect change.
“They’ve said I’m going to be an obstructionist, it’s very interesting to me, because all I’ve said is I want to get done the things that that man is now talking about,” Williams said during a rally at City Hall on Wednesday, referring to Cuomo. “All I want to do is hold the governor, whether it’s he or she, accountable for the things that they say and for the people who need assistance, not just lip service.”
In her concession speech, Nixon praised Williams, saying his campaign “transformed what a lieutenant governor could be.”
Hochul targeted Williams’ beliefs on abortion and gay marriage, as well as his personal finances, while Williams hit Hochul on opposing granting drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants while she was Erie County clerk and for her pro-gun record while in Congress.
The incumbent, like her running mate, maintained healthy leads over her challenger in polls throughout the campaign. A Siena College Research Institute survey earlier this week found her leading Williams 43 percent to 21, though roughly a third of respondents were still undecided.
Hochul projected confidence earlier this week, while canvassing outside of Central Park. She told POLITICO she got “a lot of positive feeling, they know who we are, they know the governor and my records, and we’re going to be rewarded for that.”
Hochul returned to Western New York for the day Thursday after spending significant time in the final stretch of the campaign at the governor’s side in Democratic voter-rich areas downstate. Her campaign would not publicly announce how she would be spending her evening as the returns came in.
For the better part of this year Hochul has been the administration’s emissary to the region as Cuomo was conspicuously absent amid the corruption trial of Alain Kaloyeros, the czar of one of Cuomo’s signature economic development initiatives who he’s since washed his hands of.
(Kaloyeros faces up to 60 years in prison after being convicted of multiple felony charges related to a bid-rigging scheme.)
Hochul, whose fundraising operation had been largely dormant since she was elected in 2014, kicked into full gear to fend off Williams. She spent more than $1.5 million — nearly all of it on television ads, in the final weeks of August — according to a pre-primary financial disclosure to the state Board of Elections. She even outraised Cuomo, a prodigious fundraiser, in the past two filing periods.
Williams received a wave of support from his fellow City Council members in recent weeks, including City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Member Ritchie Torres, both of whom endorsed Cuomo over Williams’ informal running mate Nixon. But that support was ultimately not enough to overcome the advantages of incumbency, particularly upstate.
Williams in late August indicated he was willing to end his candidacy following the primary, rather than continue on the Working Families Party line. While New York allows candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to run on multiple parties’ lines, the state constitution requires a joint ticket — i.e. votes for A Cuomo-Williams ticket would not add to Cuomo’s total on the Democratic line — making it more difficult to defeat Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro.
Volkswagen announced that it will end production of the Beetle in 2019, finishing with the last ever models to the carry the name, the Final Edition SE and Final Edition SEL.
“The loss of the Beetle after three generations, over nearly seven decades, will evoke a host of emotions from the Beetle’s many devoted fans,” Hinrich J. Woebcken, President and CEO of Volkswagen America, said in a statement.
The VW Beetle Final Edition SE and Final Edition SEL.
Image: Volkswagen
Debuting in 1998, the New Beetle was heavily inspired by the original Beetle, which went on to be the best-selling cars in history.
Dubbed the “People’s Car,” the original Beetle was designed by Adolf Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche to be cheap and simple, and continued production right through to 2003.
But the rebooted, modern New Beetle was more of a fashion accessory, splashed through popular culture at the turn of the century. From 2011, Volkswagen just called it the Beetle.
Its silly, round shape and vase built into the dashboard evoked some of that the ’70s flower power revivalism that became a trend in the ’90s, exemplified by films like Boogie Nights and the Austin Powers series.
The Beetle became the quintessential cool car for kids of that era, thanks to its retro chic and relentless product placement, like in Mandy Moore’s 1999 hit “Candy.”
Or when Austin Powers also used a New Beetle to travel back in time in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
The New Beetle was also made into a Barbie toy, which no doubt had an impact on impressionable, young minds somewhere.
Kendricks, who was cut by the Cleveland Browns before the start of the regular season, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges Sept. 6.
The 27-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24, meaning he will be available to the Seahawks for the remainder of the regular season. According to Schefter, federal guidelines suggest Kendricks could be sentenced to 30-37 months in prison.
Prior to his brief tenure in Cleveland, Kendricks spent the first six seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Last season, the 2012 second-round pick logged 73 total tackles, two sacks and six pass breakups while playing59.6 percentof Philadelphia’s defensive snaps.
