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MLB Trade Rumors and News: Marlins lose Jazz Chisholm and Garrett Cooper to injury
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsMiami got some rough news yesterday as two of their best players have been bitten by the injury bug. The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we’re running here at MLBDD that rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analy…
Miami got some rough news yesterday as two of their best players have been bitten by the injury bug.
The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we’re running here at MLBDD that rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us up at @mlbdailydish on Twitter or @MLBDailyDish on Instagram.
- While the Marlins weren’t going anywhere this season, they clearly have formed an exciting young core of players that should be competitive in the National League East in the coming years who are fun to watch even now. Unfortunately, a chunk of that young core appear to be set to miss some time as Jazz Chisholm and Garrett Cooper hit the injured list after getting hurt in the exact same game.
- Mets fans, don’t look: Jacob deGrom has hit the injured list with forearm tightness. New York has made it very clear that the time table on this injury is flexible, and deGrom won’t throw until that tightness has subsided. I don’t think I need to tell you how devastating this is for the Mets. Doctors are still doing tests to get to the root of what’s causing this.
- The White Sox have signed Lance Lynn to two-year, $38 million extension with a club option for 2024. In ten seasons, Lynn has been a solid rotation staple, but this season feels like the comeback most players only dream of. So far in 2021, the veteran is hurling a 1.99 ERA with 105 strikeouts, and only 31 walks over 90.2 innings. Talk about getting your money’s worth.
- The Braves’ outfield has been ravaged by injuries and/or legal issues this season. With prospects Drew Waters and Cristian Pache still getting work in the minor leagues, the Braves decided to make a move to shore that unit up as they acquired Joc Pederson from the Cubs for 1B prospect Bryce Ball.
- But the Braves weren’t done wheeling and dealing quite yet. They then acquired Stephen Vogt from the Diamondbacks, securing another strong leadership presence in the dugout. In return, Atlanta will send 25-year old first base prospect Mason Berne to Arizona.
- In a reminder that COVID-19 is an ever-present threat especially with new variants emerging, the Yankees have themselves a bit of an outbreak on their roster despite multiple players involved being vaccinated. Thursday’s Yankees-Red Sox game was postponed as they had three players test positive and three more were placed in health protocols.
- Shohei Ohtani threw a perfect first inning to earn the win and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an absolute moonshot in the third inning as the American League earned its eight straight All-Star victory in Tuesday night’s Midsummer Classic. The 22-year-old Guerrero, who had two RBI, became the youngest player ever to earn All-Star MVP honors.
- Encouraging news for baseball fans who don’t like the major rule changes instituted over the last two seasons: Rob Manfred said Tuesday that seven-inning doubleheaders and the runner-on-second rule in extra innings are unlikely to survive beyond the 2021 season, with Manfred saying those changes were instituted for the purpose of limiting time at the ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic — something that isn’t expected to be a factor in future seasons.
- In what turned out to be a really great Home Run Derby with multiple mini-storylines, the final came down to Trey Mancini vs. reigning champ Pete Alonso. When Mancini put up an astonishing 22 home runs in the final round, it looked like it very possible that the cancer survivor would take home the hardware in an upset. However, Alonso flipped a switch and took home the win with 23 home runs (despite his BP pitcher hitting him with a pitch).
- Amidst the draft still going on and the All-Star festivities, MLB announced that over the course of the next decade, they are going to donate up to $150 million to the Players’ Alliance. The Players’ Alliance is an organization that seeks to increase the amount of representation and access for Black people to the sport of baseball. Count us among those that say well done, MLB...but there is a lot of work to do.
- The 2021 MLB Draft started up on Sunday, and to say that it was a wild round one may be a bit of any understatement as mock drafts were blown up within the first five picks. That started with the number one overall pick as Henry Davis was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a bit of an upset.
- In devastating news for Braves fans, Ronald Acuña Jr. was injured when trying to make a play on a fly ball. None of the aftermath looked good as Acuña was unable to finish leaving the field and had to be carted off with an apparent knee injury. Sadly, he did not escape major injury this time as it was confirmed that he completely tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
- Trevor Bauer remains under investigation after being accused of sexual assault, and to allow time for that investigation to complete, his administrative leave was extended by another seven days. If the investigation is not completed by then, the notion of an indefinite suspension is most definitely on the table.
