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Red Sox top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela back in Double-A to start season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

Ceddanne Rafaela will begin the 2023 season in Double-A Portland.It’s a decision that may come as a surprise as the 22-year-old top prospect emerged as a formidable defender when he moved from shortstop to the outfield last year, and draws comparisons to a young Mookie Betts.Rafaela skyrocketed to No. 3 in the Red Sox farm system, and finished the year as the organization’s Minor League Defensive Player of the Year. He also hit .299/.342/.539 with 32 doubles, 10 triples, and 21 home runs, 82 runs scored, 86 RBI, and 28 stolen bases between High-A (45 games) and Double-A (71 games).Added to the 40-man roster last November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, this was Rafaela’s first spring at major league camp. He appeared in 16 Grapefruit League games, going 7-for-32 with no extra-base hits, five runs, four RBI, a walk, and six strikeouts. He also went 1-for-3 in stolen-base attempts before the Red Sox optioned him to the minor leagues on March 13.A small, but underwhelming sample ...

Anthony Volpe caps-off stellar spring with standout performance in Yankees’ exhibition game vs. Nationals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

The Anthony Volpe spring show featured a grand finale with a highly-anticipated encore beginning Thursday.The Yankees fell to the Nationals 3-0 Tuesday at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. in an exhibition matchup as a final tune-up before the regular season kicks off on Thursday.With a lineup that featured most of their likely Opening Day starters — excluding Giancarlo Stanton who had the afternoon off — Volpe was slotted in the No. 9 spot and displayed exactly why his 22 games at Triple-A were deemed enough to make the major league roster.In the bottom of the second, Nationals’ shortstop CJ Abrams ripped a grounder up the middle in which Volpe gathered with a full extension dive and fired to first in time. A few minutes later, the 21-year-old ripped a 101.2 mph single to left field and capped off his performance with a stellar running full-extension catch that knocked him off his feet in the bottom of the fourth.The New Jersey native finished 1-for-2 on the after...

Hingham man indicted on charges in deadly Apple Store crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

The 53-year-old Hingham man accused of slamming his SUV into an Apple Store, killing one person and seriously injuring 22 others, has been indicted on charges in connection to the deadly crash.Bradley Rein on Tuesday was indicted on one count of murder in the second degree and one count of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation in the death of 65-year-old Kevin Bradley, who lived in Wayne, N.J.The Plymouth County grand jury also voted to indict Rein on reckless operation of a motor vehicle; 18 counts of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for injuring 22 other people in the wreck.Rein allegedly drove his SUV through the Hingham Apple Store’s plate glass storefront window at around 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 21, leaving a gaping hole in the storefront.Hingham Police responded to the crash in the Derby Shops after receiving 911 calls about a vehicle plowing into the store’s window, with multip...

Orioles return Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi to Red Sox as bullpen competition narrows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

One former Rule 5 pick being put in the Orioles’ rotation opened a potential spot in their bullpen for another. But right-hander Andrew Politi’s time in the organization came to an end Tuesday.Baltimore returned the 26-year-old to the Boston Red Sox after he cleared waivers. Taken in December’s Rule 5 draft, Politi was required to remain on the Orioles’ active roster all season to be guaranteed of staying with the organization, but he was designated for assignment for Baltimore to select the contract of left-hander Danny Coulombe, who the team acquired in a trade for cash with the Minnesota Twins on Monday.When the Orioles decided to give right-hander Tyler Wells their fifth rotation spot over top prospect Grayson Rodriguez, it seemingly created a place in their bullpen that could have gone to Politi. A Rule 5 draft choice before the 2021 season, Wells pitched in relief that year and briefly served as the Orioles’ closer but returned to the rotation in ...

What's the forecast for Padres Opening Day?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Our weather team may sound like a broken record, but here we go again with more rain headed for San Diego.Another storm system on the horizon will bring widespread light rain, strong winds and mountain snow Wednesday and Thursday.Satellite imagery showed a strong low-pressure system off the coast of Oregon and Northern California Tuesday morning. It's expected to take a dive southward and closer to Central California by late Wednesday, but will lose intensity as it moves closer to San Diego County. What to know about Padres Opening Day In Southern California, onshore flow has started to increase. Winds will be consistent over the course of Wednesday with strongest gusts in mountain communities. Rain will move in by late morning Wednesday with widespread showers expected in the afternoon. That is the first round of precipitation with this system. The second round will happen Wednesday night into Thursday and feature showery conditions with chances of thunderstorms...

