t1 slot vip

t1 slot vip The New York Yankees have landed one of the top starting pitchers in baseball. Left-hander Max Fried and the ballclub have agreed to a eight-year contract worth $218 million, CBS Sports HQ has confirmed. The deal includes a full no-trade clause and does not have opt-outs or deferrals, according to the New York Post . The team has not yet announced the signing. The Yankees missed out on free-agent right fielder Juan Soto two days ago when he accepted a 15-year, $765 million deal from the Mets . As part of the pivot here to Plan B, Fried ends up in the Bronx. The deal makes him the best-paid left-handed pitcher in MLB history. Fried is the third core member of the Atlanta Braves ' 2021 World Series championship team to leave as a free agent, joining Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson . Fried started and won the Game 6 title clincher against the Houston Astros , striking out six in six shutout innings in the decisive Game 6 at Minute Maid Park. Our R.J. Anderson ranked Fried the fifth-best free agent available this offseason , and the third best pitcher behind Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell . Here's his write-up: We wanted to print a complete list of left-handed starting pitchers with a better ERA+ than Fried since the beginning of the 2020 season, but we ran into a problem when we went to compile the names. You see, no sinister hurler who had a decent amount of innings (min. 200 combined) actually placed ahead of him in that metric. Oh well. Blame Fried's sustained excellence on his ability to manage contact. He ranked in the 95th percentile in average exit velocity last season, and he did it while generating nearly 60% ground balls for a second consecutive year. The biggest knock on Fried is his innings count, as he's cleared the 180-threshold just once in his career. Given the league's direction over the past decade, we're not inclined to think that'll hurt him. Fried, 31 in January, pitched to a 3.25 ERA in 29 starts and 174 1⁄3 innings in 2024, and it was his worst season since 2019, his first full year as a big-leaguer. From 2020-23, Fried had a 2.66 ERA in close to 500 innings with the excellent underlying numbers to match. Simply put, he has been one of the game's best pitchers over the last half-decade. The Braves originally acquired Fried as a prospect in the Justin Upton trade with the San Diego Padres in December 2014. Because he declined the qualifying offer, Atlanta will receive a compensation draft pick after the fourth round for losing Fried. There remains plenty of offseason, but with Fried on board, the Yankees' rotation right now looks something like: RHP Gerrit Cole LHP Max Fried LHP Carlos Rodón RHP Clarke Schmidt RHP Luis Gil Righty Marcus Stroman and lefty Nestor Cortes are also still on the roster and could provide depth here or serve as trade bait. The Yankees won the AL East and won the AL pennant last season despite Cole starting the year on the injured list. They got 32 starts from Rodón, 30 from Cortes, 29 from Stroman, 29 from Gil, 17 from Cole and 16 from Schmidt. If they can get full seasons from Cole, Fried and Schmidt, that rotation looks a lot better and it was already a good one in 2024.

SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy is charged with distributing the ball to the 49ers’ still-plentiful array of offensive weapons. On Tuesday, he threw disgruntled wide receiver Deebo Samuel his full support. “I want to get Deebo the ball every play if I could,” Purdy said. “I want to have him break all the records as best as possible. I want Deebo to do Deebo things, and we all do in this building.” Thing is, Samuel’s sub-par production this season has mirrored the 49ers’ rocky road to a 6-7 record entering Thursday night’s visit by the Rams (7-6). “Not struggling at all just not getting the ball!!!!!!!” Samuel wrote Monday in a since-deleted post on the social media platform X. The timing off that complaint was peculiar. The 49ers had just shaken a three-game losing streak with a 38-13 win over the Chicago Bears, a game Samuel acknowledged was their best offensive showing and most complementary outing. But the 49ers did so with minimal production again from Samuel, who had two catches for 22 yards and five carries for 13 yards. “You read what you read. A little frustrated, for sure,” Samuel said Tuesday at his locker before practice. General manager John Lynch asked 49ers fans to give Samuel “some grace,” and coach Kyle Shanahan also threw support behind Samuel’s gripes. “Deebo and I talk every day so I understand Deebo saying that,” Shanahan said. “Deebo wants to help us out, and the only way he is helping us is getting the ball more. And we’d like to get him the ball more.” Samuel, a two-time captain, has scored just two touchdowns (Week 1 run, Week 5 reception) after 12 last regular season; he had 14 in 2021. He missed the 49ers’ Week 3 loss in Los Angeles because of a calf injury. Three years removed from his All-Pro breakout season, Samuel’s production has taken a nosedive this season, even though he is getting the ball. His 72 touches (40 receptions for 533 yards, 32 carries for 92 yards) are second to only now-injured running back Jordan Mason’s 164. In an X post 10 minutes after complaining about his opportunities, Samuel wrote : “Just cause I voice my opinions don’t mean I’m hating on any of my teammates!!” Jauan Jennings (57 catches, 774 yards, six touchdowns) and tight end George Kittle (56-800-8) have seized more on their targets from Brock Purdy, while 2022-23 mainstays Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey have missed most of the season injured. “We’d always love things to stay in-house,” Shanahan said. “It’s probably why I don’t go on social media: I’d get worked up if I was reading stuff all the time. Is it a distraction in our building? No.” “He’s one of my best friends on this team. I absolutely love Deebo and what he’s done for me,” Purdy said. “He’s right: he’s doing