- White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a torn tendon in his left knee. That’s rough news for a team that is already missing Nick Madrigal, Eloy Jiménez, and Luis Robert, though Chicago still has a lot of breathing room in a bad AL Central.
- Whether it’s Prince Fielder, Jesús Aguilar, and Daniel Vogelbach, the Brewers love themselves a hefty slugging first baseman, and they added another one on Tuesday, acquiring Rowdy Tellez from the Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Trevor Richards. The 26-year-old Tellez had an up-and-down four-year tenure with Toronto but proved he could succeed at the major league level, hitting 21 homers in 2019 and posting a 140 OPS+ last year. Tellez struggled to a .610 OPS this season and had twice been demoted to Triple-A, but it appears he’ll initially join Milwaukee’s major league club.
- If you have been hiding under a rock this season, one of the biggest storylines has been Shohei Ohtani’s resurgence as a two-way monster on the field. His dominance on both sides of the ball was rewarded as he was named as an All-Star as a pitcher AND as a DH and it was confirmed that he will play in both capacities at the All-Star Game.
- Sixto Sanchez came into the 2021 season as a guy who was on most people’s shortlists of guys that could win National League Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, the injury bug bit him and instead of trying to help the Marlins climb out of the cellar of the NL East, he is going to miss the rest of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.
- The Nationals are having a rough past couple of days, as both Kyle Schwarber and Alex Avila have been placed on the 10-day IL. Schwarber, who thankfully won’t need surgery, will sit after suffering a right calf strain running to first last Friday. The timetable for his return has yet to be set, and the first-time All-Star will almost absolutely miss the game. Gerardo Parra will play left field in his absence. Avila will miss time because of bilateral calf strains.
- The Yankees added some speed to their roster on Thursday as they traded for Tim Locastro from the Diamondbacks in exchange for a pitching prospect. Sure, Locastro isn’t exactly a household name and he isn’t having a banner year at the plate, but the guy can RUN and he is more than willing to lean into a pitch to get on base, so the Yankees have that going for them.
- Mariners lefty Héctor Santiago is the first pitcher to be disciplined as part of MLB’s foreign substance crackdown after being ejected when umpires believed they found a foreign substance on his glove. Santiago admitted to having rosin on his glove, and while it wasn’t a highly-publicized element of the new policy, pitchers are now strictly prohibited from having rosin on their person, even though they are allowed to obtain it from the bag on the mound. MLB confiscated Santiago’s glove but never examined it, and now they’ve hit him with a 10-game suspension and undisclosed fine.
- The Blue Jays are determined to reach the playoffs for a second straight season, and they boosted their roster by acquiring sidearming reliever Adam Cimber and currently injured outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Marlins in exchange for veteran utility player Joe Panik and relief prospect Andrew McInvale.
- Braves starter Mike Soroka has re-ruptured his Achilles and will not pitch again in 2021. After making three starts in 2020, he tore his Achilles. He hadn’t pitched since then. Soroka looked like he’d be the Braves’ ace for years to come after going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and .236 OBA in 2019, but now his future is extremely uncertain.
- The Rays promoted top prospect Wander Franco, and he immediately made his presence known in his debut, hitting a game-tying homer for his first major league hit while also collecting a double and a walk. At Triple-A Durham, the 20-year-old was slashing .323/.376/.601 with seven home runs in 173 plate appearances.
- The Blue Jays have signed veteran reliever John Axford, reports Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet. The 38-year-old hasn’t seen a major league mound since 2018 and had been working as an analyst on the Jays’ pre and postgame shows before being asked to pitch for them again. The bulk of his career came with the Brewers, as he played in Milwaukee from 2009-13, but now the Ontario native will embark on his third stint with Toronto.
- Rays ace Tyler Glasnow’s season is in jeopardy after he suffered a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his right arm. He’ll initially try to rehab the injuries rather than immediately opting for Tommy John surgery. In an interesting crossover with the biggest story being discussed around baseball right now, Glasnow said MLB’s crackdown on foreign substances contributed to his injury, as he stopped using a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, and as a result he began gripping the baseball so hard that he injured his elbow.