Kendricks also finished with the best run-defense grade (87.4) of his career, according toPro Football Focus.
The Seahawks will hope Kendricks can build on that campaign after the Denver Broncos gashed them to the tune of 146 rushing yards in Week 1.
Tish James is positioned to make history as the first African-American woman to be elected as New York’s top law enforcement officer. | AP Photo
NEW YORK — Tish James handily won the Democratic nomination to become New York’s attorney general Thursday in one of the most heated statewide contests of the season.
James is now poised to take up the mantle of anti-Trump warrior that former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had begun to fashion before he resigned in disgrace amid multiple accusations of abusing women.
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A former public defender and Brooklyn council member, James is also positioned to make history as the first African-American woman to be elected as New York’s top law enforcement officer.
Throughout the race, the candidates seemed to be running as much against President Donald Trump as each other, warning that the next AG must act as a bulwark against the White House, promising to use the office’s unique legal powers to go after Trump, his business dealings and associates.
James, New York City‘s public advocate, clinched the nomination 90 minutes after the polls closed. With 83 percent of precincts reporting, she secured 41 percent of the vote — enough to edge out opponents Zephyr Teachout and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who had seen a surge in polls leading up to Thursday’s election.
With the win, Tish, as she is widely known, continues a steady ascent to the height of power in New York.
The race became one of the most closely watched yet unexpected contests in the New York primary, following Schneiderman’s sudden downfall. The final poll before the Sept. 13 primary showed Maloney with 25 percent support, James with 24 percent, Teachout with 18 percent and Leecia Eve with 3 percent, with 30 percent of voters remaining undecided.
Barbara Underwood, the former New York solicitor general, took over and was later appointed attorney general by the Legislature to succeed Schneiderman, becoming the first woman to hold the post.
James, 59, promised to look into the president’s business dealings in New York, and ask the state Legislature to pass a bill that would prevent the president from pardoning people who are convicted of crimes committed in New York.
James has also promised to take on political corruption in Albany — a goal that’s bedeviled legislators and state law enforcement officials for years. Throughout the campaign, the knock against James was that she was too closely tied to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who backed her candidacy early on and easily won the Democratic nomination for governor on Thursday.
A handful of high-ranking officials in Cuomo’s inner circle have been convicted on corruption charges in the last year. Both Joe Percoco, a close Cuomo adviser, and SUNY Polytechnic Institute founder Alain Kaloyeros, were convicted.
James rose in New York politics as progressive Democrat and got her political start from the Working Families Party, but her alignment with Cuomo and a challenge from previous Cuomo opponent Zephyr Teachout cast her in the race as an establishment candidate. James insisted she was “unbossed and unbought.”
New York’s Democratic and labor establishment largely coalesced behind James’ candidacy which she announced in May.
In the months leading up to the election she secured support from several city and state lawmakers, political clubs and advocacy groups, but eschewed the backing of the WFP, the group that had initially propelled her to public office when she first ran for the City Council. Still, she held on the support of even some Cynthia Nixon-supporting colleagues, and her deep city ties ultimately proved unbreakable.
James sought the Democratic Party’s nomination, joining Cuomo’s ticket in a move that angered the liberal wing of the party. She gambled on the combined strength of long-cultivated city loyalty and the Cuomo brand.
That support also might have provided Cuomo with a significant bump. In James’ home turf of Brooklyn, where shop window after shop window bore her name for months, she outpaced Teachout by more than 50,000 votes. Cuomo won by a similar margin.
iOS users who enjoyed the ability to snap a photo in Messages are in for a big surprise.
There is no longer the ability to snap a shot and just send it to a friend — photos and videos taken in the Camera app are automatically added into your library.
Apple didn’t highlight this change on stage at WWDC alongside iOS 12. However, it arrived in Beta 1 and stuck through the final beta, and it seems it’s here to stay.
Essentially, tapping the camera icon on the top-left side of the keyboard now opens the viewfinder, and once you take a photo — or a few quick snaps — they’re all added to your library.
The biggest adjustment is not being able to access your photo library quickly.
Image: screenshot by jake krol/mashable
Image: SCREENSHOT BY JAKE KROL/MASHABLE
And if you hit the blue arrow after taking a selfie, it will save a copy to your camera roll and send it out as a message. Instead of the camera button, you now click the photos icon that sits alongside the Messages App.
Clicking that will bring up the recent photos panel, where you can easily select and share photos. Selecting more than five photos or videos will have it share those through an iCloud Shared Photo Library.
