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Archives for August 2021

Rays, David Hess Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rays and right-hander David Hess are in agreement on a minor league contract, MLBTR has learned. He’ll head to Triple-A Durham for the time being. Hess is represented by Total Sports.

Hess, 28, opened the season in Durham after signing a minor league pact with Tampa Bay over the winter. He pitched quite well there before being traded to the Marlins in a July 4 swap that sent minor league righty Justin Sterner from Miami to the Rays. The Marlins immediately selected Hess to the big league roster upon acquiring him, but he wound up pitching just 18 innings there before being designated for assignment. He rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency earlier this week.

Things were going fine for Hess in Miami for the most part early in his tenure. He worked to a 3.94 ERA with a 15-to-8 K/BB ratio through his first 11 appearances and 16 innings before being ambushed for seven runs in a single frame by the Rockies at Coors Field. He yielded another run in his next outing before being designated, ultimately concluding his time as a Marlin with an unsightly 8.00 ERA.

Hess pitched well with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate to begin the year, however, working to a 2.81 ERA with a 28.9 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 3.9 percent walk rate in 32 frames. He’ll head back to that same environment for now and hope to rediscover that success.

A fifth-round pick of the Orioles back in 2014, Hess has now seen Major League time in parts of four seasons. He’s had some stretches of success, particularly late in his debut campaign in 2018, but has yet to find the consistency needed to stick at the big league  level. Hess carries a 6.05 ERA in 208 1/3 Major League innings but a more palatable 3.55 ERA with a 26 percent strikeout rate and 7.3 percent walk rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons (119 innings).

MLB Reportedly Proposes $180MM First Luxury Tax Threshold, $100MM Salary Floor To MLBPA

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With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire on December 1, 2021, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been in talks regarding the potential structure of the next CBA. MLB made its first core economic proposal to the MLBPA this week, report Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic.

MLB’s proposal included a lower threshold for taxes on team spending, with teams subject to a 25% tax on any spending above $180MM, report Drellich and Rosenthal. There would be three additional tax brackets at some point above that mark (for a total of four tax brackets), with the tax rate increasing as teams hit those higher overage levels. As a trade-off, MLB proposed that teams be subject to a $100MM salary minimum. MLB’s entire proposal was presented as a package deal as opposed to a series of one-by-one potential provisions.

For comparison’s sake, the current CBA contains three tiers of luxury tax penalization. For the 2021 season, the first tier begins at $210MM and contains a 20% tax on overages up through $230MM. There’s a 32% tax on overages between $230MM and $250MM and a 62.5% tax on any payments beyond $250MM. Those penalties escalate for teams that pay the tax in multiple consecutive seasons.

(Under the current CBA, a team’s luxury tax number is calculated by tabulating the average annual values of its financial obligations — not its actual payroll in any given season. It’s not clear whether MLB’s proposal would continue to be based on contracts’ AAV’s as opposed to current-year obligations).

The luxury tax has become an obvious deterrent to spending for most high-payroll teams. Only the Dodgers have been comfortable blowing by the thresholds to incur the loftiest penalties associated with the third bracket this season. Teams like the Padres, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox and Astros all have CBT numbers hovering right around the $210MM lowest threshold and either contemplated or were seemingly dead-set upon avoiding the tax during their offseason and trade deadline maneuvering. Of that group, it seems only San Diego might have exceeded the threshold by a narrow margin, although it’s not yet clear that’s the case. Even if the Friars did go over the first threshold, they didn’t exceed it by enough to incur particularly meaningful financial penalties this year.

Given that the luxury tax has served as a de facto salary cap for some of the league’s top spenders, it doesn’t seem likely the MLBPA will be particularly enamored with the idea of lowering that first threshold such a substantial amount. Indeed, it’s widely expected the MLBPA will be pushing for a dramatic increase to those thresholds during the current session of CBA talks. MLB also offered the union an option to leave the luxury tax status quo, report Drellich and Rosenthal, although it’s not clear what other conditions would be involved in that scenario.

