On this video from StockCharts TV, Julius assesses the quality of the breakout in the S&P 500, using sector rotation on Relative Rotation Graphs, the volume pattern in the S&P 500 and the relationship between stocks and bonds.
This video was originally broadcast on May 20, 2024. Click anywhere on the icon above to view on our dedicated page for Julius.
Past episodes of Julius’ shows can be found here.
#StaySafe, -Julius
Today Erin takes a deep dive into the Semiconductors (SMH). She goes over the “under the hood” health of the industry group and then takes us within the industry group to find the leadership stocks in that area.
Carl shares his wisdom on the current conditions of the market with an emphasis on Bonds again this week. Is the 60/40 portfolio allocation wise?
Erin finishes with a look at viewer symbol requests with an eye toward future prospects and momentum.
If you would like to join our trading room LIVE on Mondays at Noon ET, just click here!
01:09 Market Overview including Bitcoin, the Dollar, Gold and Bonds (plus many more)
13:33 Magnificent Seven Overview
26:07 Sector Overview
31:52 Semiconductors Deep Dive
40:18 Symbol Requests
Technical Analysis is a windsock, not a crystal ball. –Carl Swenlin
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Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO)
Good morning and welcome to this week’s Flight Path. The “Go” trend in equities is well and truly back as we saw a string of uninterrupted blue bars this week and price hit a new all time high. Treasury bond prices entered a weak “Go” trend which is perhaps bad news for rates as we’ll see in a moment due to the inverse relationship. The U.S. commodity index continued to show market uncertainty as it ended the week with another amber “Go Fish” bar. The dollar maintained its “Go” trend but we saw some weakness as this week GoNoGo Trend painted a majority of aqua bars.
The “Go” trend we spied last week really took off this week as we saw a week of uninterrupted strong blue bars and price high all time highs midweek. GoNoGo Oscillator fell out of overbought territory and that caused a Go Countertrend Correction Icon to appear on the chart which tells us price may struggle to go higher in the short term. Now at a value of 4, momentum is positive and in the direction of the underlying “Go” trend. We will look for price to find support and consolidate above prior highs.
The larger weekly chart shows that after several weeks of pullback, coming after the Go Countertrend Correction Icon that we saw over a month ago, the trend has once again strengthened as GoNoGo Trend once again paints strong blue bars. GoNoGo Oscillator bounced sharply off the zero line which helped confirm the “Go” trend and with momentum resurgent in the direction of the “Go” trend we saw price hit a new high this week.
Rates Enter “NoGo”
GoNoGo Trend saw the weakness we noted last week turn into a new “NoGo” trend. After GoNoGo oscillator entered negative territory a couple of weeks ago we could infer that the “Go” trend was no longer healthy. After a long run of weaker aqua “Go” bars we saw the trend give way this week and a mix of pink and purple “NoGo” bars. Now, with GoNoGo Oscillator approaching the zero line from below, we will watch to see if this trend can hold.
The”Go” trend remained in place this week but we saw a majority of weaker aqua bars as price made a new lower low. GoNoGo Oscillator has been rejected by the zero line twice since first crossing into negative territory and now is steadily falling. This is a concern for the “Go” trend in this periodicity and we will watch to see if this week brings a change in technical environment.
SEATTLE — Bruce Nordstrom, a retail executive who helped expand his family’s Pacific Northwest department store chain into an upscale national brand, has died.
Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. said its former chairman died at his home on Saturday. He was 90.
“Our dad leaves a powerful legacy as a legendary business leader, a generous community citizen and a loyal friend,” said a statement from his sons, Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom and Pete Nordstrom, the company’s president.
The chain traces its roots back to a Seattle shoe store opened by Swedish immigrant John Nordstrom and a partner in 1901.
Bruce Nordstrom and other members of the third generation took leadership reins in 1968. They brought the company public in 1971 and expanded its footprint across the U.S. while also launching the lower-priced Nordstrom Rack stores.
Bruce Nordstrom retired from his executive role in 1995 as the third generation handed over leadership to the fourth. He retired as chairman of Nordstrom’s board of directors in 2006.
He was one of several Nordstrom family members who in 2017 made a push to take the company private, proposing to buy out the 70% of the department store’s stock they didn’t already own. Those talks failed in 2018 but earlier this year, his sons started another series of buyout negotiations.
