Cup of Coffee: February 13, 2025

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

And, as is the case with the United States government, you get what you pay for!

The Daily Briefing

Alex Bregman signs with the Red Sox

Free agent third baseman Alex Bregman and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a three-year $120 million deal. It's $40 million per year, but some of that money is deferred, and there are opt-outs after each season.

Bregman, who will turn 31 next month, hit .260/.315/.453 (118 OPS+) with 26 home runs in 2024. The power was good but he didn't get on base like he had for most of his career. On the bright side, moving from the Crawford Boxes in Houston to the Green Monster in Boston plays to the right-handed Bregman's offensive strengths. He's still a solid defender as well, but with Rafael Devers at third it's possible Bregman will move to second. Or, some have said, short. He can probably handle it but it'll look weird and what the infield defense looks like is gonna be one of the main stories of the spring for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox went 81-81 in 2024. This offseason they've added  Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Aroldis Chapman, and now Bregman. Not bad. Not sure it's enough to catch the Yankees or the Orioles, but it's not bad.

Padres sign Nick Pivetta

The San Diego Padres have had a quiet offseason but yesterday they sprung for righty Nick Pivetta.

It's a four-year, $55 million deal, but it's a weird one. It includes opt-outs after the second and third seasons and it's heavily backloaded. He'll get a $3 million signing bonus but only a $1 million salary in 2025, after when he'll be paid $19 million, $14 million, and $18 million in 2026, 2027, and 2028, respectively. 

That's something of a bargain for a pitcher who, while not spectacular, has been pretty damn reliable over the past four years. A big part of that was that the Red Sox made Pivetta a qualifying offer when the season ended and he declined it, meaning that the team who signed Pivetta would owe Boston draft pick compensation.

Would Pivetta have been better off having taken the $21.05 million from the Sox and tried again next year? I dunno. But I can see it.

You're not gonna believe this, but . . .

The world has gone completely crazy of late, but at least some things remain normal. Things like Anthony Rendon missing extended time due to injury.

It was literally the first damn day of spring training yesterday and Angels General Manager Perry Minasian told reporters that Rendon is going to undergo hip surgery. There's no timeline for Rendon's return, but Minasian said that it's a "long term" situation. I'd bet a good bit of scratch that means he's out all year. Some token appearances in September at best.

Rendon, 34, played just 57 games last season. Indeed, he's only played 257 games for the Angels over five seasons after signing a seven-year, $245 million contract prior to the 2020 campaign. The most games he's played in a season since coming west was 58 in 2021. He's hit .242/.348/.369 (100 OPS+) with just 22 homers in all of that time. He's easily been one of the biggest free agent busts in baseball history, and matters weren't made any better when, last year, he said that baseball has "never been a top priority for me."

The kicker here is that Rendon's replacement at third base is every bit as fragile. That'd be Yoán Moncada, who played only 12 games in 2024 after suffering a strained adductor. He's managed 100 games only four times in his nine-year career.

Hey, at least the weather is good southern California.

Tigers are already a man down

First day of pitchers and catchers reporting in Lakeland, Florida and the Tigers are already down a starter. That'd be Alex Cobb, who received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right hip last week after experiencing inflammation following a bullpen session. Cobb is expected to be on the shelf for about a month and, as such, won’t be ready for start of season.

In other news, when I saw this news yesterday morning I Googled "Tigers sign Alex Cobb" because I wanted to see the reporting about him and his health from around the time they agreed to terms back in December. Google gave me this result:

Libras and their hip inflammations, amirite?

The Royals TV Deal

Subscriber Frank Schloegel wrote in to contribute an item about something I had overlooked, what with my recent family catastrophes and all of my obsessing about the end of America and whatnot. Take it away, Frank!

Last week I sent a link to Craig hoping he would read all about this deal and let me know what’s going on, but sometimes, you have to read the articles for yourself and send the update to Craig. That’s just how life goes.

The Kansas City Royals announced last week a partnership with Gray Media to broadcast ten Sunday games on FREE Local TV. I don’t have cable, but I do have an antenna and get both the local CBS affiliate that will broadcast some of the games and it’s MyNetworkTV affiliate, KSMO, that will broadcast the rest.

This announcement comes after the Royals decided not to join the MLB controlled broadcast group and instead are staying with Diamond Sports Group – which is now Main Street Sports Group – and will be broadcasting on the FanDuel Sports Network – which bought the naming rights from Bally Sports Network.

Why stay? The contract only goes through 2025 and, according to reporting in the Kansas City Star, Brooks Sherman, (No relation to the owner of the Royals), explained it like this:

 “I won’t get into specifics on it, but it’s reflective of the current market conditions and kind of where things are,” Sherman said. “In either case, staying like we did with FanDuel Sports or going to MLB media, we were going to realize less revenue than last year.