MLB is obviously aware that getting the MLBPA’s assent on lower tax thresholds will be extremely difficult (if not impossible). That’s likely the reason for the inclusion of the proposed salary floor, with the league reasoning that setting a minimum payroll would increase some teams’ spending and more equally divide team payrolls for competitive balance reasons. Twelve teams (Pirates, Indians, Marlins, Orioles, Rays, Mariners, Tigers, A’s, Royals, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Brewers) entered the 2021 season with an actual payroll below $100MM, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. (Seven had an estimated luxury tax payroll below $100MM). The league’s proposal contained some method of redistributing tax money collected from the higher spenders to spur spending among those lowest-payroll clubs, Drellich and Rosenthal report.

Of course, there’s plenty about the league’s proposal that’s unknown. Drellich and Rosenthal note that it’s unclear how the league would penalize teams that don’t reach the spending minimum, or even in what season that minimum would go into effect. It’s also debatable whether the presence of a salary floor would actually increase free agent spending or truly disincentivize teams from conducting long-term rebuilds. It’s equally easy to envision a low-payroll rebuilder acquiring an underperforming veteran player on an expensive contract — along with prospect talent — from a high-payroll club looking to duck under the tax threshold.

For instance, the Padres and Rangers reportedly had pre-deadline discussions about a deal that would’ve sent first baseman Eric Hosmer (who’s on an eight-year, $144MM contract) and top outfield prospect Robert Hassell III to Texas to acquire Joey Gallo. That obviously didn’t come to fruition, but it’s a useful illustration of the creative ways teams could work around the lower tax thresholds/salary floor. The Rangers picking up Hosmer would’ve pushed their payroll up over $100MM while shedding money from San Diego’s books — without having any direct impact on the free agent market.

Of course, there’s still a few months for the two sides to bandy about proposals before the expiration of the current CBA. The MLBPA made its first proposal back in May, report Drellich and Rosenthal, with one emphasis being on earlier arbitration eligibility for younger players.

There’s obviously a significant amount of each proposal that hasn’t yet been made public. Drellich’s and Rosenthal’s report sheds some early light on both sides’ vision for the long-term future of the sport, but there’ll be plenty more back-and-forth between the league and the MLBPA over the coming months in what’s widely expected to be a fairly contentious negotiation. The full piece is worth a perusal for subscribers to the Athletic interested in the sport’s labor dynamics.

MLB Minor Transactions: 8/18/21

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Today’s minor moves:

  • The Orioles announced that right-hander Adam Plutko cleared waivers and has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. As a player with more than three years of MLB service time, Plutko had the right to elect free agency, but he’s instead decided to accept the assignment. Baltimore acquired the 29-year-old from the Indians for cash considerations just before the start of the season. He went on to work 56 1/3 innings over 38 games as a multi-inning relief option, but Plutko was tagged for a 6.71 ERA. He’ll have a few weeks to try to work his back onto the 40-man roster before the end of the year. If he’s not reselected to the big leagues, Plutko will qualify for minor league free agency this offseason.
  • The Rockies reinstated right-hander Chi Chi González from the COVID-19 injured list before this afternoon’s game against the Padres. He worked three innings of three-run ball in today’s 7-5 Colorado win, his first action since landing on the COVID IL in late July. González has a 6.15 ERA over 93 2/3 innings this year, starting sixteen of his twenty appearances. To open space on the 40-man roster, Colorado transferred utilityman Chris Owings to the 60-day injured list. Owings won’t play again this season after undergoing left thumb surgery.

Angels Place Patrick Sandoval On Injured List

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The Angels placed starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar spine stress reaction. José Quintana will start tomorrow afternoon’s game against the Tigers in his place. A specific timetable for Sandoval’s return isn’t yet clear, but manager Joe Maddon suggested to reporters (including J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group) there was some chance it’d be a season-ending injury.

The rotation has been a disappointment for the Angels, who sit at an even 61-61 and look likely to miss the postseason for the seventh consecutive year. Sandoval, though, has been a somewhat surprising bright spot. The 24-year-old began the season with Triple-A Salt Lake but was recalled in early May and has been a rotation fixture over the past few months.