In addition to two sons, Nordstrom’s survivors include his wife, Jeannie, his sister and fellow philanthropist Anne Gittinger, and seven grandchildren.
Chevy Bolt owners are eligible for settlement checks as part of a $150 million class-action settlement with General Motors and South Korean industrial group LG over faulty batteries.
According to documents filed in a Michigan court Thursday, Bolt EV owners who installed software before Dec. 31, 2023 that had been designed to fix the battery issue will be eligible to receive a check for up to $1,400. Customers who sold their Bolt or terminated their leases before the software remedy was released — or ones who received a replacement battery — will receive a $700 check at minimum.
“GM, LG Energy Solution and LG Electronics have agreed to a settlement with plaintiffs to resolve class action litigation related to the Bolt EV battery recall,” GM said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“As a result, Bolt owners who received a battery replacement or who have installed the latest advanced diagnostic software may qualify for compensation,” the company said.
GM began recalling Bolt EVs after receiving multiple complaints about the LG-branded batteries catching fire.
The recall effort ultimately cost GM nearly $2 billion.
More consumers are saving their workday lunch money to burn when they’re off the clock.
The rise of hybrid work has kept many bars’ and restaurants’ lunchtime business from recovering to pre-pandemic levels, according to data the digital payments platform Square released Tuesday.
But while weekday transaction volumes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. were down 3.3% last year compared with 2019, card taps jumped 4.2% on weekends and 0.3% during weekday happy hours from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Square data comes as foot traffic rebounds in major U.S. cities’ downtowns far faster on evenings and weekends than during workdays, University of Toronto researchers have found.
These signs point to a new normal for Americans’ post-pandemic leisure spending, which has stayed resilient despite the higher costs of going out. Fast food chains are launching promotions to lure back diners turned off by price hikes, and alcohol brands are pushing canned cocktails as bar and restaurant menu tabs rise faster than grocery bills.
That’s been the largest transformation in the last four or five years — the consumer habits of office workers.
Ara Kharazian, research lead at Square
Nevertheless, many consumers remain determined to splurge after unplugging from work.
“That’s been the largest transformation in the last four or five years — the consumer habits of office workers,” said Ara Kharazian, research lead at Square, which provides electronic payment systems used by many bars, restaurants and stores. “But that money has gone somewhere else: We’re seeing consumers instead spend money on the weekends.”
Brunch has driven a chunk of the weekend increase, Kharazian said. In 2023, 1.88% of the food and drink transactions Square processed took place between 11 a.m. and noon on Saturdays, up from 1.60% in 2019. Because the company analyzed transaction volumes rather than dollar amounts, its data reflects foot traffic rather than inflation-sensitive spending.
Still, some of the change may have to do with consumers going where the deals are, said Sara Senatore, a senior restaurant analyst at Bank of America.
“Brunch is a much more accessible price point than dinner, because people still want to go out to eat,” she said. “They still want the experience, they still want to congregate with their friends and family.”
AJ Kurban, CEO of Aceituna Grill.Courtesy CJPR
Nowhere was the shift toward evening and weekend spending starker than in Boston, one of 23 major cities Square analyzed. There, a 10.1% decline in weekday lunch transactions was more than offset by 10.3% and 1.6% increases in weekend and happy hour transactions, respectively.
Aceituna Grill, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant in Boston, has seen lunch crowds shrink at the three locations it has operated since before the pandemic, especially those near offices for Bank of America and PwC, according to CEO AJ Kurban.
“We used to have a line out the door every single day. Now we’re lucky to get a line out the door two to three days a week,” said Kurban. Sales at the three restaurants last year were down by at least 20% from 2019.
Aceituna, which accepts digital payments on Toast but not Square, has been trying to chase weekend crowds to offset the decline. It opened a fourth restaurant in the tourist-heavy Back Bay shopping district about a year ago and began keeping its Seaport location open on Sundays as of this month.
The latter move was partly to comply with updated lease terms, and while Kurban said it’s too early to tell how it’ll pay off, he’s “expecting a positive impact.” At the Back Bay outpost, he added, “definitely weekends and nights are a lot busier there than any of our other locations.”
With more consumers opting for homemade lunches over $16 takeout salads, “restaurants are constantly trying to come up with things to entice more people on the weekend,” said Soojin Lee, a professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration who focuses on restaurant and kitchen management. Young consumers eager to socialize are a prime target for bars and restaurants as they look to draw evening and weekend crowds, she said.