great right now with what we ask of him the offense. He’s not struggling. Like Ricky (Pearsall) or Aiyuk last year a little bit, there are moments through a season where guys just don’t get the ball, depending on defensive schemes and taking guys away.” Samuel has flourished in the 49ers’ rivalry against the Rams, including three years ago when his “wide back” persona emerged as he scored on both a run and a reception to lead the victorious 49ers out of a 3-5 rut and toward the playoffs. That dual-threat duty is not such an inventive concept anymore, however. “They’re not surprised anymore,” Samuel said. “We’ve been doing it almost three years now, so you’ve got a 50-50 chance whether I’m in the backfield getting a handoff or anything along those lines. They have a glimpse of what’s going on. ... There’s three or four (defenders awaiting) no matter who has the ball.” “Deebo has created such a high standard, the things he’s done, the innovation which we’ve created things for Deebo. That’s part of the problem,” said Lynch, noting that multiple teams now deploy Samuel-esque, dual-threat players that no longer surprise defenses. “... That frustration mounts. But he’s made so many plays for us, I think we need to give this guy some grace and bring him along, because we need him the rest of the way,” Lynch added. “We need him Thursday night. Deebo’s a big part of this team. We’re alright. We can all learn from different situations and a lot of things in the world these days that you can get caught up in.” Some of Samuel’s most productive efforts this season have come as a kick returner (11 returns for 333 yards, including six returns in their Dec. 1 loss at Buffalo). “We’ve got a lot of big football to play and he’ll be a big part of our season moving forward,” Lynch said. As for next season, Samuel carries a $16 million mark on the salary cap. The 49ers restructured his contract in March, so he would incur a $31.6 million hit if he’s released or traded before June 1; after that date, an exit would count $11 million in 2025 and $21 million in ’26. GUERENDO IDLING Running back Isaac Guerendo’s foot sprain Sunday kept him out of Tuesday’s light walkthrough and it’s uncertain whether he’ll make a second straight start. Guerendo ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and he had 50 yards on two catches, before exiting and bequeathing the backfield to Patrick Taylor Jr. Guerendo got clocked at 20.2 mph on a 30-yard, second-quarter carry that was the NFL’s fastest by a running back in Week 14. GREENLAW UPDATE The 49ers remain reluctant to declare whether linebacker Dre Greenlaw will make his season debut Thursday night, the date pegged for his comeback from an Achilles tear in the Super Bowl. Shanahan said there’s been no setback, that he merely wants to talk first to Greenlaw and see how the next two days go. OTHER INJURY UPDATES Defensive end Nick Bosa (oblique, hip) and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) will officially miss the fourth week of practice, albeit this week’s only consisting of Tuesday’s walk-through that began at 5:10 p.m. Shanahan has not indicated whether they’ll miss a fourth straight game. While left guard Aaron Banks practiced for the first time since a Nov. 24 concussion in Green Bay, guard Ben Bartch (ankle) did not practice and is expected to go on Injured Reserve before Thursday’s kickoff. Limited were defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos, safety Malik Mustapha, and linebackers Dee Winters and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. HARGRAVE MOVEMENT Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave’s bloated contract was restructured to lessen the 49ers’ financial restraints next year. While that could stage his potential release after two seasons, as pointed out by OverTheCap.com, Hargrave is also more affordable to keep, seeing how his 2025 salary was chopped from $19.9 million to $2.1 million, and his salary cap mark fell from $28 million to $10.3 million. “The plan for him is to be a Niner,” Shanahan said, deferring business matters to the front office staff. “The mechanics of contract stuff, those are things I don’t look into until after the offseason.” Hargrave, 31, has been on injured reserve since tearing a biceps in the Sept. 22 loss at Los Angeles. He made the Pro Bowl last season and totaled seven sacks in his first year with the 49ers. Jordan Elliott replaced him in this season’s lineup next to Maliek Collins, with rookie Evan Anderson, Kevin Givens, Kalia Davis and Khalil Davis also in the interior rotation.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people, according to the findings of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation launched after the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in 2023. A report released Wednesday marked the conclusion of the investigation that began six months after Nichols was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton as five officers tried to arrest him after he fled a traffic stop. Recommended Videos The report says that “Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve.” "The people of Memphis deserve a police department and city that protects their civil and constitutional rights, garners trust and keeps them safe,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in an emailed statement. The city said in a letter released earlier Wednesday that it would not agree to negotiate federal oversight of its police department until it could review and challenge results of the investigation. In the letter to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Memphis City Attorney Tannera George Gibson said the city has received a request from the DOJ to enter into an agreement that would require it to “negotiate a consent decree aimed at institutional police and emergency services.” The Justice Department announced an investigation into the Memphis Police Department in July 2023, looking at the department’s “pattern or practice” of