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Jake Cousins To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Right-hander Jake Cousins will undergo Tommy John surgery. Manager Aaron Boone informed members of the beat today, including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. Cousins will therefore miss the entire 2025 season and at least the first half of 2026 as well. He is already on the 60-day injured list.

The news is obviously brutal for Cousins but it’s not shocking, as his arm has been troubling him all year. When camp opened in mid-February, it was reported that Cousins was already halfway through a shutdown period of three to four weeks due to a forearm strain. When infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes cracked the Opening Day roster, Cousins was transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding move, meaning he had effectively been written off for the first two months of the season.

He did start a rehab assignment in early June but that lasted for only two appearances. He was shut down from that with a setback that Boone said “seems to be a UCL injury.” A couple of days ago, Boone said that things were trending towards a Tommy John surgery, which is now the confirmed path.

That procedure usually comes with a recovery timeline of 14 to 18 months. Cousins will therefore miss all of the current campaign. He’ll have a shot at returning late in 2026 but that won’t be guaranteed.

Between the Brewers and Yankees, he has logged 90 2/3 big league innings with a 2.78 earned run average. His 14.8% walk rate is quite high but he has also punched out 32.6% of hitters and got grounders on 47.1% of balls in play.

He came into this year with his service time clock at two years and 91 days. He will collect service time while on the IL and will therefore get to 3.091 by the coming offseason. That will qualify him for arbitration for the first time. Due to the surgery, he won’t be able to raise his salary very much but he’ll be a non-tender candidate regardless. If the Yanks were to tender him a contract, he’d have to take up a 40-man spot through the winter since there’s no IL between the end of the World Series and the opening of spring training.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

Astros Place Lance McCullers Jr. On IL With Foot Sprain

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The Astros have placed right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. on the 15-day injured list due to a right foot sprain, retroactive to June 13th. Fellow righty Jason Alexander has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. McCullers was scheduled to start today’s game but Ryan Gusto will get the ball instead. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the info.

To this point, the Astros haven’t provided any information about how the injury occured or how long they expect McCullers to be out of action. In his most recent start, he tossed 96 pitches over five innings. Up until this announcement of his IL placement, he was listed as the starter for tonight’s game in West Sacramento.

More information will presumably be forthcoming but it’s a notable development regardless. For McCullers personally, he’s looking to get back on track after a lengthy absence. He missed all of 2023 and 2024, and most of 2022, due to elbow issues. He was reinstated from the IL about six weeks ago for his first major league action in over two years. He has since made seven starts with a 4.91 earned run average, though most of the damage came in his second start when he allowed seven earned runs to the Reds while only recording one out.

Now he’s set for another injury absence. On the bright side, it has nothing to do with his elbow, though it’s a setback nonetheless. Perhaps it will turn out to be a fine reset. Since he has thrown so little over the past few years, he wasn’t going to suddenly throw 200 innings in 2025. Ideally, this will be just a minor issue that will let him catch his breath before he picks things back up.

But it will be a situation to monitor given his history and the club’s larger pitching situation. McCullers is now the seventh starter on Houston’s injured list, with the others mostly facing lengthy absences. Both Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski required Tommy John surgery in the past month. Luis Garcia has been struggling to get healthy since his own Tommy John surgery in 2023. Cristian Javier had his TJS in June of last year and could perhaps be an option later in the year. J.P. France is recovering from last year’s shoulder surgery with an uncertain timeline. Spencer Arrighetti has a fractured thumb and also has a murky path forward.

Despite all of those injuries, the Astros have been performing well, with a 41-30 record that puts them 4.5 games up in the American League West. Without McCullers, the challenge of keeping the rotation in viable shape will grow.

The Astros have Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown as two strong performers at the front of the rotation, though it now appears that three very inexperienced arms will be backing up that duo. Colton Gordon, Brandon Walter and Gusto have thrown a combined 120 2/3 innings in the majors between the three of them.

Gusto was originally planned to start tomorrow’s game but will now bump up to today. The Astros have TBA listed as tomorrow’s starter, with Valdez still listed for Wednesday. Perhaps that means there will be some kind of bullpen game tomorrow with Alexander factoring in heavily. He has been starting at the Triple-A level and could cover multiple innings.

