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Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes officeFaruqi & Faruqi Reminds AMMO Inc Investors of the Pending Class Action Lawsuit with a Lead Plaintiff Deadline of January 13, 2025 - ASML
The Mets were busy in the weeks leading up to their , but it had been oddly quiet in Queens since Soto’s momentous introductory news conference on Dec. 12. That finally changed this week, with reports that the Mets have to keep left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea in Queens following a terrific, breakout campaign for the 32-year-old southpaw. Beyond their pursuit of Soto, one of the biggest storylines for the Mets entering this winter was how they would choose to rebuild their rotation. In Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana, New York had its three top starters from 2024 hitting free agency at the same time. In response, the Mets first signed right-hander Frankie Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal. Then, not long after Severino inked a surprising, three-year deal to lead the A’s rotation as the franchise transitions to Sacramento, the Mets signed a second starting pitcher — and not one that many expected. Clay Holmes, the recent bullpen standout for the Yankees, agreed to a three-year, $38 million deal with the Mets and will attempt to transition back to a starting role he has not occupied since his rookie year with Pittsburgh in 2018. Montas and Holmes represented two intriguing steps toward assembling a new rotation, as both came with considerable questions based on their recent performance and roles. But their signings appeared to be a vote of confidence in the club’s pitching development infrastructure, which has begun to prove its mettle with the successes of Severino and Manaea, among others. The starting pitching market . But as a tidal wave of big contracts and blockbuster trades involving front-end arms came and went, Manaea remained unsigned. Meanwhile, having added Montas, Holmes and another depth piece in Griffin Canning, the new Mets rotation had started to take shape. Add an effective holdover in lefty David Peterson and, perhaps most importantly, a hopefully healthy Kodai Senga, and the Mets appeared to have the foundation for a solid starting staff. But for a club with World Series aspirations — and one that just gave $765 million to Soto — it felt a bit light. Manaea changes that. The true upside for this staff still hinges largely on Senga’s durability, as he offers the most impactful potential. But Manaea solidifies the middle of New York’s rotation and helps balance out the questions present in Montas’ and Holmes’ profiles. And with top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat potentially knocking on the door in 2025, the Mets also have a healthy amount of depth in case of injury or underperformance. Manaea’s massive deal to stay in Queens is another pivotal plot point in a major-league career that has spanned both coasts but began in the heartland. Relatively unknown to scouts as a high schooler growing up in a small town in northwest Indiana, Manaea stayed close to home for his collegiate career, heading to Terre Haute to play for a strong Indiana State program. He won a rotation job as a freshman and broke onto the national radar with an even bigger sophomore season in 2012. The buzz in scouting circles built further that summer, when Manaea was spectacular pitching in the prestigious Cape Cod League, skyrocketing his prospect stock to the point that he entered the following spring as a legitimate candidate to be the first overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft. But injuries limited Manaea’s velocity and consistency as a junior. While his supreme talent still enabled a sterling 1.47 ERA against mid-major competition, teams became wary of investing in the breakout southpaw at the very top of the draft. As a result, Manaea fell to Kansas City with the 34th pick, but the Royals demonstrated their belief in his potential by giving him a $3.55 million signing bonus, figure awarded to any player in the 2013 draft. Just two years later, Manaea was traded to the A’s as the primary prize in the return for Ben Zobrist, who helped the Royals win the World Series later that same year. In Oakland, Manaea established himself as a reliable big-league starting pitcher, with his brightest moment coming in 2018, when he against the Red Sox. Following a stellar 2021 campaign in which he amassed 191 strikeouts over 32 starts, Manaea was the fourth and final major piece dealt during Oakland’s dramatic roster teardown entering the 2022 season. Not long after Chris Bassitt was traded to the