- A lot has been made in recent weeks about the proliferation of foreign substances used primarily (but certainly not exclusively) by pitchers to get better grip on balls to have better command as well as to generate greater spin. It has been clear that MLB was going to crack down on the practice and now it looks like it has landed on its chosen punishment, as it was announced that players found to be using such substances will receive a 10-game paid suspension.
Government
Analysts issue unexpected crude oil price forecast after surge
Here’s what a key investment firm says about the commodity.
Oil is an asset defined by volatility.
U.S. crude prices stood above $60 a barrel in January 2020, just as the covid pandemic began. Three months later, prices briefly went negative, as the pandemic crushed demand.
By June 2022 the price rebounded all the way to $120, as fiscal and monetary stimulus boosted the economy. The price fell back to $80 in September 2022. Since then, it has bounced between about $65 and $90.
Over the past two months, the price has climbed 15% to $82 as of March 20.
Bullish factors for oil prices
The move stems partly from indications that economic growth this year will be stronger than analysts expected.
Related: The Fed rate decision won't surprise markets. What happens next might
Vanguard has just raised its estimate for 2024 U.S. GDP growth to 2% from 0.5%.
Meanwhile, China’s factory output and retail sales exceeded forecasts in January and February. That could boost oil demand in the country, the world's No. 1 oil importer.
Also, drone strokes from Ukraine have knocked out some of Russia’s oil refinery capacity. Ukraine has hit at least nine major refineries this year, erasing an estimated 11% of Russia’s production capacity, according to Bloomberg.
“Russia is a gas station with an army, and we intend on destroying that gas station,” Francisco Serra-Martins, chief executive of drone manufacturer Terminal Autonomy, told the news service. Gasoline, of course, is one of the products made at refineries.
Speaking of gas, the recent surge of oil prices has sent it higher as well. The average national price for regular gas totaled $3.52 per gallon Wednesday, up 7% from a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association. And we’re nearing the peak driving season.
Another bullish factor for oil: Iraq said Monday that it’s cutting oil exports by 130,000 barrels per day in coming months. Iraq produced much more oil in January and February than its OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) target.
Citigroup’s oil-price forecast
Yet, not everyone is bullish on oil going forward. Citigroup analysts see prices falling through next year, Dow Jones’s Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) reports.
More Economic Analysis:
- Bond markets tell Fed rate story that stocks still ignore
- February inflation surprises with modest uptick, but core pressures ease
- Vanguard unveils bold interest rate forecast ahead of Fed meeting
The analysts note that supply is at risk in Israel, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela. But Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Russia could easily make up any shortfall.
Moreover, output should also rise this year and next in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Guyana, the analysts said. Meanwhile, global demand growth will decelerate, amid increased electric vehicle use and economic weakness.
Regarding refineries, the analysts see strong gains in capacity and capacity upgrades this year.
What if Donald Trump is elected president again? That “would likely be bearish for oil and gas," as Trump's policies could boost trade tension, crimping demand, they said.
The analysts made predictions for European oil prices, the world’s benchmark, which sat Wednesday at $86.
They forecast a 9% slide in the second quarter to $78, then a decline to $74 in the third quarter and $70 in the fourth quarter.
Next year should see a descent to $65 in the first quarter, $60 in the second and third, and finally $55 in the fourth, Citi said. That would leave the price 36% below current levels.
U.S. crude prices will trade $4 below European prices from the second quarter this year until the end of 2025, the analysts maintain.
Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024
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Disney remote jobs: the most magical WFH careers on earth?
Disney employs hundreds of thousands of employees at its theme parks and elsewhere, but the entertainment giant also offers opportunities for remote w…
The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is a major entertainment and media company that operates amusement parks, produces movies and television shows, airs news and sports programs, and sells Mickey Mouse and Star Wars merchandise at its retail stores across the U.S.
While most of the jobs at the multinational entertainment conglomerate require working with people — such as at its theme parks, film-production facilities, cruise ships, or corporate offices — there are also opportunities for remote work at Disney. And while remote typically means working from home, with Disney, it could also mean working in a non-corporate office and being able to move from one location to another and conduct business outside normal working hours.
Related: Target remote jobs: What type of work and how much does it pay?
What remote jobs are available at Disney?
Many companies, including Disney, have called employees to return to the office for work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the bulk of the company’s positions are forward-facing, meaning they involve meeting with clients and customers on a regular basis.