“None of us like to ever earn less revenue. We are playing the long game here. Ultimately, we will recapture those revenues.”

Gotta love that corporate speak.

To go along with the ten free games, Royals games will also be available streaming as an add on to Amazon Prime (pricing to be determined) and despite this, my parents will probably make me switch them to one of the cable providers who will air the games. Which will be the third time they have canceled Google fiber so they can pay an extra couple hundred bucks to watch the Royals. Let’s all hope they can figure out the Prime option.

Baseball games on broadcast television? That's UNPOSSIBLE!

Other Stuff

America surrenders

Yesterday Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said this:

"I’m here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States from being the primary guarantor of security in Europe.”

And with that, an utterly unqualified white nationalist drunk has done what two World Wars, a 50-year Cold War, and thirty years of global upheaval could not do: defeated America in Europe.

The world order which has prevented large scale global conflict for decades and decades is now over. The bulwark against World War III and/or a Soviet/Russian takeover of Europe has been eliminated. The circumstances under which Europe and its allies – which includes us – could count on safe and secure borders and markets no longer exist. By choice. Because we have surrendered. Indeed, there should be banner headlines this morning saying "U.S. Surrenders to Putin." Or perhaps "U.S. effectively ends NATO." There aren't any from what I've seen, but there should be.

This is world history happening in real time, folks. This is stuff that will be in history books, if there are any left, 100 years from now. As the rest of the world realizes that we are not a reliable and friendly partner, countries will increasingly form different sorts of alliances which do not involve us. Or, and this is even more likely, they will look to China and Russia as partners or protectors because, while they may be evil, they're at least Lawful Evil as opposed the Chaotic Evil that is America under Donald Trump.

Either way, February 12, 2025 will probably be the date which will mark the beginning of the end of the United States' leadership role in world affairs.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

This is from the Oval Office press conference on Tuesday just prior to which Trump signed an executive order which, for all practical purposes, put Elon Musk in charge of the United States government:

As one of my BlueSky followers noted, this is some serious Wormtongue/Théoden shit. Well, except for the part in which Théodin was a noble king who was corrupted as opposed to a corrupt king who was shunted aside for a usurper, but it's pretty close otherwise.

I mean just look at it. Musk holding court and briefing the press about major government events. Trump silent, half-asleep, and getting the I-own-you stare from Musk's kid. It's one of the most pathetic things I've ever scene in presidential politics, and that includes George H.W. Bush barfing all over the Japanese Prime Minister due to food poisoning.

Musk's first victim

Elon Musk's takeover of the United States government and his unilateral and unlawful decision to shutter the Unites States Agency for International Development has claimed its first victim:

A 71-year-old woman has died after her oxygen supply was cut off when the United States announced a freeze on aid funding. Pe Kha Lau, a refugee from Myanmar living in a displacement camp in neighbouring Thailand, died four days after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

She is thought to be one of the first people to have died as a direct result of Washington’s decision to freeze all funding for aid projects for 90 days.

There will be countless more people – women, children, the aged, the displaced, the injured and the infirm – who will die because of this. Because Elon Musk and those enabling all of this are (a) too stupid to understand what soft power is and how deftly the United States has used it for the past 80 years for both strategic and humanitarian purposes; and (b) too heartless to care.

And where is the money not being spent on oxygen for elderly refugees going? To private equity/finance dudes:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s advisers have discussed shifting billions in funding from USAID to a government-run agency due to be headed up by the dealmaker son of Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black, part of an overhaul of how the U.S. wields economic power internationally.

The new approach would see reduced humanitarian assistance and a greater role for private equity groups, hedge funds and other investors in projecting economic might as the U.S. competes for influence and strategic projects overseas with China.

There will be no justice until Elon Musk is rotting in a prison cell somewhere. And even then it won't be proportionate justice. Not by a long shot.

When you can't do anything else

There's not a lot we can do in the face of all of the horrors and absurdity afoot, but I'll admit that telling Google how goddamn stupid they are for changing the The Gulf of Mexico to "The Gulf of America" on Google Maps made me feel better for like eight seconds:

If you too would like to feel better for eight seconds, here's what you do, at least if you're in the United States:

1. Google Gulf of Mexico
2. “Gulf of America" is will be the top result
3. Click on the three little dots to the right of it
4. Select "Send Feedback"
5. Click on "Gulf Of America"
6. Select "Inaccurate content"
7. Select "Incorrect" and type in "The correct name is “Gulf of Mexico" or whatever else you want to say.

Like I said, this is the best we can do. At least until someone with the Secret Service sends a memo around lifting the prohibition on convertibles in the presidential motorcade.