Some establishments are doing better than others as consumer habits evolve. Fast-casual brands like Sweetgreen and Chipotle have seen stronger business this year than much of the restaurant industry. While diners on tight budgets have shied away from higher prices at fast-food chains, those with more to spend on eating out aren’t holding back.
Definitely weekends and nights are a lot busier.
AJ Kurban, CEO of Aceituna Grill
“Their spend seems to be positive based on what the restaurants are saying. They’re actually seeing traffic growth in those cohorts,” Senatore said of more affluent customers, “whereas the lower-income consumers, you’re starting to see traffic decline.”
Only one major market bucked the trend Square identified: In heavily residential Brooklyn — less known for its lunch rush than office-packed Manhattan — midday spending was down by a modest 0.3%, but weekend transactions were still 0.5% shy of the borough’s pre-pandemic level, too. And unlike in most other cities, happy hours were down slightly in both Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Kharazian noted the changes were small, though, and attributed the New York anomalies partly to the rhythms of the city that never sleeps, “where people go out at all hours in a way that happy hour doesn’t necessarily have that importance.”
Not everyone is splashing out on nights and weekends, though.
“I’m definitely spending money on work lunches a lot more,” said Nicholas Louie, 25, an advertising associate for a marketing agency who lives and works in Manhattan, where Square found lunch transactions were down 3.3% since before Covid.
He estimates spending $15-$20 a day on lunch — a bit more than in years past, though his costs vary depending on whether he’s home or in the office, which he works from twice a week.
“I don’t really prioritize drinking during the weekdays,” Louie said, and his weekend leisure spending “is quite inconsistent.”
But his employer’s amenities also help keep his bar tab low.
“I have free alc in the office,” he added.
The NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award is not one of the league’s most prominent awards.
It is one of the most significant.
The NBA says the award goes to the ‘player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.’
The award is rooted in humanity, compassion, selflessness and a willingness to help those around you be the best person and player possible.
The award is named after Maurice Stokes and Jack Tywman, teammates on the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals from 1955-58. Stokes sustained an on-court injury, was paralyzed and diagnosed with post-traumatic encephalopathy. Twyman became his Stokes’ legal guardian and supported him until Stokes’ death in 1970.
It is one of my favorite NBA awards. This season, Minnesota Timberwolves starting point guard Mike Conley won the award for the second time. Winning once is an honor. Winning twice shines even more light on the player’s character.
I talked to Conley, whose Timberwolves play the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday (8 p.m. ET, TNT), about the award and what it means. Questions and answers have by edited for length and clarity.
USA TODAY: What does it mean to be a good teammate and what does that entail?
Conley: It’s part of my personality more than anything – the way I was raised, how I treat people. How I lead is by doing a bunch of different things. It could be by leading by example, it can be by being vocal, it can be by taking a guy out to eat when they’re having a slump or just really checking in on people, making sure they’re good. Ultimately, guys take away the fact that I put them above me at all times, and it’s obvious that guys like being around people like that.
USA TODAY: You mentioned your upbringing. What happened as a kid to let you know that, hey, there’s more than just going out there and making buckets, passing the ball and playing defense?
Conley: It starts with my parents (Mike Sr. and Regina). They’ve been the ones who have guided me and pushed me and given me the template on how to do things at a young age. I’ve played basketball since I was 3, 4 years old, and I’d be in elementary school games and it could be co-ed, where you have girls on your team, all that stuff, and I’m the best player on the court, and I’m just thinking, ‘How can I get this girl a layup if she doesn’t really like basketball?’ I felt like she’ll have more fun if she can get a shot off or this person can get a shot off. I just found ways to use my talent to just try to get other people to enjoy their experience on the court.
USA TODAY: If I’m following correctly, kindness and compassion and understanding, and even if that means getting on a guy a little bit differently than you might another player, are part of your approach.
Conley: The biggest thing is having empathy. I put myself in everybody’s shoes to the best of my knowledge. Obviously, we are all brought up differently, come from different areas, have seen different things, so I try to dissect that with each guy. How do I speak to Rudy Gobert? He’s from a different country (France). How did he grow up? I don’t know. How do I speak to Ant (Anthony Edwards)? He’s from Georgia, and how do I speak to him differently than KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns)? So everybody has their things and can be spoken to in different ways or can be led in different ways, and I just have an ability to recognize that with each person and build a connection with everybody.