Army quickly plans new ads after Jonathan Majors’ arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is working to quickly pull together some new recruiting ads to air during the NCAA’s Final Four basketball games this weekend, after being forced to yank commercials that featured actor Jonathan Majors, in the wake of his arrest last Saturday.Army leaders had been excited to feature Majors in the ads, as a key part of their new campaign aimed at reviving the service’s struggling recruiting numbers — which fell far short of their enlistment goal last year. They believed the ads would capitalize on Majors’ popularity coming off his recently released “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” movies — hoping it would help them reach the youth audience.Last weekend, however, they pulled the ads off the air when Majors was arrested in New York on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment. New York City police said the actor was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman. But a lawyer for Majors, Priya Chaudhry, has said...

Carlson, Hannity among potential witnesses at Fox News trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Bret Baier are among the stars who both Fox News and the voting machine company suing it for defamation have signaled could testify if the case heads to trial next month.They are among the names submitted this week as potential witnesses by Fox and Dominion Voting Systems, although it doesn’t guarantee that they will appear in court. It still isn’t certain there will be a trial. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis is expected to make a summary judgment ruling in favor of either side or to go forward with a trial.Dominion has accused Fox of airing false allegations that the company was engaged in voter fraud during the 2020 election even though many at the network doubted the claims were true. Fox says it was lawfully reporting on newsworthy developments.Carlson, Hannity and Baier all worried privately after the election that Fox’s early declaration that Democrat Joe Biden had won the key state of Arizona had dam...

Family of girl, 5, whose fingertip was partially amputated in incident suing Hamilton school board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) is being sued after a bullying incident reportedly caused a severe injury to the finger of a five-year-old girl, with the youth’s family accusing the board of doing nothing to stop it.In a press conference Tuesday, the girl’s mother, Sjanita-Marie Harrison, said her daughter had to have part of her fingertip amputated following an incident in a school washroom in November of 2022.Harrison alleges a student at Prince of Wales Elementary slammed the door on then-four-year-old Autymn-Rose’s hand, crushing one of her fingers. She also claims her daughter was put in an ambulance and was not accompanied by school personnel.“She had [also] hit her head and was in obvious distress, both physically and emotionally and mentally. Throughout this entire process of my child being in this condition. I was left in the dark,” Harrison claimed.The lawsuit alleges the board did not act in a reasonable manner to prevent...

Flair customers say they’re owed more after plane seizures, flight cancellations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

MONTREAL — Flair Airlines said this week that it has reimbursed almost all 1,900 passengers whose flights were cancelled after the seizure of four of the carrier’s planes earlier this month, but some customers say they are owed more money — while others say no refunds have come through at all.Bailiffs repossessed Boeing 737 jets on which the discount carrier had overdue payments at airports in Toronto, Edmonton and Waterloo, Ont., in the early morning hours of March 11.The seizures meant multiple flights that day had to be cancelled, sending customers scrambling to rebook on other airlines, or to give up entirely.Carrie Kennedy was at the gate with two friends for a Toronto-Halifax flight — all three had booked time off work for a March break getaway — when the cancellation was announced.“It was supposed to be her first plane ride,” the Barrie, Ont., resident said of her friend’s six-year-old daughter. “She was bawling her eyes out. ‘Why can’...

Budget 2023 gives boost to dental care, green economy while searching for savings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:31 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2023 federal budget promises “transformative investments” in Canada’s green economy as the country tries to maintain its place in the global clean tech revolution and realign its supply chains toward allies who won’t use energy as a political weapon.“Together these two great shifts represent the most significant opportunity for Canadian workers in the lifetime of anyone here today,” Freeland said Tuesday in the House of Commons.She is also using the budget to provide another top-up of the GST rebate, styled this time as a grocery rebate, to low-income Canadians who are feeling the pinch of inflation and keep making good on pledges in the confidence-and-supply agreement with the New Democrats.There are also some measures reacting to political fires that have been burning around the Liberals in recent weeks and months, including some money to combat foreign interference, and to make airport securit...