"The 'White Lotus' Effect"

Enough with the Horrors for today. We all gotta touch some grass and try to live halfway normal lives or else we'll go crazy. So now I'm gonna talk about a TV show and then, in the last item for today, I'm gonna talk about a couple of movies.

The TV show in question: "The White Lotus."

For those who don't know anything about "The White Lotus," each season features a mostly new group of characters who descend on a luxury resort in a beautiful locale. In Season One it's Hawaii. In Season Two it's Sicily. The new season, which debuts on Sunday, takes place in Thailand.

The characters featured in "The White Lotus" are mostly wealthy tourists, though some hotel staff and some townies play a part as well. The rich guests are mostly awful people. Some are overtly awful and others, while somewhat more sympathetic, are still spoiled, are usually clueless, and often find themselves in terrible predicaments because of their their naiveté or because they enjoy their privilege too much to make any real changes or take real stands. As each season goes on we see into the often complicated and downright messy details of each of the guests' personal lives, drama unfolds, someone dies, people's lives and marriages are destroyed and on and on and on. You get the idea.

The key thing about "The White Lotus" is that it at least attempts to provide a barbed criticism of rich white people, their privilege, and the way in which they exploit and take for granted the non-whites, the working class, and the locals who serve them while they are enjoying their opulent vacations. I say "attempts" because, apparently, the critique isn't really getting through to a significant number of viewers. Because if it did, this would not be a thing:

When the third season of the hit HBO series “The White Lotus” debuts on Sunday, viewers will be transported to the tropical island of Koh Samui, Thailand. And if previous seasons are any indication, many of them will soon be booking vacations there, too . . . The travel industry has been anticipating the new season almost as much as fans have. Partly thanks to the so-called “White Lotus” effect, Koh Samui and Thailand have already emerged as top destinations. Koh Samui was one of the New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2025, and Thailand was Travel+Leisure’s 2025 destination of the year.

With a wave of tourists set to wash ashore, the roughly 68,000 residents of Koh Samui are about to get a lot more familiar with the “White Lotus” effect.

Again: this is a show portraying the absolute worst people going to places where the absolute worst things happen. There's a not-insignificant body count. The coked out wacko who ran the Hawaii resort literally took a crap in a guest's suitcase and then got murdered by a pineapple knife. It was not a pretty picture! Yet the overwhelming response is for people to absolutely scramble to book vacations at one of these places?

I watched the first season of "The White Lotus" and liked it well enough. I only half-watched the second season because it was leaving me cold in the early going but my wife Allison finished it and I got the general gist of what happened. I'll grant that both of the resorts and the surrounding areas featured in those seasons were gorgeous, but vibes are a thing, even for mostly objective, left-brained, non-woo-woo-believing people like me. Like, maybe I'll go to Hawaii, Sicily or Thailand one day, but I cannot imagine watching that show and then thinking "oh man, I HAVE to go to that place!" Indeed, I think it'd turn me off pretty damn quickly!

Let's talk about movies

Now let's talk about two movies. One I have seen and one I have not. First, the one I saw on Tuesday night: "Better Man."

I talked about "Better Man" back in October, but I forgive you for not remembering that. It's a biopic about British pop star Robbie Williams who, I presume, most of you have never heard of but who has been extremely popular in the UK, Europe, and Australia for over 30 years. Back in October I referred to him as "a British Justin Timberlake" because he came up in a 90s boy band, went solo, and got TREMENDOUSLY huge, but that probably understates his appeal in the places where he's popular. Justin Timberlake is touring in the U.S. again and the ticket is not particularly hard to get. If Williams were to mount a tour in the UK right now, however, he'd sell out every arena or stadium in like 19 seconds, even though he's 51 years old – his birthday is today, in fact! – and he hasn't put out a ton of new music of late.

Given his fame, it makes sense for their to be a biopic of Robbie Williams. But what makes less sense is that in it he is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. Everyone else is human and normal. No one makes any comment or acknowledgment about the fact that Williams is a chimpanzee. He does not act like a chimpanzee in any way, in fact. He just happens to be one and, though Williams has given interviews explaining why they did it this way, it's never once explained why in the movie.

The trailer gives you the idea:

As a movie it barely strays from the usual music biopic pattern: He has humble beginnings and a complicated family life! He gets his big break and achieves superstardom! He falls into drugs, booze, empty and shallow sex, and suffers long dark nights of the soul during which he realizes that even fame and fortune cannot fill the void created by his problematic upbringing! He has a redemptive comeback and lives happily ever after! You've seen this arc a thousand times. Just not with a chimpanzee.