It’s a nice bonus to see a larger amount, and it’s definitely a core change to the UI. Tapping “All Photos” will bring up a splash screen of the Photos app. This provides you with a more versatile browsing experience for the full library.
If you do hit the “Camera” button and want to see your photos, tap the stacked-photos icon on the top-left corner.
It looks like it’s time to get used to the new world of sending and sharing photos in iOS 12 Messages.
Nothing says love like a fresh pair of socks and underwear from mom.
But, as with any gift, sometimes the gifter might not get it exactly right. Maybe you’ll get a really ugly pair of socks that would put Justin Trudeau to shame, or maybe you’ll get boxers when you prefer briefs.
Listen here — you’re an adult — and that means you should be relatively OK with telling your mother that underwear from Wet Seal is not ideal. A gentle nudge in the right direction could do the trick, but if your mother still isn’t getting it, perhaps a little more guidance is needed.
To avoid dealing with any of these awful possibilities, we’ve come up with a lovely list of stores that sell high quality socks and undies. Most of these stores are online, and they have an exceptional list of options that you can easily link to so your mom so she doesn’t make any mistakes.
You’ll be the envy of all of your friends and coworkers with a pair of snazzy socks from Hot Sox. The Men’s Optical Strip Crew Sock is a pretty solid pattern that you can wear in and out of the office, and you can’t go wrong with the Women’s Large Polka Dot Crew Sock.
If you’re not a fan of these options, Hot Sox has plenty of more socks and patterns that will make a solid gift. If you’re trying to look professional, just make sure to tell mom to avoid any of the weird husky or narwhal prints — unless you’re into that, of course.
Underwear can be tricky to navigate with mom, especially if you’re into some more risqué options. But if we’re being practical here, the Ultra-Lightweight Microfiber and Tulle Triangle Bra and Tie Print Stretch-Cotton Boxers from Intimissimi are good places to start.
Aside from bras and boxers, Intimissimi offers a wide variety of underwear and that might work better for you. Just make sure to tell mom what size you are because no one likes uncomfortable underwear.
Happy is exactly how you’re going to feel when you get these socks. The Men’s Twisted Smile Sock and Women’s Cactus Socks from Happy Socks are just two examples of the dozens of amazing patterns this store offers.
With so many cute and fun patterns to choose from, mom will have a blast trying to find the perfect match for you.
I’m here for cute underwear, always, and you should be too! The Men’s Jellies Briefs and Women’s Life’s A Peach Bikini underwear from MeUndies look absolutely comfortable, stylish, and adorable.
While you might wonder if it’s weird for mom to get you a pair of kitschy underwear, she will probably be too stunned by how delightful the underwear looks. Just be sure to let her know that if she wants to explore different options, she should click on “Classic,” Bold,” or “Adventurous” tabs next to the style of underwear to get to the fun stuff. Otherwise she’ll be looking at plain, black underwear, which, hey, might be your thing.
Sock it to Me can literally hit me in the face and stuff my mouth with the Men’s Burger Crew Socks because they’re just great. But the Women’s Tour de Neighborhood Knee Socks are also pretty cute too, so I’m torn.
If you’re feeling this way, or want more styles and patterns to choose from, definitely take a look before sending this site to mom. She might get lost on here just looking at the zillions of choices.
Remember when the Biebs promoted Calvin Klein? God, that was a mess wasn’t it? Well, thankfully the underwear available at this well-known brand is top quality, and makes for a perfect gift to yourself, from mom.
There are a ton of underwear to choose from in Calvin Klein’s online store, so the Men’s Commodore Blue Evolution Micro Boxer Brief, and the Women’s Lyria Blue Seductive Comfort Lace Lift Demi Bra are just the tip of the iceberg.
Socks by Stance is a fancy sock place. Not fancy in the sense that you won’t be able to afford it, but just look at the Men’s Shade Socks and the Women’s Just Dandy Everyday Socks.
From Star Wars, to Hello Kitty, you and your mother will absolutely have a hard time deciding which brands, style, and patterns of socks are meant for you.
Being one the very few gender-neutral underwear brands, TomboyX is out here to make boxers, briefs, bikinis, trunks, and all the other styles of undergarments available for all body types, regardless of gender.
For those who identify as gender neutral, exploring your identity, or want to try something new, the Island Blue Iconic Briefs or the Next Gen Magenta Trunks are a great place to start. But, like with any brand, there are always plenty of options. Any piece of underwear from this store also makes for a nice gift from mom.