Still, there are some jobs at the “most magical company on earth” that are listed as remote and don’t require frequent in-person interaction with people, including opportunities in data entry and sales.
On Disney’s career website, there are limited positions available where the work is completely remote. One listing, for example, is for a “graphics interface coordinator covering sporting events.” This role involves working on nights, weekends, and holidays — times when corporate offices tend to be closed — and it may make sense for the company to hire people who can work from home or to travel and work in a location separate from the game venue.
Some of the senior roles that are shown on the website involve managers who can oversee remote teams, whether that be in sales or data. Sometimes, a supervisor overseeing staff who work outside corporate offices may be responsible for hiring freelancers who work remotely.
On the employment website Indeed, there are limited positions listed. A job listing for a manager in enterprise underwriting for a federal credit union indicates weekend duty, working outside of an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule, and being able to work in different locations. The listed annual salary range of $84,960 to $132,000, though, is well above the national annual average of around $50,000.
Internationally, Disney offers remote work in India, largely in the field of software development for its India-based streaming platform, Disney+ Hotstar.
The company also offers some hybrid schemes, which involve a mixture of in-office and remote work. For a mid-level animator position based in San Francisco, the role would involve being in the office and working from home occasionally.
How much do remote jobs at Disney pay?
Pay for remote jobs at Disney varies significantly based on location. A salary for a freelance artist in New York City, for example, may be higher than for the same job in Orlando, Florida.
Disney lists actual salary ranges in some of its job postings. For example, the yearly pay for a California-based compensation manager who works with clients is $129,000 to $165,000.
In an online search for “remote jobs at Disney,” results range from $30 to $39 an hour, for data entry, or $28.50 to $38 an hour for social media customer support.
How can I apply for remote jobs at Disney?
You can look for remote jobs on Disney's career site, and type “remote” in the search field. Listings may also appear on career-data websites, including Indeed and Glassdoor.
How many employees does Disney have?
In 2023, Disney employed about 225,000 people globally, of which around 77% were full-time, 16% part-time, and 7% seasonal. The majority of the workers, around 167,000, were in the U.S.
Disney says that a significant number of its employees, including many of those who work at its theme parks, along with most writers, directors, actors, and production personnel, belong to unions. It’s not immediately known how many remote workers at the company, if any, are union members.
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The Digest #194
Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Ben Graham, GAAP accounting, John Templeton, AI dystopia, Inflation, Bloomstran on Berkshire, Intuitive Surgical, The lessons…
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger was first published in 2005 as a “coffee table” style book. It was beautifully presented but came with a high price tag. It was also heavy, somewhat unwieldy to read, and not very portable. The book’s format and price probably limited its reach.
Stripe Press published a new edition of the book shortly after Mr. Munger died last year at the age of ninety-nine. Amazon and other vendors instantly sold all available inventory. After waiting for three months, I finally received my copy last week.
Peter Kaufman is the editor of all editions of the book and I suspect that his main goal two decades ago was to honor Charlie Munger’s wisdom in a format that was not expected to “go viral.” In 2005, Charlie Munger was well known in the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder community and in the value investing world, but he was not as prominent as he became during his final decade. The clear purpose of the new edition is to disseminate his ideas as widely as possible.
The new edition is abridged to reduce repetitive content and I will withhold judgment about the wisdom of this abridgment until I finish reading the book. Since the heart of the book is comprised of speeches given by Charlie Munger, there are definitely cases where the same ideas are presented again and again.
Great books can be read many times while remaining highly relevant. I found this to be the case when I reread Charlie Munger’s Harvard School commencement address delivered in June 1986 when his youngest son was among the graduates. In the speech, Mr. Munger “inverts” the typical advice delivered in such speeches by explaining how the graduates should go about guaranteeing a life of failure and misery through time-tested strategies such as ingesting drugs and indulging in envy and resentment.
I am not sure how many graduates were convinced by Charlie Munger on that early summer day, but I suspect that most of them remember the speech because it was so unconventional. In contrast, I have no recollection of the commencement addresses when I graduated from high school or college, or even who the speaker was.