USA TODAY: What were your first thoughts when you found out you won the Twyman-Stokes Award?
Conley: I was surprised, and I always am for some reason. I don’t ever expect anything. I honestly don’t. I don’t expect credit, I don’t expect any awards. For me to get one of this nature and this magnitude is one that signifies so much more than the game, so much more than basketball. It signifies the kind of person you are, the kind of player you are, the kind of compassion you have, the kind of competitive nature you have towards the game, and how you can effectively change people around you for the better and have a positive impact on people.
USA TODAY: This is your second time winning the award. How familiar are you with the story?
Conley: It was unbelievably touching to see. That just signifies so much more than this game. You just see the love and passion he (Twyman) has towards another human being, not even a blood relative or anything like that, but somebody (Stokes) he truly believes in and wants to take care of and loves.
USA TODAY: You have children. Is there anything you share with them that illustrates what we’re talking about here?
Conley: My kids are very active in sports. They play soccer, flag football, basketball, baseball. They play hockey now that we’re in Minnesota, so we’ve got all the sports wrapped up and they truthfully do listen to everything I say as far as sportsmanship is concerned. My oldest is 7 years old and right now he’s bigger and taller and faster than most kids, and he just runs by people. I was like, ‘Hey man, I know you can score the goal. I know you can get the ball and do this, but how about trying to make a great pass for this person or try to get your good friend over there a good look or just trying to get them to understand the team concept of things and how much more fulfilling it is when you see others succeed, not just yourself.’ It seems like they’re coming around to it. So hopefully I just keep setting that imprint and they follow.
PHOENIX — Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty stood at the top of his dugout; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo stood at the top of his dugout.
From there, a shouting match − with a swear word from Louvullo and hand gestures from both − ensued in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game between the Tigers and Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Diamondbacks bench coach Jeff Banister added to the shouts, while Flaherty acted alone on his side.
‘You saw what happened,’ Lovullo said. ‘I thought that there were some things coming out of their side that really were rubbing us the wrong way at a certain point, and I’d had enough. Trust me, what happened there, what you guys saw, what everybody saw, wasn’t the first thing that happened. I can hold serve on one thing, but we felt like there was more than just that situation that popped up, and I’d had enough.’
Lovullo didn’t explain the reason for the exchange, but the Lovullo-Flaherty shouting match in the seventh inning took place after Flaherty and Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen spent several innings changing the shape of mound − specifically in front of the rubber − to their personal preferences.
It became a game within the game.
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‘That’s for them,’ Flaherty said. ‘I didn’t have any issues with it.’
When Flaherty took the mound, he picked up the ball and kicked more than 25 times at the dirt in front of the rubber with his right cleat. When Gallen took the mound, he called the grounds crew onto the field to fix the hole created by Flaherty, which delayed the game.
‘It just made the innings longer,’ Flaherty said, when asked if the situation disrupted his rhythm. ‘That’s a question for them.’
Gallen kept calling on the grounds crew to polish the mound, only for Flaherty to dig another hole.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn’t have much to say about the situation, but it was the first time he has seen a grounds crew come onto the field before every half inning to fix the mound because of a pitcher’s preference.
‘Never every inning without weather,’ Hinch said. ‘But whatever it takes to have a safe playing surface. Obviously, they didn’t both like the same mound at the same time.’
The non-verbal back-and-forth between pitchers took place in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, with the verbal exchange between Lovullo and Flaherty happening immediately after the Tigers scored five of their six runs − including the first three runs to chase Gallen − in the seventh inning.
‘I know what was going on because I know Zac, but they let him continue to fix it every inning,’ said Flaherty, who was teammates with Gallen in the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t had any other pitcher go against me has had to get the mound fixed like that, but it is what it is. You just keep pitching.’
The reason for Gallen’s antics: He felt tightness in his right hamstring and didn’t want to suffer an injury, similar to the hamstring issue he dealt with earlier this season. The reason for Flaherty’s antics: He just likes the mound that way, going all the way back to high school.
‘Maybe my back foot was getting into a compromising position,’ Gallen said, ‘and maybe making me use different muscles, so I just wanted to be safe about it.’
Flaherty, who has pitched in 140 games across his eight-year MLB career, said an opposing pitcher has never had a problem with the way he sculpts the mound − until Gallen.