The name of this brand apparently derives from the Latin word for “bumblebee,” and like these precious creatures, they’re here to make the world a better place. For every pair of socks you purchase, the brand donates a pair to a homeless shelter.
The Men’s Evergreen Navy Merino Wool Socks and the Women’s Aster Purple Lightweight Crew Socks make for a comfy and practical pair socks that go with most outfits.
H&M is another major clothing brand that actually carries some pretty solid underwear. While some of the options might not be high fashion, a pack of three Men’s Green/Patterned Boxer Shorts or a Women’s Light Beige Microfiber T-Shirt Bra are a good investment.
H&M offers such a huge variety of underwear styles, and the cost is relatively cheap compared to other places. So if you’re looking to get a lot bang for your buck, definitely tell mom to take a look at some of the many options that are available online.
5 Seconds of Summer‘s new single may be called “Valentine,” but its accompanying visual is much more Halloween-esque than anything related to V Day.
5SOS drummer Ashton Irwin gets co-directing credit — alongside Andy DeLuca — on the stark, artsy vid, which hit YouTube on Thursday (September 13). It basically looks like the Queen II album cover come to life, with a few psychedelic touches thrown in, including eerie shots of desserts and instruments. Irwin, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, and Calum Hood bare their bones (literally) as dancing skeletons, and there are a lot of close-ups of the guys’ mouths and eyes. That’s great news for anyone who ever wanted to see Hemmings rock glittery gold eyeshadow, which he handily pulls off.
Check out the spooky, groovy vid below, and consider yourself properly prepped for Halloween season.
“Valentine” is the latest single off of 5SOS’s chart-topping third album, Youngblood. The Aussie band recently kicked off the North American leg of its Meet You There tour, which continues through mid-October before hitting Europe. Here’s hoping they resurrect those skeleton costumes at least once on stage this fall.
The biggest update, which YouTube first introduced in April, is the rollout of parent-approved content. Android users around the world can handpick every video or channel their child is allowed to view through the YouTube Kids app (this ability is forthcoming soon to users on iOS devices).
Now, with a single settings change — simply click “approved content only” on each child’s profile — parents can make sure their children only watch the content that they’ve manually selected.
Parents can now manually select what content is delivered to their children via the YouTube Kids app
Image: YOUTUBE
Parents can also include playlists curated by trusted partners, such as PBS Kids, Sesame Street, and humans on the YouTube Kids team (not an algorithm!).
The “approved content only” setting disables the app’s search function, as well.
Now that it’s been almost four years since YouTube Kids launched, YouTube is aware that its target audience is getting older. It’s launched a new feature for kids aged 8 to 12 that lets parents select an “Older” setting that opens up age-appropriate content geared towards their interests: music videos and video game content, for example.
Geared towards older children, parents can now let their kids view popular music and gaming videos via the YouTube Kids app.
Image: YOUTUBE
YouTube has seen its share of bad publicity with its kids app, primarily as a result of questionable content — sometimes creepy, other times disturbing (particularly the “Johny Johny Yes Papa” phenomenon) — that has found its way onto the app, a place YouTube intended to be a safe space for kids to watch content.
YouTube admits in its blog post that “no system is perfect” and encourages parents to flag inappropriate videos. But with these latest updates, it seems that YouTube Kids is certainly moving in the right direction.
Michael Irvin just said on NFLN that Joe Flacco hasn’t had a trust WR since Anquan Boldin … with Steve Smith sitting right next to him. Not surprisingly, Steve didn’t appreciate it and zinged Irvin right back. “I have a doctorate in route-running, you got an associates degree.”
Ravens are looking to go 2-0 for the seventh time in franchise history. Baltimore has advanced to the playoffs in four of the six times it’s won its first two games.
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NFL Research @NFLResearch
The #Ravens and #Bengals meet tonight on #TNF with the all-time series tied 22-22. With a win tonight:
• Ravens: Would start 2-0 for the third straight season
• Bengals: Would start 2-0 for the first time since 2015, the last time the team made the postseason
Ravens in Cincinnati tonight, a spot where Baltimore QB Joe Flacco has struggled. In 9 career starts at Paul Brown Stadium, Flacco has gone 3-6 with a 34.7 QBR. He’s 6-4 with a 43.9 total QBR at home vs the Bengals.
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Jamison Hensley @jamisonhensley
Ravens are 7-2 on Thursday night games under coach John Harbaugh. Baltimore’s five-game winning streak on Thursday night ranks second only to the Seattle Seahawks (six in a row).