Sandoval has worked to a 3.62 ERA across 87 innings. He’s struck out an above-average 25.9% of batters faced and induced groundballs at a very strong 51.1% clip. Sandoval has walked a slightly elevated 9.9% of opponents, but there’s little question he’s shown plenty of promise.

Indeed, there’s real reason to believe Sandoval could potentially reach another level upon his return to health. He’s generated whiffs on a massive 15.2% of his pitches. That’s the eighth-highest rate among the 125 pitchers with 80+ innings pitched. The seven names above him on that list (Jacob deGrom, Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber, Clayton Kershaw, Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer and Carlos Rodón) are among the top handful of pitchers in the game and/or having Cy Young-caliber seasons. That’s extremely impressive company for a relatively unheralded player like Sandoval to keep, making his current injury all the more unfortunate.

At the very least, Sandoval seemingly showed enough this season to lock himself into Los Angeles’ season-opening rotation for 2022. With the Angels looking unlikely to be playing for much in September, they figure to be especially cautious with one of their most promising young arms. The Angels figure to rely on Quintana in Sandoval’s absence, at least until Alex Cobb returns from his own IL stint.

Examining A Potential Sandy Alcantara Extension

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Last month, reports emerged that the Marlins had exchanged offers on a potential contract extension with Sandy Alcantara’s representatives at CAA Baseball. Alcantara recently reiterated his desire to work out a long-term deal with the Fish, but Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald now report that Alcantara’s reps never presented him with specific terms. That seems to indicate the Marlins’ initial proposal wasn’t especially close to what Alcantara’s agents would consider a sufficient price.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the sides reengage in talks over the upcoming offseason given Alcantara’s seeming amenability to doing so. With that in mind, we’ll take a look at his situation in an attempt to gauge a potential mutually-agreeable price point.

The biggest difficulty in finding that number might be the lack of recent comparable deals. Over the past five years, only two starting pitchers with between three and four years of MLB service (as Alcantara will have this offseason) have signed extensions. In February 2017, the Cardinals and Carlos Martínez reached agreement on a five-year, $51MM guarantee with a pair of club options (valued at $17MM and $18MM, respectively) thereafter. That deal extended St. Louis’ window of control over Martínez an additional four seasons, but the Phillies only picked up an extra two seasons of control over Aaron Nola in their February 2019 extension. Nola was guaranteed $45MM for that briefer term, with his option year valued at $16MM.

Of those two hurlers, Martínez seems a more appropriate reference point for Alcantara.  Both pitchers are hard-throwing sinkerballers who specialize in keeping the ball on the ground while generating whiffs at a rate closer to league average. While it might be easy to forget given his struggles in recent years, Martínez was one of the best young arms in the majors at the time he signed his deal. Between 2014-16, the Cardinals righty worked to a 3.22 ERA over 464 1/3 innings with a 22.7% strikeout rate and a massive 54.7% grounder rate. Opposing hitters batted .246/.320/.353 against Martínez during that three-year stretch.

Since the start of the 2019 campaign, Alcantara has posted a 3.59 ERA over 390 2/3 frames. He’s punched out hitters at a 19.9% clip with a 48.2% groundball percentage and a .233/.307/.378 slash line allowed. Alcantara’s platform season (3.39 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 53% groundball percentage) is similar to Martínez’s 2016 campaign, albeit a tad less impressive (3.04 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, 56.4% grounder rate). Martínez, who was also a year younger at the time than Alcantara is now, arguably had a slightly more impressive body of work but looks like a fairly straightforward reference point.

It’s at least worth examining Nola’s pre-extension performance, but it’s clear he’s a less obvious precedent. The Phillies righty had a 3.32 ERA over his three prior seasons — right in line with those of Martínez and Alcantara — but the comparison becomes less apt from there. Nola was a far better strikeout pitcher (26.4%) and had held opposing hitters to a stifling .228/.286/.356 line between 2016-18.