‘I do it every time,’ Flaherty said. ‘Every mound I get on, I kick it out. My high school coaches, they can fix the mound up, but they know the second I get on there, I’m going to kick it out. For whatever reason, my foot feels better that way. It wasn’t like a huge divot or anything, but everybody wants the mound a certain way. If they’re going to let him fix it, then why not take advantage of it, which he did.’
In the end, both Flaherty and Gallen pitched well on the mound at Chase Field.
Flaherty allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts across six innings; Gallen allowed three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts across 6⅔ innings, without a walk. The Tigers and Diamondbacks were scoreless until Flaherty gave up his two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Tigers won, 8-3, for back-to-back wins in the desert, thanks to 21 runs in two games and dominant pitching efforts from Flaherty and left-hander Tarik Skubal.
A lawsuit has been filed in New York Supreme Court against Arizona Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. by an apparel manufacturer, according to reports.
The suit, filed by Fanatics, an American manufacturer and online retailer of licensed sportswear, alleges that Harrison is in breach of a contract which was signed in May 2023. Details of the contract were redacted in the court filing. Harrison’s side has denied there is a contract.
ESPN first reported the lawsuit, which sites ‘The Official Harrison Collection LLC’ as a defendant. The contract is said to be worth more than $1 million for autographs and game-worn apparel.
The suit claims that Harrison received a significant payment, but didn’t fulfill his portion of the agreement. The NFLPA’s group licensing agreement allows players’ name, image and likeness to be marketed.
Harrison was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. He has not hired an agent.
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He is the greatest show in baseball.
He is the Dwight Gooden of 1984.
He is the Kerry Wood of 1998.
He is the Stephen Strasburg of 2010.
He is Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ phenom.
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The 21-year-old has made two big-league starts, and already has us scrambling to make sure we clear space on our calendars.
Skenes is that electrifying, striking out 18 batters in just 10 innings, lighting up the radar gun with 19 pitches clocked at 100 mph or higher. In his most recent start, he pitched six no-hit innings at Wrigley Field, striking out the first seven Chicago Cubs he faced.
And, to think, we came terrifyingly close to completely missing the show.
Skenes, you see, was more interested in serving his country than thrilling baseball fans across the world.
He chose to attend the Air Force Academy after being a two-way star at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, the same school as MLB stars Nolan Arenado and Matt Chapman. He had two uncles who served in the Navy and one in the Coast Guard. When he was trying to choose a college, it came down to two schools: the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy.
Skenes, 6-foot-6, wanted to be an F-16 pilot.
He was the model cadet for two years, loved anything and everything about the academy, and cried when he informed his coach, Mike Kazlausky, that he needed to transfer after his sophomore season. If he stayed, he would have been forced to graduate from the academy and may not have been able to start his baseball career until serving five years of active duty.
So, he transferred to LSU, became the No. 1 pick in the country, received a $9.2 million signing bonus, and now has the baseball world fixated on him.
‘It’s amazing how his life would have been a lot different and our exposure to him in the big leagues would have been a lot different,’ Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “had he stayed at the academy.
“It makes you wonder how many other 100 mph arms are in the academy that we should have found.’
It also makes former St. Louis Cardinals reliever Mitch Harris, who in 2015 became the first Naval Academy graduate to appear in the major leagues in 100 years, scream to the heavens.
But there is no consistent policy when it comes to the cadets and professional sports.
One may get the option to spend four years at one of the service academies and postpone their active duty, while the next will be required to immediately serve in the military.
Look around.
There’s Griffin Jax, the first Air Force Academy graduate to reach the big leagues, who spent five games in the minors before being required to report to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for active duty in 2017. He thought he wouldn’t be back to pitching until 2019, but after six months was accepted into a program that allowed airmen to train for the Olympics. He got back to baseball in 2018 and made his big-league debut in 2021, currently a captain in the Air Force Reserves and a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.
Noah Song graduated from the Naval Academy, spent three years in flight training school, and now is a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization.
And this past week, outfielder Jacob Hurtubise was called up to make his major-league debut with the Cincinnati Reds, becoming only the second graduate from West Point to reach the big leagues.
Who’d ever imagine the military academies would be a pipeline for major-league talent and just how many more potential major-league players are at the Air Force Academy, Naval Academy and West Point on Armed Forces Weekend?