It’s already been reported that the Astros will be looking for starting pitching help prior to next month’s trade deadline. The McCullers injury, whether it proves to be serious or not, should only add to that desire.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Yankees Designate Pablo Reyes For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes has been designated for assignment. That opens an active roster spot for designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, a move that was reported earlier today. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 39.

Reyes, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the offseason and made the Opening Day roster. He has since served in a reserve role, often as a late-game replacement. He has appeared in 25 games with 34 plate appearances, hitting just .194/.242/.226 in those.

That’s not a great performance but it’s a small sample and it’s tough to maintain quality results with such sporadic action. Him getting the DFA treatment today is more about a fairly crowded Yankee roster. Stanton taking a place in the lineup means that one of Ben Rice or Paul Goldschmidt will be on the bench most days. One of the club’s four outfielders will take up a spot as well. Backup catcher J.C. Escarra will also be on the pine most days.

That left Reyes and fellow infielder Oswald Peraza for the bench spot. Both are out of options and performing poorly at the plate this year but Peraza is several years younger and not too far removed from being a top 100 prospect, so it makes sense to hang onto him in the hopes that there’s still some future value to be extracted there.

Add it all up and it equals Reyes heading into DFA limbo. That can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the club could take up to five days to explore trades. Reyes passed through waivers in September and then settled for a minor league deal in the offseason. He hasn’t done much to raise his stock since then, so it’s possible he clears waivers yet again. If he does so, he’ll have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.

He now has 606 career plate appearances in the majors with a .245/.305/.342 line and 75 wRC+. He’s capable of bouncing all around the diamond, with experience at every position except catcher. That includes five innings of mop-up work on the mound.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Tigers Claim Carlos Hernández

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The Tigers have claimed right-hander Carlos Hernández off waivers from the Phillies, according to announcements from both clubs. Philadelphia had designated him for assignment last week. Detroit had an open 40-man roster spot due to designating righty John Brebbia for assignment yesterday. Hernández is out of options, so the Tigers will need to open an active roster spot once he reports to the club.

Hernández, 28, has big velocity but hasn’t always been able to translate it into results. After working in a swing role with the Royals from 2020 to 2022, he seemed to be breaking out as a reliever in the first half of 2023. Through August 1st of that year, he had thrown 54 innings with a 3.67 earned run average, 30.2% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

Unfortunately, he posted a 10.69 ERA in his final 16 innings that year. In 2024, he battled some shoulder soreness and spent the first two months of the season on the injured list. When he was reinstated, the Royals shuttled him to Triple-A and back. He posted a 3.30 ERA in the big leagues that year but with subpar strikeout and walk rates of 20.9% and 12.4% respectively. He also had a 5.40 ERA in his minor league work.

He came into 2025 out of options and didn’t make the Kansas City roster out of camp, which led him to the waiver wire and a claim by the Phillies. He logged 25 2/3 innings for the Phils this year with a 5.26 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. Though he hasn’t been able to execute, the stuff is enticing, with Hernández averaging just under 98 miles per hour on his fastball this year while also throwing a splitter, slider and knuckle curve.

Perhaps the Tigers feel they have a path to help him better harness that stuff. Or perhaps he’s just available when they want a fresh arm. Righty Will Vest departed yesterday’s game due to some discomfort in the pinky finger of his throwing hand, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Perhaps he will require a stint on the injured list, opening a hole in the big league bullpen. Since the Tigers had an open 40-man spot anyway, claiming Hernández is perhaps a bit of insurance for Vest.

It’s also possible that the Tigers plan to put Hernández back on waivers shortly with the hope of passing him through unclaimed. The Tigers have the best record in baseball and therefore the final waiver priority, meaning the other clubs just passed on him. Hernández has between three and five years of big league service time, meaning he has the right to reject an outright assignment but would have to forfeit the remainder of his $1.16MM salary in order to do so. For now, he’ll report to the Tigers and try to put some good outings together for them.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images

Nationals Designate Juan Yepez For Assignment

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The Nationals announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder Robert Hassell III and infielder José Tena have been optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Outfielder Daylen Lile has been recalled while third baseman Brady House has had his contract selected. Those four moves were reported yesterday. To open a 40-man spot for House, the Nats designated first baseman Juan Yepez for assignment.