Mets, Matt Olson to the Braves and Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays, Manaea was sent to the Padres. Joining an ascendent Padres club seemed to offer a big stage on which Manaea could thrive in the final year of his contract before free agency. Instead, the left-hander took a sizable step back in San Diego. His 4.96 ERA in 2022 ranked 59th out of 62 pitchers who tossed at least 150 innings. He failed to crack the Padres’ playoff rotation and was blasted by the Phillies in a disastrous relief appearance Rather than hitting the open market as a premier rotation option, as previously projected, Manaea entered free agency on a far less optimistic note. He remained on the West Coast, signing a two-year, $25 million deal with the Giants in hopes of reestablishing his value. And though he bounced back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen in San Francisco, Manaea pitched well enough to opt out after 2023 and test the free-agent waters again. This time, an East Coast club came calling: the Mets, in need of rotation reinforcements, offered him a two-year-with-an-opt-out pact similar to the one he signed with San Francisco, this time for $28 million. And in Queens, Manaea flourished. On a delightful 2024 Mets club that had no shortage of lovable characters, Manaea was a fundamental part of the team’s success both on and off the field. The key turning point for him individually came in late July, when he watched eventual NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale dominate at Citi Field and in hopes of roughly replicating the challenging arm angle that Sale has long featured. Having long succeeded on the basis of deception and careful command of his arsenal, more so than overpowering opponents, this adjustment took Manaea’s funk to a whole new level. He had been solid over the first four months of the 2024 season, but this mechanical tweak, in conjunction with his leaning heavier into his sinker usage, unlocked a different version of him down the stretch. In Manaea’s next outing and first with his lower arm slot, he struck out 11 Minnesota Twins across seven scoreless innings in his best start of the season. The splits are stark: 20 starts before dropping his arm slot: 106 IP, 3.74 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 22.6% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate, .671 OPS allowed 12 starts after: 75 2/3 IP, 3.09 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 28.4% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate, .538 OPS allowed This new-and-improved Manaea sustained into October, with the grand finale of his breakout coming in NLDS Game 3, when he blanked the Phillies for seven frames before departing to a raucous Citi Field in the top of the eighth. He also showed well in a win over the Dodgers in NLCS Game 2 before faltering in his second run-in with the eventual champs in Game 6. By that point, though, Manaea had earned the trust and adoration of the Mets faithful. With his fantastic season ensuring he would opt out and become a free agent for the third straight winter, it was no guarantee that he would find his way back to the Mets. But in the end, a reunion was in store. The Mets chapter of Manaea’s career will not be a one-year fling. As for the rest of this winter, maybe the Mets have another big rotation addition in store; Corbin Burnes is still out there, after all, and Steve Cohen’s spending power remains more formidable than that of any other owner. The trade market is still active, with ace-level arms such as Luis Castillo and Dylan Cease reportedly available for the right price. But more likely, the next stage of the Mets’ winter will shift the focus back to their position-player group. That starts first and foremost with free agent Pete Alonso, whose potential landing spots seem to diminish by the day, given the recent flurry of transactions involving first basemen. Pairing one of the best hitters on the planet in Soto with another MVP candidate in Francisco Lindor makes the top of the Mets’ lineup as dangerous as any. Rising slugger Mark Vientos and franchise staple Brandon Nimmo represent stellar bats as well. Beyond those four, though, questions remain regarding the potency of the lineup as currently constituted — especially if Alonso lands elsewhere. As important as retaining Manaea was, weighing whether or not to keep Alonso in Queens looms as a far more consequential decision.The challenge involved tasks such as waking up at 5 AM every day, maintaining a strict diet, exercising regularly, and abstaining from alcohol and smoking. Participants were required to record their daily progress and submit it to the organizers for evaluation.