‘Most of these guys want to serve their country or they wouldn’t have gone there in the first place,’ Harris told USA TODAY Sports. ‘They want to represent our academies. They want to represent the Armed Forces. But if an opportunity comes to play pro sports, too, why can’t we figure something out where both can be possible?
‘Everyone that goes to a service academy knows what we’re committed to, and we want to serve and fulfill our commitment. But the chance of being in the big leagues is so very small. You feel for those guys. It would be nice for the Department of Defense to figure it out for the men and women who want to do both if the opportunity presents itself.’
Certainly, none of the service academy graduates had a major league career on their mind or they likely would never have gone to the academies, knowing that there is a five-year commitment.
Hurtubise took advantage of a new policy in 2019 that gives the Defense Secretary the power to allow academy graduates to delay their active duty service commitment for a professional sports career.
He still will have to serve five years, but for now, it’s being delayed until his baseball career is over.
‘All we have to do now is have proof of a professional contract,’ Hurtubise said, ‘and just promote positive media relations for the military. So, I’m supposed to do five years of active duty when I’m done playing. I don’t know in what capacity. I’d love to be a coach at West Point … Whatever capacity they want. It doesn’t necessarily have to be on the front lines.’
If the government decides that all graduates can delay their military service until their professional careers are complete, they could have a huge boon in recruiting the most talented student-athletes in this country.
‘The academies take pride in having good sports programs,’ Hurtubise said. ‘So, it’s going to drive more athletes to come and play there. It’s exciting. I think it’s really going to help grow the number of kids who want to attend a school like that with the opportunity to go pro.
‘It takes special people to be able to go to the academies and want to do something like that. I know if I have the opportunity to do something with the Army, I’d be happy to do it.’
Skenes wishes he had the same opportunity at the Air Force Academy, and would have been graduating with honors alongside his fellow cadets on May 30 at Falcon Field.
‘He didn’t want to leave,’ Kazlausky told the Times-Picayune. ‘The Department of Defense at the time could not come up with a great solution for Paul to be able to be a professional athlete right after his junior year. …
‘He will serve his country in some manner moving forward. It’s just going to be a matter of when. Paul and I have spoken about that piece. We’ll get him back in the military once his professional playing days are over. It’s a big deal for Paul to be able to serve our country.’
Still, it was a golden opportunity missed by Defense Department. If officials had permitted Skenes to stay at least one more year and still be eligible for the baseball draft, the Air Force Academy would be generating all of this wonderful publicity heading Skenes’ way. Instead, LSU is the benefactor, with casual baseball fans having no idea he was a proud cadet at the academy.
‘We’re missing out on a great opportunity here,’ Harris said. ‘Look at the publicity the Air Force would be receiving if he were able to stay there. Everyone who saw him play there knew they had something special. Couldn’t they have come up with a creative plan that would have allowed him to stay there?’
Can you imagine watching Skenes throw his hat high into the air with the rest of the cadets in their great tradition?
‘It breaks my heart that everyone can’t come together and figure this out,’ Harris said. ‘We’re missing out.’
It was a wonderful display of gratitude and emotion this week when Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced that Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell would be on his All-Star Game coaching staff.
Simply, Lovullo wanted to honor Bell’s younger brother, Mike Bell, who spent 13 years in the Diamondbacks organization, nine has a farm director. He died in 2021 at the age of 46, just two months after being diagnosed with kidney cancer.
‘I just wanted to honor Mike the best way I could,’ Lovullo said. ‘It just makes so much sense for me personally and professionally to ask David to join us. And it’s an honor for me to have him and be able to share with the world this great baseball story.
‘This is a great moment for baseball and it’ll be a lot of fun for me to sit next to him and tap into the Bell family a little bit more.’
Lovullo also played with David Bell on the 1995 Triple-A Buffalo Bisons team. Bell’s father, Buddy, was a coach and mentor in Cleveland when Lovullo was a minor-league manager.
Now, they can all be together at the All-Star Game in Texas where Buddy Bell was a four-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner for the Rangers.
‘Mike would be happy and proud,’ said David Bell, fighting off tears. ‘What I’ve come to realize is I was the older brother, but I learned so much more about life and baseball and leadership through Mike than he learned through me. And I learned a lot about how to treat people, a lot about how to be vulnerable. A lot about leadership and what that really means.