As I also mentioned back in October, Allison is a big fan of Robbie Williams. Me not so much, but Allison convinced me to watch his Netflix docuseries and she has shared a bunch of stuff with me from his social media accounts. Based on all of that and a few catchy if slight songs I'll admit that I do at least appreciate Williams as an entertainer and personality. He seems likable and relatable – and very often dorky – in ways that someone with his looks, life, and fame shouldn't. In light of that, I found the movie to be amusing and entertaining enough. Sure, it features an, I think, unintentionally funny portrayal of Noel and Liam Gallagher, and sure, it takes some pretty major liberties with Williams' personal and professional timeline in order to amp up the drama and stuff, but what biopic doesn't do crap like that?

Do I recommend it? Eh.

I'll say this much: if you don't know who Robbie Williams is, I'm guessing "Better Man" will seem like the weirdest and most pointless movie ever. Hell, it sorta bordered on that even with my general knowledge and appreciation of the guy. Williams has been sober for many, many years now but it's hard to think of how this movie got made without copious amounts of cocaine being involved.

Basically, if you're the sort of person who carefully picks movies because you're afraid of picking a dud, steer clear. If you're someone who enjoys watching weird-ass shit and random movies because they're fun to talk about, sure, give it chance.

The second movie I want to talk about is the new MCU jawn, "Captain America: Brave New World."

Longtime readers remember a time when I was The World's Biggest Marvel Mark.™ They also know that I have generally soured on the MCU's output post-"Avengers: Endgame." There have been a couple of halfway decent Marvel movies and some interesting TV shows since then, but for the most part it's been a gigantic mess, both creatively and in terms of the films' technical quality. They've gone cheap and crappy with the CGI. The risk that even the best comic book and sci-fi movies face – everything being resolved via a nearly incoherent Big Sky Battle/punch-fest – has been a huge problem of late. Above all else, turning nearly every story into a multiverse thing, while initially interesting, has become a lazy crutch which almost completely removes the stakes from these stories, even by the very low standards with respect to stakes inherent in comic book properties. I just kinda don't care anymore.

But now, this weekend, comes a new Captain America movie.

Back in my World's Biggest Marvel Mark™ days Captain America was my favorite MCU character and the movies featuring him were my favorites. I know that Chris Evans has hung up his shield, but I generally liked Anthony Mackie in those movies and thought "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," while sorta messy, had a lot of good ideas in it. As such, when "Brave New World" was announced I was still thinking "OK, I'll give this one a chance."

But then I heard about the movie undergoing massive reshoots and a several months delay, which is never a good sign. Then I learned that it had five different writers which is an even worse sign. When the teaser and the full trailer finally hit I was not just underwhelmed, I was actively put off. The clips were a mess. If you can't find two minutes of cool shit to make a superhero movie look good in a trailer it HAS to be a disaster, right? Despite my Team Cap dispositions, I decided a couple of months ago to give the movie a miss.

Then, yesterday, I read subscriber Stephen Silver's review of it over at his newsletter, SS Ben Hecht, and now I don't know what to think!

I’ve made no secret about not especially enjoying the last few movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only has the filmmaking and writing not been up to par, but the films have had too many characters and too many villains. And even worse than that, they’ve been way too dependent on multiverse-related plots, with their inherent lack of meaning. It’s where good film storytelling goes to die.

Therefore, I’m happy to say that Captain America: Brave New World is the best MCU movie in recent memory, mostly because it avoids most of those pitfalls. It’s a model of economical storytelling, not using too many characters or getting too complex. Nor does it spend too much time setting up the next movie in the series.

The best line in Stephen's review: "Also, recent news events raise fascinating questions about what the Unitary Executive Theory would look like if the president were a Hulk." I shudder to think.

After reading all of that I'm once again sitting here wondering what to do. Wondering if I'm ready to get hurt again. I don't know, man. I don't know.

[Editor: Your wife is out of town this weekend. You're not doing shit. The odds of you not going to see "Captain America: Brave New World" on Friday or Saturday are so low that they're not even worth calculating.]

Dammit.

Warning: If you're squeamish you may not want to watch past the 2:50 mark of the video below. Like, for real. Because even though it's a silly pop song, this video takes a really weird and disturbing turn at that point. Like the movie, I have no idea who could've possibly thought what happens here was a good idea but I presume it was an idea someone came up with and approved while out of their mind on very expensive drugs.

Yeah, I know. But the damn song has been stuck in my head since Tuesday night, I can't do anything about it and I thought that inflicting it on you might help me lose it.

Anyway, if you don't absolutely hate this you should see the performance of it by the chimpanzee in the movie. Ape Williams and his boy band buddies rampage all over Regent Street, which makes no sense because he did this song after he went solo, but forget it, the chimp is rolling.

Have a great day everyone.