Chargers activate RB J.K. Dobbins from IRThis At-Home Laser Hair Removal Tool Trusted by Skeptical Shoppers Is On Sale for $120 OffThe end of the holiday week encountered volatility, with the major U.S. indices suffering conspicuous declines . In turn, the cryptocurrency ecosystem was muted, extending a soft spell that began around a week-and-a-half ago. Unfortunately for investors of crypto miners like MARA Holdings MARA , the downturn also impacted the business end of the blockchain. However, contrary to popular belief, speculators should consider refraining from buying the dip. Of course, the temptation is understandable. At the beginning of this week, Benzinga's unusual options activity screener identified a substantial volume of bearish activity against MARA stock. Specifically, the biggest transaction among the whales — or institutional investors — was for $8 put options expiring Jan. 16, 2026. That implies about a 57% implosion from the time-of-writing price. Still, as the meme-stock phenomenon demonstrated, contrarian speculation can sometimes lead to big rewards. Fueling this sentiment is the fact that, at the moment, MARA stock represents one of the largest increases in short interest . Currently, MARA's short interest stands at 25.12%, whereas the prior reading sat at 20.98%. By aggressively piling into the long side, the contrarian bulls could theoretically panic out the bears. Structurally, in order to close out a short position, the bearish trader must execute a counterbalancing long transaction. Logically, a panicked rush of long volume could skyrocket the target security, leading to a bonanza. Nevertheless, the empirical data doesn't support this approach for MARA stock. Also Read: Veteran Investor Bets Big On S&P 500 Hitting 7,000 By End Of 2025: These Sectors Could Lead The Charge Dynamic Probability Analysis Reveals a Surprising Outcome In baseball, knowing a player's batting average over the past few seasons is only partially useful. What's more beneficial to managers is understanding a player's tendencies in key situations, such as the batting average when there are runners in scoring position. Great athletes naturally rise to the occasion and this philosophy applies to Wall Street as well. Over the past five years, the likelihood that any given week will end in a positive return comes out to 50.2%. This figure is calculated by taking the number of positive weeks over the total number of weeks in the given dataset (i.e. trailing five years). However, this simple frequentist calculation doesn't reveal much, similar to the utility of a batting average over a full season. Instead, it's better to apply a dynamic probability analysis by understanding how MARA stock responds to extreme volatility. As of this writing, MARA is on pace to record a five-day loss of around 7%. Using this metric as the "anchor," an investor can calculate how such a volatile event impacts the probability of the following week. In the blockchain miner's case, over the past five years, there have been 89 instances when MARA stock incurred a 7% loss or worse. Of this tally, 44 subsequent weeks recorded a positive return or a success ratio of 49.44%. Practically speaking, aberrant volatility offers no reliable indicator beyond a coin toss as to whether or not MARA will immediately rise. However, when the blockchain miner offers a positive response week, the average return comes out to 18.2%. On the flipside, a negative response week yields an average loss of 13.2%. By extracting this critical intelligence, traders can make an informed decision about a potentially appropriate options strategy. A Long Iron Condor Trade Beckons for MARA Stock Although the immediate direction of MARA stock is not statistically clear, the empirical data reveals that there is a good chance of significant mobility. Therefore, investors may consider a directionally neutral strategy called the long iron condor. Structurally a combination of a bull call spread and a bear put spread , the central idea is that the participating trader anticipates unusual kinesis in either direction. Of the four legs of the long iron condor, the trader is betting that the target security can rise to the uppermost strike price (or the bull call spread's short strike) or fall to the lowermost strike price (or the bear put spread's short strike). For the unaccustomed trader, picking a long iron condor is a frustrating guessing game. However, thanks to the aforementioned dynamic probability analysis, investors can apply data-driven intelligence to their transactions. Specifically, integrating the average upside and downside (assuming a weekly 7% loss) to the current share price reveals a projected range between $16.08 and $21.89 by the end of the following week. From here, it's about finding the best fit within the broader context of the trader's risk tolerance. For instance, an investor could find a long iron condor expiring next Friday (Jan. 3) where the lowermost and uppermost strike prices are $16 and $22, respectively. However, there's no guarantee that MARA will hit these figures; the aforementioned calculations are based on probabilities, not certainties. For a slightly more conservative trade, one might consider the 17P | 18P || 20C | 21C condor or the 17/18 bear put spread combined with the 20/21 bull call spread. To receive the maximum payout, MARA stock needs to rise to $21 or fall to $17. While still risky, it's a comparatively more realistic trade. Read Next: ExxonMobil Stock Navigates Death Cross: Market Signals Turn Bearish For Oil Giant Photo: Shutterstock © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.In conclusion, the media's portrayal of Kylian Mbappe has undergone a significant shift in recent times. No longer is he seen as the infallible golden boy of French football, but rather as a talented player who is not immune to criticism. This change in perception reflects a broader shift in the footballing world, where no player can hide in a "safe haven" or comfort zone. As Mbappe continues to navigate the ups and downs of his career, one thing is certain: the days of the "untouchable" superstar are long gone.