More importantly, Nola’s extension came on the heels of a platform season in which he posted a 2.37 ERA over 212 1/3 frames, earning a third-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting. Nola’s performance over his first three-plus seasons quite clearly surpasses that of Alcantara — who has been very good but hasn’t had an elite, Cy Young-caliber campaign to this point.

Martínez’s deal paid him $4.5MM for the first of his would-be arbitration seasons, followed by successive $11.5MM salaries for the remaining four years of the guarantee (plus $500K buyouts on the aforementioned pair of options). It’s possible the Marlins would prefer a more gradual escalation of salaries in any Alcantara deal, but the $10.2MM average annual value of the guaranteed years in Martínez’s contract seems a worthwhile goal for Alcantara’s reps.

Since Alcantara’s a year older than Martínez was, he may be more reluctant to sign away a fourth potential free agent year. That said, he probably doesn’t have the track record to sway the Marlins to guarantee him over $10MM per season for the right to buy out only two free agent years — as Nola did with Philadelphia. Splitting the difference, a deal that buys out three free agent seasons seems like the best fit for both parties.

Because Alcantara already has three years of team control via arbitration remaining, buying out three free agent seasons would mean a deal that extends the Marlins’ window through 2027. Miami would likely require the final two seasons to be club option years in such a scenario, given that they’re guaranteeing Alcantara more money up front than they would if they proceeded year-by-year through arbitration.

In that case, we’d wind up with four guaranteed seasons. Using the $10.2MM AAV of Martínez’s deal, that comes out to a guarantee in the $41MM range between 2022-25 with a pair of club options (likely valued around $15-18MM, as those in Martínez’s and Nola’s deals were) covering the 2026 and 2027 campaigns. That’d set Alcantara’s earning potential around $70-75MM over six seasons while positioning him to reach free agency entering his age-32 season if Miami were to exercise the options.

This is, of course, an entirely theoretical exercise. Perhaps Alcantara’s more amenable to signing away additional free agent years for immediate financial certainty. On the other hand, the Martínez extension is almost five years old, so there’s an argument Alcantara’s reps should set their sights higher in an attempt to push the market forward.

It’s also possible the team’s efforts to broker an Alcantara extension would be contingent on him signing for less than that precedent might suggest, both in light of Miami’s generally low payrolls and their enviable stockpile of other controllable starting pitchers. That said, given the seeming probability the two sides will reengage at some point, it’s worth considering a speculative framework of a potential deal to keep one of the Marlins’ All-Star starters in South Florida for the long haul.

Astros Release Francis Martes

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The Astros released Francis Martes this week, notes Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The 25-year-old is now a free agent.

It’s an unceremonious end to Martes’ seven-year tenure with the Astros. Signed by the Marlins as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic, the big right-hander wound up on the move to Houston at the 2014 trade deadline. The then-rebuilding Astros picked up Martes alongside Colin Moran, Jake Marisnick and the #37 overall pick in the 2015 draft (eventually used to select Daz Cameron) for Jarred Cosart and Kiké Hernández.

Martes was a rookie ball flier at the time of the trade, but he quickly developed into one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. By 2016, Martes was viewed by Baseball America as one of the top twenty minor league talents throughout the league. He made his big league debut in 2017, and while he didn’t perform well over 54 1/3 innings, he still seemed like a potential high-upside member of the pitching staff over the coming years.

Unfortunately, Martes hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since then. He dealt with an elbow issue in Spring Training in 2018 and ultimately required Tommy John surgery that August. He was suspended eighty games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance the following season. That looked largely like a moot point — his Tommy John rehab cost him most of that year regardless — but he was hit with a second PED ban in February 2020. As a two-time offender, Martes was suspended for all of last season and into June of this year.

Martes was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land upon his return from that latest ban. He was passed through outright waivers not long thereafter. His time with the Skeeters was a disaster, as Martes allowed 21 runs in 11 2/3 innings, walking a staggering 20 hitters in that time.

Obviously, Martes’ stock has fallen precipitously over the past few years. Nevertheless, it still seems likely he’ll latch on somewhere on a minor league deal. He’s young enough for a rival club to take a no-risk flier in hopes that Martes can recapture some of the highly promising form he showed at his prospect peak.