Yepez, 27, first joined the Nationals via a minor league deal going into the 2024 season. He got added to the club’s roster in July and got fairly regular playing time in the second half of last year. He slashed .283/.335/.429 for a 113 wRC+ in 249 plate appearances.

Coming into 2025, the Nats made a couple of additions to the first base/designated hitter mix, acquiring Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers and also signing free agent Josh Bell. Those moves pushed Yepez down the depth chart and he was optioned to Rochester to start the year. He has since appeared in 45 games for the Red Wings with a .199/.273/.301 line and 56 wRC+. He hasn’t been helped by a .212 batting average on balls in play but he also has only three home runs.

Yepez has some experience at other positions but is mostly just a first baseman. He hasn’t played third base since 2022 and his work in the outfield corners has been very limited. He’s not really a threat on the basepaths either. In short, he needs to hit. The fact that he hasn’t done so this year has hurt his value and bumped him off Washington’s roster. He’s also in his final option year, so he’s down to a few months where he can be easily sent to the minors.

He’s now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Nats could take five days to explore trades. He’s been a roughly average big league hitter in 588 plate appearances between the Cardinals and Nationals but this year’s struggles on the farm will naturally tamp down interest.

If he is passed through outright waivers unclaimed, he will stick with the club as depth without taking up a roster spot. He won’t have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of service time and hasn’t been previously outrighted in his career.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Rays Acquire Forrest Whitley

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June 16: The Rays announced today that Whitley has been added to the club’s active roster with righty Mason Englert optioned to Triple-A Durham as the corresponding active roster move.

June 13: The Astros announced that they have traded right-hander Forrest Whitley to the Rays in exchange for cash considerations. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com first reported that Whitley was going to the Rays while Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported the cash return. The Rays’ 40-man roster count climbs from 38 to 39. Since Whitley is out of options, they will need to open an active roster spot once he reports to the team.

Whitley, 27, is a complete wild card at this point. Selected 17th overall in the 2016 draft, he put up huge numbers in the lower minor league levels as a teenager, working around a 50-game drug suspension going into 2018. His performance vaulted him towards the top of prospect lists. Going into 2019, Baseball America ranked him #5 overall and the top pitcher on the list.

He has hit a number of speed bumps since then, largely due to injuries. Shoulder problems seemed to hamper him in 2019, as he finished that year with a combined 7.99 earned run average across various minor league levels. The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. He required Tommy John surgery in March of 2021, wiping out that season and most of the following year. He got back on the mound in 2022 but showed plenty of rust, posting a 6.53 ERA over his 40 minor league innings. In 2023, a lat strain limited him to 30 minor league innings with a 5.70 ERA.

The Astros added Whitley to their 40-man roster in November of 2020, to protect him from being exposed in the Rule 5 draft. He used up three options in those 2021-23 seasons. The Astros were granted a fourth option for 2024 but the clock was ticking, so they moved him to the bullpen.

He showed some promise in that role last year. He logged 34 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.12 ERA. His 11.6% walk rate was high but he struck out 31.5% of batters faced and got grounders at a 55% clip. He also made his major league debut, logging 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

He came into 2025 out of options and started the season on the injured list, this time due to a bone bruise in his left knee. He was reinstated from the IL on April 19th but went back on the shelf on April 27th due to a left knee sprain. He was reinstated in late May but didn’t last long before the Astros decided to give up and designated him for assignment. Around those IL stints, he has thrown 7 1/3 innings this year with ten earned runs allowed. He struck out eight opponents but gave out six walks, hit another batter and threw a wild pitch.

Whitley’s future is anyone’s guess at this point. The talent that made him the top prospect in baseball may be in there somewhere. He still averages in the upper 90s with his fastballs. But he’s now out of options and has proved so little. His major league track record consists of just 10 2/3 innings, which haven’t been especially impressive. He was good in the minors last year but has otherwise been hurt and/or ineffective.

The Rays have a strong reputation when it comes to developing pitchers, so it’s a good landing spot for him. However, they are also a contender, currently holding one of the three American League Wild Card spots. Since Whitley is out of options, he will have to produce some results in order to stick on the roster. If he does, the Rays can cheaply retain him for years to come. He came into 2025 with just six days of major league service time, meaning he can’t get to arbitration until after 2027 and isn’t slated for free agency until after the 2030 season. But as mentioned, those will be moot points if he can’t right the ship.

Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images

Yankees To Reinstate Giancarlo Stanton

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Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton will be back in the lineup tonight, reports Andy Martino of SNY. Stanton is on the 60-day injured list, meaning he will need to retake a spot on the 40-man roster to be activated. The Yankees already have a vacancy there, so they will only need to make a corresponding active roster move in order to make this official.

Stanton, 35, will be making his season debut once tonight’s game begins. Way back in February, he reported to camp with soreness in both elbows and he has spent the past few months trying to get healthy. In March, he told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he had torn tendons in both elbows. He landed on the 10-day IL to start the season and the club listed his injury as elbow epicondylitis, more commonly known as “tennis elbow”. He was transferred to the 60-day IL at the start of May.

He has finally been able to ramp up in the past month or so, starting with some work with the high-velocity pitching machine and some live batting practice. He officially began a rehab assignment last week, going 3-11 plus a walk in three Double-A contests.

It seems fair to wonder what sort of production Stanton can provide at this point in his career. Though he has a lengthy track record of crushing the ball with ferocity, he’s now 35 years old and injuries have become more frequent. Though he’s largely been limited to the designated hitter slot, he still hasn’t appeared in 140 games in a season since 2018. He hasn’t hit the 115-game mark since 2021. Over the 2022-2024 seasons, he struck out in 30.5% of his plate appearances while slashing .212/.291/.454 for a 106 wRC+.

He’s now coming off yet another lengthy injury absence and it’s no guarantee that his bat will be an upgrade over what the Yankees have already had in there. Ben Rice has been getting most of the DH time this year and has a .227/.311/.460 line and 117 wRC+ so far this year. Knocking him out of that spot will have domino effects.

Moving Rice to first base isn’t really an option because Paul Goldschmidt is there and is hitting .311/.371/.455 for a 133 wRC+. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic points out that a Rice/Goldschmidt platoon would make on-paper sense but that manager Aaron Boone has ruled out such a tidy arrangement, perhaps not surprising with Goldschmidt a respected veteran making $12.5MM.

The Yanks are open to Rice getting some time behind the plate but Austin Wells is hitting .224/.288/.464 for a 107 wRC+ with solid defensive grades. He has also helped the pitching staff put up good numbers all year along despite the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and others. Even backup catcher J.C. Escarra has a .230/.333/.361 line and 100 wRC+ with good defense to boot.

Stanton does have some outfield work in his past but didn’t play there at all last year. Given his elbow injuries, he’s probably not going to be sent out to the grass. Even if the Yanks were willing to do that, they have been getting strong results from their outfield group of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Jasson Domínguez.

It’s technically a good problem to have but it will be tricky for Boone to get the right balance of finding playing time for everyone so they all can stay crisp while simultaneously trying to optimize the lineup for success on a given day, though the logjam probably won’t last long since injuries are fairly inevitable.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Sign Anthony DeSclafani To Major League Contract

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TODAY: The D’Backs announced that DeSclafani signed a big league deal, and he has been added to the active roster.  To create roster space, right-hander Bryce Jarvis was optioned to Triple-A and Justin Martinez (who will miss the rest of the season due to UCL surgery) was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

JUNE 12: Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and is joining the Diamondbacks, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if he’ll be signing a major or minor league deal with Arizona.

DeSclafani, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees about a month ago. He has since made five starts at the Triple-A level, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine in his 20 innings. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10% clip and getting grounders on 42.4% of balls in play. All those rates are fairly close to typical big league averages.

It’s a small sample of work but DeSclafani has a lengthy major league track record. The larger question in recent years has been health, or the lack thereof. From 2015 to 2021, he posted a 3.97 ERA over 791 major league innings. That was enough to get him a three-year, $36MM deal from the Giants going into 2022.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to provide much return on that investment. Right ankle inflammation hobbled him throughout 2022, limiting him to five starts with a 6.63 ERA. In 2023, he logged 99 2/3 innings with a 4.88 ERA but didn’t pitch after July due to a right elbow flexor strain. He was traded to the Mariners and then the Twins ahead of the 2024 season but required season-ending flexor tendon surgery in March.

DeSclafani is now almost two years removed from his most recent major league game but appears to be healthy now. He has averaged 92.5 miles per hour on his fastball so far this year. That’s a bit down from a few years ago, as he averaged between 93 and 95 mph during his best years, but he might still be ramping up after a lengthy layoff.