Articles
A Memorial for Charlie Munger by John Harvey Taylor, March 12, 2024. This is a brief account of a recent memorial service for Charlie Munger at Harvard-Westlake School. “We learned Sunday that someone once asked if he knew how to play the piano. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’ve never tried.’ Yet he tried and finished so much in his century. Imagine what he is making of eternity.” (Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles)
Benjamin Graham: Big Moments on the Way to Big Earnings, March 2024. Ben Graham’s granddaughter reflects on the challenges Graham experienced when he applied for college. “Most graduating seniors make their college plans in advance, but Ben Graham had no money for tuition. All through the long days of arduous farm labor, my grandfather dreamed of winning a Pulitzer Scholarship.” (Beyond Ben Graham)
Graham’s “Unpopular Large Caps” Part 2: Thoughts on Diversification by John Huber, March 19, 2024. “I would segment these ideas into two groups: core operating investments and bargain assets. In the former, you want to be very selective in picking a relatively small number of companies you intend to own for the long term. In the latter, you’d want to think like the insurance underwriter, buying as many as you can to ensure that the law of large numbers is on your side.” (Base Hit Investing)
Warren Buffett Minds the GAAP by Donald E. Graham, March 13, 2024. “I have a challenge for the FASB and the SEC: If you believe today’s accounting rules present a clearer picture of Berkshire’s results, put it to a test. Ask Berkshire’s shareholders if they prefer the present method of reporting earnings over the status quo ante. I don’t believe a single informed shareholder would say so. The rule is confusing and uninformative.” (WSJ)
- Berkshire Hathaway’s Distorted Quarterly Results, August 7, 2022. “Berkshire’s net income figure has been totally useless for analytical purposes since 2018. This is true on an annual basis and even more true on a quarterly basis.” (The Rational Walk)
Sir John Templeton: The Gentleman Bargain Hunter by Kingswell, March 12, 2024. “Templeton, who passed away in 2008, arrived on the investing scene with a series of uber-profitable contrarian bets in the early days of World War II — and continued to outwit Mr. Market with maddening consistency for the next several decades.” (Kingswell)
They Praised AI at SXSW—and the Audience Started Booing by Ted Gioia, March 19, 2024. Many recent innovations seem to have a dystopian aura. Apparently, this sentiment is not restricted to the usual luddites (old men shouting at clouds) but is shared by some of the attendees of SXSW. What seems cool to tech bros in Silicon Valley might not seem so cool to those outside tech culture. (The Honest Broker)
We Still Don’t Believe How Much Things Cost by Rachel Wolfe and Rachel Louise Ensign, March 12, 2024. People tend to focus on the aggregate amount of inflation over the past few years and interpreted transitory to mean that price spikes would reverse. Of course, politicians and economists only meant that the rate of inflation would decrease, not that prices would ever return to pre-pandemic levels. (WSJ)
My 2023 Apple Report Card by John Gruber, March 18, 2024. A solid report card overall from a widely read technology blog. (Daring Fireball)
Podcasts
Christopher Bloomstran on Buffett, Berkshire, Munger, and China, March 19, 2024. 1 hour, 1 minute. Video. Also be sure to check out the latest Semper Augustus client letter which has a lengthy section on Berkshire Hathaway. (Value After Hours)
Renaissance Technologies, March 18, 2024. 3 hours, 10 minutes. Notes. “Renaissance Technologies is the best performing investment firm of all time. And yet no one at RenTec would consider themselves an ‘investor’, at least in any traditional sense of the word. It’d rather be more accurate to call them scientists — scientists who’ve discovered a system of math, computers and artificial intelligence that has evolved into the greatest money making machine the world has ever seen.” (Acquired)
- Review of The Man Who Solved the Market, December 28, 2019 (Rational Walk)
Intuitive Surgical: Robotic Precision, March 20, 2024. 1 hour, 6 minutes. Transcript. “Intuitive creates robotic products to assist minimally invasive surgeries. Its Da Vinci system is a pioneer in this area as it increases the efficiency & accuracy of surgery and reduces the burden on the surgeons themselves.” (Business Breakdowns)
The Lessons of History (Will & Ariel Durant), March 18, 2023. 53 minutes. Notes. “In every age men have been dishonest and governments have been corrupt.” (Founders)
A Classicist Believes that Homer Directly Dictated the Iliad, and Was Also an Excellent Horseman, March 14, 2024. 53 minutes. “The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it composed and why does it endure?” (History Unplugged)
Triumph of Achilles
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