Yankees Activate Anthony Rizzo, Aroldis Chapman

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The Yankees announced they’ve activated first baseman Anthony Rizzo from the COVID-19 injured list. He’s in tonight’s lineup against the archrival Red Sox, hitting second. Additionally, closer Aroldis Chapman is back from the 10-day IL. In corresponding moves, outfielder Jonathan Davis and reliever Nick Nelson were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

To create space for Rizzo on the 40-man roster, New York activated outfielder Trey Amburgey from the 10-day IL and returned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Because Amburgey was originally selected to the big league roster as a replacement for a player who had gone on the COVID-19 IL, he could be removed from the 40-man and sent back to the minors without being placed on waivers.

Rizzo returns ten days after testing positive for the coronavirus. For the first time, he’ll pair with Luke Voit, who was activated from his own IL stint at the time Rizzo landed on the shelf. It’s an abundance of offensive riches for the Yankees, who’ll have to also find playing time for Joey Gallo, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton between the outfield, first base and designated hitter.

Chapman landed on the IL on August 7 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. While a bit of an ominous-sounding diagnosis, it turned out to only require a near-minimal stint. In his absence, Chad Green, Zack Britton and Jonathan Loáisiga picked up save opportunities, but that role will again fall to Chapman, manager Aaron Boone confirmed to reporters (via Erik Boland of Newsday). The hard-throwing southpaw rebounded from a dreadful few weeks in the middle of the season to post seven consecutive scoreless outings leading up to his IL stint.

The Yankees have almost completely bounced back from the spread of COVID-19 in the clubhouse over the past couple weeks. Reliever Clay Holmes is the only player remaining on the COVID IL for the red-hot Yankees, who have won twelve of their last fifteen to catch the Red Sox and A’s in the American League Wild Card race.

Tigers Acquire Dustin Garneau From Rockies

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The Tigers announced they’ve acquired catcher Dustin Garneau from the Rockies in exchange for cash considerations. Garneau was on a minor league deal and hasn’t played in the majors this season, which is why he was eligible to be traded even after the July 30 deadline. That’s about to change, however, as Detroit immediately selected Garneau to the big leagues, optioning outfielder Jacob Robson to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding move. To clear space on the 40-man roster, Detroit transferred catcher Jake Rogers from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Garneau signed a minor league deal with Detroit over the offseason. He missed a good bit of the season due to a wrist fracture and exercised an opt-out in his minor league deal last month after just 60 plate appearances with Toledo. The 34-year-old hooked on with the Rockies — his first big league organization — on a minor league deal in late July.

Assigned to their top affiliate in Albuquerque, Garneau has gone on to hit .229/.357/.400. That’s not overwhelming production, but the Tigers are obviously familiar with Garneau from his earlier stint in the organization. With teams’ options to acquire players rather limited, it’s understandable Detroit circled back to a respected veteran backstop who has some Spring Training and Triple-A experience working with members of their pitching staff. The cash was likely a nominal consideration for the Rockies, but there’s little harm for Colorado in allowing Garneau to get a big league opportunity elsewhere if they weren’t prepared to offer him one themselves.

Tigers starting catcher Eric Haase is unavailable this evening after leaving last night’s game with low back tightness. That left Grayson Greiner as the only viable defensive catcher on the roster, so the Tigers acted quickly to bring in Garneau for depth.

Rogers was part of that catching group earlier this season, but he hasn’t played since landing on the injured list on July 17 with a pronator strain in his right arm. Today’s IL transfer rules him out for sixty days from the date of his original placement, so he can’t return to the big leagues until mid-September at the earliest.

Athletics Select Paul Blackburn

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The Athletics announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Paul Blackburn. He’ll get the start in tonight’s game against the White Sox. Oakland placed starter Chris Bassitt on the 10-day injured list to open an active roster spot, while the club already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster.

Blackburn appeared in the majors for Oakland in every season from 2017-20. Tonight will mark his first big league outing this year, as he’s spent the year with Triple-A Las Vegas after being passed through outright waivers in February.