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees didn’t have a fit for him at the big league level. Despite several injuries, their rotation is in decent shape. They have Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. They could get Marcus Stroman and JT Brubaker back soon, as both are on rehab assignments. Luis Gil is tossing bullpens and could be on his own rehab assignment in the coming weeks.

The Diamondbacks have a shakier rotation. They recently lost Corbin Burnes to Tommy John surgery. Jordan Montgomery has been out all year due to that same procedure. That leaves them with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodríguez and Ryne Nelson. Kelly has been good but he’s the exception. Each of Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodríguez has an ERA north of 5.00. Rodríguez also just returned from an IL stint for shoulder inflammation. Nelson’s ERA is at 4.60 but he’s largely been in a long relief role this year. He just returned to the rotation in the wake of the Burnes injury but allowed seven runs in three innings against the Reds on Saturday. Potential replacements like Cristian Mena and Blake Walston are also on the shelf.

In short, DeSclafani has a far better chance to returning to the big leagues with the Snakes than with the Yanks, so this is a sensible move for him. If he is jumping right into the big leagues, the Diamondbacks would need to make corresponding moves to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters. If it’s a minor league deal, he’ll presumably report to Triple-A Reno to continue ramping up there.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images.

Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Anderson cleared waivers and elected free agency over an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Angels announced.

JUNE 13: The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of infield prospect Christian Moore and recalled right-hander Sam Bachman. In corresponding moves, outfielder Matthew Lugo has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and righty Shaun Anderson has been designated for assignment. MLBTR covered the Moore/Lugo swap yesterday. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported today’s full slate of moves prior to the official club announcement.

Anderson, 30, has been on and off the Angels’ roster this year. He signed a minor league deal in the offseason and was called up in early May. He was designated for assignment later that month, cleared waivers, elected free agency, re-signed with the club and was added back to the roster a few days ago. Around those transactions, he has logged 10 2/3 innings over six appearances. He allowed nine earned runs on 16 hits, giving out three walks while striking out ten opponents.

Broadly speaking, Anderson has usually been able to put up decent Triple-A numbers that haven’t translated to the big leagues. He made his major league debut in 2019 and now has 162 2/3 innings under his belt with a 6.20 earned run average. In that same time frame, he has a 3.93 ERA in 307 Triple-A frames. He also spent a season in Korea and put up a 3.76 ERA there.

Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent back down to the minors. The last time he lost his roster spot with the Halos, he cleared waivers and circled back to them, so it’s possible that same sequence will play out in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Bryse Wilson To Triple-A

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TODAY: Wilson cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte, the White Sox announced.

JUNE 10: The White Sox announced that they have selected right-hander Grant Taylor to the roster, a move that was reported yesterday. Fellow righty Bryse Wilson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Wilson, 27, was signed in December to a one-year deal that guaranteed him $1.05MM. He was a sensible pickup for Chicago since he had experience as both a starter and a reliever. With the Brewers over 2023 and 2024, he tossed 181 1/3 innings with a 3.42 earned run average. The rebuilding Sox came into the year with a fairly young and inexperienced pitching staff and could deploy Wilson as needed, depending on how he and everyone else performed.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t really provided the club with much in either role. He has made five starts and 14 relief appearances so far this year, logging 45 1/3 innings with a 6.95 ERA. That includes a 6.23 ERA as a starter and a 7.61 mark in relief work. His 8.7% walk rate is right around average but his 12.4% strikeout rate is barely half of league par.

That performance has nudged Wilson off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox can theoretically take five days to explore trade interest. However, given Wilson’s salary and performance this year, there isn’t likely to be strong interest.

If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he will likely stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to exercise that right.

Wilson came into this year with four years and 36 days of service. By my count, he has added 75 days so far in 2025, putting him at 4.111. That’s still 61 days shy of the five-year mark. Assuming he wants to keep the rest of that $1.05MM flowing, he would choose to report to Charlotte as opposed to electing free agency.

The Sox are 22-44 this year and will clearly be deadline sellers. Any pitcher with limited control who is putting up decent numbers should be available in the coming weeks. That includes guys like Adrian Houser, Dan Altavilla and Steven Wilson. That could further thin out the pitching staff and open further opportunities for Bryse later in the year.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

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