how it uses force and conducts stops, searches and arrests, and whether it engages in discriminatory policing. The investigation was announced six months after the January 2023 beating death of Nichols by police. A consent decree is an agreement requiring reforms that are overseen by an independent monitor and are approved by a federal judge. The federal oversight can continue for years, and violations could result in fines paid by the city. It remains to be seen what will happen to attempts to reach such agreements between cities and the Justice Department once President-elect Donald Trump returns to office and installs new department leadership. The Justice Department under the first Trump administration curtailed the use of consent decrees, and the Republican president-elect is expected to again radically reshape the department’s priorities around civil rights. The city’s letter said “a legal finding supporting the contention that the City’s patterns and practices violate the Constitution requires a legal process,” which includes the city's ability to challenge the DOJ's methods of evaluating information and the credibility of witnesses. “Until the City has had the opportunity to review, analyze, and challenge the specific allegations that support your forthcoming findings report, the City cannot — and will not — agree to work toward or enter into a consent decree that will likely be in place for years to come and will cost the residents of Memphis hundreds of millions of dollars,” the letter said. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. Police video showed officers pepper spraying Nichols and hitting him with a Taser before he ran away from a traffic stop. Five officers chased down Nichols and kicked, punched and hit him with a police baton just steps from his home as he called out for his mother. The video showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries. Nichols died on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. The five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were fired, charged in state court with murder, and indicted by a federal grand jury on civil rights and witness tampering charges. Nichols was Black, as are the former officers. His death led to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S., and directed intense scrutiny towards the Memphis Police Department. The officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit, which was disbanded after Nichols’ death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders, with the goal of amassing arrest numbers, while sometimes using force against unarmed people. Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to the federal charges under deals with prosecutors. The other three officers were convicted in early October of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges of using excessive force and being indifferent to Nichols’ serious injuries. Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but he was convicted of two lesser charges of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury. The five men face sentencing by a federal judge in the coming months. Martin and Mills also are expected to change their not guilty pleas in state court, according to lawyers involved in the case. Bean, Haley and Smith have also pleaded not guilty to state charges of second-degree murder. A trial in the state case has been set for April 28. Justice Department investigators have targeted other cities with similar probes in recent years. On Nov. 21, the department said police in New Jersey’s capital of Trenton have shown a pattern of misconduct, including using excessive force and making unlawful stops. The DOJ’s report documented arrests without legal basis, officers escalating situations with aggression and unnecessary use of pepper spray. In June 2023, another Justice Department probe alleged that Minneapolis police systematically discriminated against racial minorities, violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before George Floyd was killed. In March 2023, the department found police in Louisville, Kentucky, engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discrimination against the Black community following an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor . In its letter, the city of Memphis said the DOJ's investigation “only took 17 months to complete, compared to an average of 2-3 years in almost every other instance, implying a rush to judgment.” —- Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100

Supreme Court seems likely to uphold Tennessee's ban on treatments for transgender minorsGeneral Motors, after pouring billions of dollars into its Cruise robotaxi unit over the past eight years, said it’s ending the subsidiary’s stand-alone efforts and will combine it with in-house efforts to develop autonomous driving technologies for personal vehicles. The Detroit-based automaker said it will no longer fund Cruise’s robotaxi work as it will take too long and cost too much to scale the business to compete with competitors it didn’t identify. Presumably, its biggest challenge is catching up with Waymo, which is carrying hundreds of thousands of riders in its robotaxis every week and is about to expand the service to Miami, Austin and Atlanta. “This is the latest in a series of decisions that GM has announced that underscore our focus on having the right technology for the future of our company and the industry,” Mary Barra, GM’s chair and CEO, said on a conference call. “GM made this decision to refocus our strategy because we believe in the importance of driver assistance and autonomous driving technology in our vehicles.” “Cruise has been an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, paired with GM’s strong brands, scale, and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation.” Cruise, acquired by GM in 2016, was among the best-funded robotaxi companies, raising more than $8 billion, including investments from SoftBank and Honda. For years it was locked in a tight competition with Alphabet’s Waymo to be a dominant player in the emerging autonomous vehicle space. However the company struggled to regain its footing after an October 2023 accident when one of its robotaxis struck and dragged a woman in San Francisco, shortly after the company had opened up the robotic ride service to the public. Cruise recently announced plans to work with Uber and was focused on rebuilding trust in the brand, but those efforts were not seen as sufficient by GM’s management. The move is reminiscent of a 2022 decision by Ford and Volkswagen to shut down Argo AI , their joint-venture autonomous driving unit, which like Cruise had also raised billions from the automakers. Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time also said funding a robotaxi startup was too costly and would take too much time. Uber, which now partners with Waymo in some cities, shut down its efforts to develop robotaxis in 2020, months after a fatal accident in which one of its test vehicles killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix. Barra made no mention of the Cruise accident, instead focusing on the need for GM to use its funds more efficiently. “Given the considerable time and expense required to scale a robotaxi business in an increasingly competitive market, combining forces would be more efficient and therefore consistent with our capital allocation priorities,” she said. Though Tesla’s Elon Musk has set a goal for his company to be a leader in robotaxi technology, it hasn’t yet demonstrated the ability to achieve that , at least not in the near term. Instead, Waymo appears to be in a unique position of being the only large-scale player in the robotaxi space. The company last month said it’s carrying more than 150,000 paying customers in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, a number that will likely jump dramatically next year as it enters new cities and expands its vehicle fleet. So far, it’s also managed to avoid any serious accidents that could slow its growth plans. Amazon’s Zoox unit, which is preparing to launch a robotaxi service in Las Vegas, for now appears to be one of Waymo’s few U.S. competitors though its scale is much smaller. GM owns about 90% of Cruise and will acquire the remaining shares in it from other investors after receiving approval from the Cruise board. It expects to save more than $1 billion a year after completing the restructuring plan next year. Barra didn’t say exactly how many Cruise employees would be moved over to GM during the conference call. More From Forbes

Salah nervelessly converted a 63rd-minute penalty, his 16th goal of the season, after French referee Benoit Bastien had been advised to take another look at Donny van de Beek’s clumsy challenge on Luis Diaz. In the process, he became just the 11th man to score 50 goals in the competition – Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe later also joined that exclusive club – on a night when victory at the Estadi Montilivi meant the six-time European champions will enter 2025 sitting proudly at the top of the table. ⭐️ A FIVE STAR PERFORMANCE ⭐️ #FCBayern #MiaSanMia | #SHAFCB #UCL pic.twitter.com/WELoxugaGn — FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) December 10, 2024 England international Michael Olise produced a moment of magic to set the seal on Bayern Munich’s demolition of Shakhtar Donetsk and ease them towards the knockout stage. Olise’s brilliant stoppage-time run and finish capped a 5-1 victory for the Germans, in which he had early scored from the penalty spot, in Gelsenkirchen. Kevin’s fifth-minute strike had given the home side the perfect start, but Konrad Laimer levelled before Thomas Muller’s 55th goal in the competition sent the visitors in ahead at the break and set the stage for Olise’s double either side of Jamal Musiala’s strike. Jude Bellingham breathed life back into Real Madrid’s campaign as they held off Atalanta to earn a 3-2 victory in Bergamo. 🫲 @BellinghamJude 🫱 #UCL pic.twitter.com/jTynK04akR — Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) December 10, 2024 After Charles De Ketelaere had cancelled out Mbappe’s opener from the penalty spot, second-half goals from Vinicius Junior and Bellingham in quick succession put the visitors in charge, although Ademola Lookman’s 65th-minute strike meant the contest was alive until the final whistle. Ross Barkley took Aston Villa a step closer to automatic qualification with a late winner against RB Leipzig in Germany. Villa had led twice through John McGinn and Jhon Duran, but equalisers from Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner kept Leipzig in it until substitute Barkley struck five minutes from time to snatch a 3-2 victory. Goals from Goncalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and substitute Desire Doue – his first in the competition – handed French champions Paris St Germain a much-needed three points after a comfortable 3-0 win at RB Salzburg. He's making a list and checking it twiceB04 won and Nordi scored – nice! 🎅 pic.twitter.com/8bs6FGUaHz — Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) December 10, 2024 Nordi Mukiele left it late to end Inter Milan’s unbeaten Champions League record as Bayer Leverkusen claimed a dramatic 1-0 victory at the BayArena. Mukiele struck in the 90th minute to inflict a first defeat across six games in this season’s competition on the Serie A champions – it was also the first goal they have conceded. Casper Nielsen came off the bench to fire Club Brugge to a 2-1 home victory over Sporting Lisbon after Eduardo Quaresma’s own goal had handed them a way back into the game following Geny Catamo’s early opener. Julien Le Cardinal’s first-half strike was enough to handed Brest a 1-0 victory over Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven, while Kasper Schmeichel’s save from Marko Pjaca’s close-range 80th-minute header ensured Celtic returned from Dinamo Zagreb with a 0-0 draw.