Over the past four seasons, Blackburn took the ball 21 times (18 starts), working 99 2/3 innings. He’s only managed a 5.69 ERA at the highest level, thanks largely to his trouble missing bats. Blackburn has struck out just 11.9% of opposing hitters — a little more than half the league average — with a tiny 7.1% swinging strike rate.

Despite the lack of swing-and-miss stuff, Blackburn looks like a capable fill-in for the starting staff. He’s a very good strike-thrower, walking hitters at a minuscule 6.5% career clip. The sinkerballer has also had plenty of success keeping the ball down, racking up groundballs at a huge 53.2% rate in the majors. It’s been more of the same for Blackburn in 2021, as he’s induced grounders on 53.9% of balls in play at Triple-A. His 20% strikeout rate with the Aviators is still below-average, but it’s Blackburn’s best mark at any level of his professional career.

Oakland also offered an update on Bassitt, who sustained fractures to his right cheek and jaw after being struck by a 100 MPH line drive in a terrifying incident during last night’s start. A’s trainer Nick Paparesta told reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News) Bassitt is expected to undergo surgery next Tuesday. Paparesta estimated it’d take around six weeks for the bones to heal. General manager David Forst said the team is understandably more concerned about Bassitt’s individual well-being than a potential timeline for his return to action at this point, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Bassitt making it back to the mound this season (via Rubin).

Blue Jays Designate Rafael Dolis For Assignment

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2:28pm: The Blue Jays have now formally announced each of the moves.

1:25pm: The Blue Jays are expected to designate right-hander Rafael Dolis for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for infielder/outfielder Kevin Smith to be selected to the 40-man and 26-man rosters, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports (via Twitter). The Jays won’t formally announce the move until they’re certain tonight’s game will not be rained out, tweets Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star. Toronto is also expected to place rookie right-hander Alek Manoah on the bereavement list and reinstate southpaw Tim Mayza from the 10-day IL, Nicholson-Smith adds.

Dolis, 33, returned to the big leagues with the Jays in 2020 after a strong four-year run in Japan and posted a 1.50 ERA in 24 frames. However, he did so with a concerning 14.3 percent walk rate, and fielding-independent metrics were understandably less bullish than that bottom-line earned run average. Things have indeed gone the other direction for Dolis in 2021, as his walk rate has spiked to an even less tenable 17.3 percent and his strong 31 percent strikeout rate has dipped to 25 percent.

In 32 frames this season, Dolis has been tagged for a 5.63 ERA. He’s plunked three hitters and tossed four wild pitches in addition to a sky-high 27 walks through those 32 innings of relief. The right-hander’s fastball velocity is up to an average of 94.8 mph on average, but his control issues have proven to troublesome for the Jays. That’s been particularly true of late, as Dolis has totaled just one inning across his past three outings, yielding a total of five runs on six hits and five walks in that time.

Dolis is playing the 2021 season on a reasonable $1.5MM salary, so it’s not out of the question that a team would place a speculative claim when he hits waivers. He’s still owed about $371K of that base salary for the remainder of the season, though the contract also contains some performance incentives, which are generally tied to games pitched, total innings and/or games finished.

Turning to the 26-year-old Smith, he’ll make his big league debut the first time he takes the field. Baseball America ranked him as the game’s No. 91 prospect a couple years back in the 2018-19 offseason, and while his stock has dipped to an extent since that time, Smith has had a terrific season with the Jays’ Triple-A club — his first time reaching that level. Through his first 352 Triple-A plate appearances he’s notched a .286/.371/.576 batting line with 19 home runs, 23 doubles, four triples and 16 stolen bases.

The versatile Smith has spent the bulk of his time this season at shortstop but has also seen action at third base and in both outfield corners. He’s also seen time at second base as recently as 2019 and even made a pair of appearances at first base back in his college days at the University of Maryland, although that was way back in 2015. He’ll give the Jays a right-handed bat off the bench to bounce around the diamond and, along with fellow big league newcomer Otto Lopez, is a candidate to step into a utility role for the Jays for years to come.

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