‘I’m grateful for every minute I had with him and to be able to still share those moments in conversations with people that I know meant the world to him is really special.’
– While Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said he’s interested in engaging in contracts talks with right fielder Juan Soto and agent Scott Boras to avert free agency, with Soto saying he’s willing to listen, the cold truth is there is absolutely zero chance Soto will sign before he’s a free agent.
He turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract offer from the Washington Nationals two years ago. So, what’s another six months? Soto can keep on hitting, sit back, and watch the bidding war emerge between the Yankees and Mets.
Let’s see who blinks first and gives him $500 million.
– It’s absolutely stunning what Shota Imanaga is doing this year for the Cubs.
53⅔ innings
40 hits
5 earned runs
9 walks
58 strikeouts
0.84 ERA.
It’s the lowest ERA by any pitcher in his first nine career starts in baseball history, eclipsing Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 mark.
Pretty good considering there weren’t many who believed Imanaga would be anything more than a No. 4 starter this season.
– Atlanta is keeping a close eye on Tampa Bay Rays veteran starter Zach Eflin if they decide they need another starter at the trade deadline.
– Baseball scouts expect the first eight picks in this year’s draft to be college players, led by outfielder Charlie Condon, who was actually a walk-on at the University of Georgia before becoming the school’s all-time home run hitter.
– While the Mets say they still have intentions of being a playoff team this year, GMs remain convinced the Mets will still make first baseman Pete Alonso and DH J.D. Martinez available in talks before the July 30 trade deadline.
– One of the primary reasons for today’s lack of offense, according to a high-ranking team executive, isn’t being nearly talked about enough.
‘It’s the scouting and information we have now,’ he said. ‘By the time a guy is at (Class) AA, we already know all of his tendencies and holes where he can be pitched. The information we have with reports and videotapes and the defensive positioning has never been greater. So you combine that with the unbelievable quality of pitching, no wonder guys are just trying to launch balls now, knowing you get paid for slug now, not making contact.’
– Not to take anything away from the Philadelphia Phillies’ sizzling start, but do you realize they haven’t played a team with a winning record since March 31 when they opened the season against Atlanta?
They don’t play another team with a current winning record until June 3 when they face the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.
– Zack Greinke, 40, still is not ready to call it quits. He faced Arizona Diamondbacks’ rehabbing hitters at their complex this past weekend.
‘I was trying to get as good as I could at golfing the past two months,’ Greinke told the Arizona Republic, ‘and I was like, ‘Why am I trying to be a pro golfer when I’m already kind of a pro baseball player?’ So, I figured I’d throw a little and see how it goes.’
– Kirk Gibson returned to Chase Field in Phoenix as the Detroit Tigers’ color commentator this weekend for the first time since he was fired as the Arizona Diamondbacks manager in 2014.
Gibson laughed when he was told that he was the answer to a trivia question about post-game clubhouse regulations.
Reporters used to be allowed immediately into clubhouses after games, but the Tigers implemented a 10-minute ‘cooling off’ period acting upon Gibson’s request in 1987.
Gibson simply thought it was unfair for reporters to see their raw emotions so quickly after games.
‘It’s good to be remembered for something,’ Gibson said, laughing.
– Milwaukee Brewers veteran starter Wade Miley, 37, on undergoing his first elbow surgery last week:
‘It kind of sucks. If I knew it would hurt like this, I probably would have just retired. Seriously. The first few days have been brutal. I won’t have any more, unless I’m about to die, and they’ve got to do it.’
– Chris Sale pitched only 151 innings for the Boston Red Sox from 2020-23.
He already has pitched 49⅔ innings this season with Atlanta, and has been lights out, yielding just two earned runs in 25 innings his last four starts while striking out 34 batters. Atlanta is 6-2 this season in Sale’s starts.
‘I’m obviously happy with where we’ve been and where we are,’ Sale told reporters, ‘but we have a long way to go. I’m appreciative of where we are, but it’s nothing to hang your hat on quite yet.’
– Cardinals rookie shortstop Masyn Winn showed his respect for Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington, asking to meet him, shake his hand, and even getting an autograph.
Winn told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he wanted to meet him as one of the few Black players in baseball while Washington is one of only two Black managers.
What was the best advice he received from Washington?
‘Never be afraid to ask questions,’ Winn said, ‘and never be too good to get an answer you don’t like.’
– Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, upon seeing Diamondbacks radio analyst Tom Candiotti, immediately recalled his major-league debut: April 1, 1998.
Hinch was the starting catcher for the Oakland A’s and he was given the responsibility of catching Candiotti, a knuckleballer, and a nightmare for catchers.
The pitcher he faced that day?
Boston Red Sox Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez.
‘Welcome to the big leagues,’ Hinch said, laughing.
– The Washington Generals may have a better shot of winning a game against the Harlem Globetrotters than the Minnesota Twins ever do of beating the Yankees.
Since 2002, the Twins are 44-120 against the Yankees. Really.
– San Diego Padres starter Yu Darvish needs just one more victory to reach 200 between his Major League and Nippon Professional Baseball leagues career. Only Hiroki Kuroda (203) and Hideo Nomo (201) have more combined victories in the two leagues.
– Free-agent outfielder Tommy Pham kept trying to tell teams they were missing out by not signing him.
Well, the Chicago White Sox finally listened, and man, are they reaping the benefits.
Pham is hitting .346 with a .886 OPS in the 20 games he has played, with the White Sox going 11-10 since he signed compared to 3-22 before his arrival.
The White Sox could receive a nice prospect or two for him plan when they trade him to a contender in July.
– Just two days after Tigers shortstop Javier Baez received a vote of confidence that he wouldn’t be benched, despite having worst on-base percentage (.200), slugging percentage (.222) and OPS (.422) in the big leagues, he responded with a three-hit, five-RBI game.
It hardly justifies his six-year, $140 million contract, with $73 million owed the last three seasons, but who knows, at least now he provides a glimmer of hope.
‘I’m going to keep playing hard,’ Baez said. ‘No excuses.’
– Shohei Ohtani bobblehead dolls given out to the first 40,000 fans at Dodger Stadium are already on eBay with asking prices as high as $5,000.
– New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz has already blown three saves and has given up eight earned runs in seven May appearances.
Certainly, he is not yet the same in his first season returning from his torn patellar tendon knee surgery.
– Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who remade his body during the winter to become leaner and quicker, certainly is seeing the dividends.
He is healthy.
In 2019, he went on the injured list just three games into the season with a strained biceps.
In 2020, he went on the IL after 14 games with a strained hamstring.
In 2021, he went on the IL after 33 games with a strained quad.
In 2022, he went the IL after after 40 games with right ankle inflammation.
In 2023, he went on the IL after 13 games with a strained hamstring.
In 2024, he has 11 homers, 26 RBI, and is perfectly healthy 47 games into the season.
– So what does Washington Nationals outfielder Joey Gallo remember about Phillies star Bryce Harper when they were kids playing on the Vegas Desert Storm traveling team?
‘People were getting Bryce’s autograph at 10 years old,’ Gallo told the Washington Post. ‘I mean, there were crowds surrounding our field when he played. He was huge. … He was like how LeBron was, but for baseball. Really, like, he was this generational, game-changing type of talent.’
– Remember all of the hype about those rookies who were supposed to take baseball by storm this year?
Well, it’s time to slow our rolls, at least for awhile:
Jackson Holliday, Baltimore Orioles: .059, 0 HRs, 1 RBI, .170 OPS (demoted to Triple-A)
Jackson Chourio, Milwaukee Brewers: .226, 5 HRs, 15 RBI, .626 OPS
Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers: .224, 1 HR, 11 RBI, .588 OPS (injured list)
Colt Keith, Detroit Tigers: .190, 0 homers, 12 RBI, .468 OPS.
The truth is that it hasn’t been a whole lot better for the sophomore players this season, particularly in the National League. Arizona Diamondbacks rookie of the year winner Corbin Carroll is hitting .189 with a .538 OPS while Dodgers center fielder James Outman, who finished third in the voting, was demoted to the minors this week after hitting .147 with a .516 OPS.
There were 17 players who received rookie of the year votes last year, and the only three who are having better seasons are Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson and New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
– Just nine months ago, Jurickson Profar was so bad that he was released by the Colorado Rockies.
Today, he’s the MVP of the San Diego Padres, signing a one-year, $1 million contract to replace Juan Soto, and is hitting .325 with seven homers, 30 RBI and a .922 OPS.
Profar and Soto will meet up next weekend in San Diego when the Yankees visit Petco Park.
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