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Brewers Sign Hernan Perez To Minors Deal

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The Milwaukee Brewers have signed Hernan Perez to a minor league deal, the team announced. He has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. The Brewers also announced the signing of left-handed pitcher Andy Otero, who will be sent to extended spring training.

Perez recently elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Nationals. Perez had gone just 1-for-19 with a couple of walks in 10 games with the Nats. He also took the hill twice, tossing a pair of scoreless innings.

With Keston Hiura recently being demoted, Perez could have a quicker path back to the Majors in Milwaukee than had he stayed in Washington, though that’s not necessarily the driving factor for Perez. He certainly has a fair amount of familiarity with Milwaukee having spent a chunk of his career there. Perez played for the Brewers from midway through 2015 until 2019.

 

Roberto Perez Undergoes Surgery To Repair Broken Finger

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2:50 PM: It appears the Indians will be without their starting catcher for quite some time. Manager Terry Francona told the media, including the Athletic’s Zack Meisel (Twitter links), that Cleveland expects Perez to be out for 8-10 weeks.

2:04 PM: Indians catcher Roberto Perez underwent surgery to repair the fractured ring finger on his right hand, tweets Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal. The team has yet to provide a timeline as to when Perez might be cleared to return to action, but Cleveland will now be without its top catcher for the foreseeable future.

Perez suffered the injury when he got crossed up with hard-throwing James Karinchak, and while he tried to play through the issue for awhile, he eventually was placed on the injured list earlier this week. He met with a specialist this week, Lewis notes, and clearly the surgical route wound up being the recommended course of treatment.

The injury initially occurred more than three weeks ago at a time when Perez was batting .238/.448/.524 with a pair of home runs through his first 29 plate appearances. Unsurprisingly, his bid to remain productive with a broken finger didn’t go particularly well; in 44 plate appearances since that time, Perez has just three hits and a dismal .075/.159/.175 slash.

Cleveland is temporarily losing one of the game’s best defensive catchers, although one of Perez’s primary competitors for that distinction is his own teammate, Austin Hedges. With Perez sidelined, Hedges figures to get the lion’s share of playing time. His bat isn’t likely to match that of a healthy Perez, as he’s mustered only a .118/.189/.294 output in 2021 and a .166/.243/.306 line overall dating back to 2019. Hedges’ glove, game-calling and framing should continue to work to the advantage of what is yet another high-quality Indians pitching staff, however.

That’s especially true given that he figures to share time with 37-year-old Rene Rivera, who was selected to the MLB roster to replace Perez. Rivera, a glove-first backstop himself, won’t provide much with the bat but will give Terry Francona another quality battery-mate for his pitchers.

Yankees Recall Miguel Andujar, Option Albert Abreu

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The Yankees recalled Miguel Andujar today, the team announced. To make room, they optioned Albert Abreu to Triple-A.

Andujar arrives as insurance for starting third baseman Gio Urshela. An MRI on Urshela’s knee came back without any structural damage, so he’ll be day-to-day for now, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (via Twitter). Urshela has once again proven himself to be a reliable bat for the Yankees. He’s slashing .287/.342/.455 with four home runs across 111 plate appearances, producing 0.7 bWAR.

Andujar himself has struggled to stay healthy. This spring he dealt with carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrist, though it hasn’t appeared to bother him so far. The minor league season is just three days old, but Andujar has already knocked three home runs while going 6-for-13.

As for Abreu, the 25-year-old right-hander made two appearances this season, both coming in the first half of April. He was placed on the roster just two days ago when Rougned Odor went to the injured list. Abreu will likely join the starting rotation in Triple-A.

Tigers Designate Buck Farmer For Assignment

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves Friday, designating right-hander Buck Farmer for assignment and selecting the contract of veteran righty Erasmo Ramirez in his place. Detroit also placed Wilson Ramos on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar strain and recalled catcher Jake Rogers from Triple-A Toledo.

MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery wrote not long before the announcement that the Farmer-for-Ramirez shuffle could be on the horizon. It’s not a huge surprise, given the extent of Farmer’s struggles in 2021; the 30-year-old righty has been tattooed for 15 runs on 15 hits (six homers) and nine walks with 10 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings so far on the young season.

Grisly as those number are, Farmer was one of the team’s better relievers from 2018-20. During that time, the former fifth-round pick tallied 158 1/3 innings of 3.92 ERA with continually improving control and ground-ball rates. Last year’s 15.7 percent strikeout rate in 21 1/3 frames was a career-low, but Farmer’s 5.6 percent walk rate and 52.2 percent grounder rate both represented career-bests. His 93.9 mph average heater in 2021 is down from its 95.1 mph peak in 2019 but also an improvement over last summer’s 93.3 mph mark.

On the whole, since Farmer established himself as a staple in the Detroit bullpen four years ago, he’s posted a 4.47 ERA, a 20.8 percent strikeout rate, a 10.7 percent walk rate and a 44.3 percent ground-ball rate. This year’s catastrophic results obviously weigh that performance down, but at his best he’s been a hard-throwing righty who can both miss bats and induce grounders at an above-average clip. Whether that leads to interest from another club can’t be known, but the Tigers will have a week to trade him or try to pass him through outright waivers.

Farmer is out of minor league options, so if another club does acquire him, he’ll need to be placed on the big league roster. He has more than the three years of service time needed to reject an outright assignment even if he goes unclaimed. However, as Woodbery rightly points out, doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of this year’s $1.85MM salary, as he doesn’t yet have the five years of service required to retain salary in the event of rejecting an outright. That salary might make it tough for Farmer to be claimed on waivers, and if he does pass through, he’ll surely accept the assignment rather than surrender the $1.44MM he’s yet owed through season’s end.

The veteran Ramirez will give the Tigers some depth as a potential long man in the ’pen or perhaps even in the rotation, should a need arise. He spent the 2020 season with the Mets and fared quite well, allowing just a run on eight hits and four walks with nine punchouts in 14 1/3 innings.

Ramirez, 31, has spent time in the big leagues with the Mariners, Rays and Red Sox as well, with his best season coming back in 2015-16 when he gave Tampa Bay a combined 254 innings of 3.76 ERA ball.  He struggled in limited samples of work from 2018-19, but Ramirez has pitched in a variety of roles at the MLB level and on the whole carries a 4.31 ERA through 655 Major League frames.

Braves Designate Nate Jones, Select Carl Edwards Jr.

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The Braves announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Nate Jones for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow righty reliever Carl Edwards Jr., whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also optioned right-hander Edgar Santana to Gwinnett.

Jones, 35, inked a minor league deal with the Braves over the winter and parlayed a dominant Spring Training effort into an Opening Day spot in the Atlanta ’pen. Unfortunately, the regular season didn’t bring about the same results as Jones enjoyed in Grapefruit League play. Through 10 1/3 innings this season, Jones has walked 10 batters, hit another and allowed eight hits (three homers). He’s limited the damage to six runs (four earned), but that lack of control ultimately cost him his roster spot.

The oft-injured Jones has scuffled in recent seasons but at one point was a lights-out setup man for the White Sox. He spent parts of eight seasons with the South Siders, pitching to a 3.12 ERA over the life of 291 1/3 innings out of the Chicago bullpen. Whether he can ever reclaim that form remains to be seen, but Jones came out of the gates in 2021 with a still-very-healthy 95.8 mph average velocity on his heater. The Braves will have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has more than enough service time to refuse an outright assignment if he clears waivers.

Edwards, 29, will be looking to bounce back from what has been a relatively swift decline in recent years. From 2016-18, he was one of the Cubs’ primary bullpen arms and was quite impressive along the way, compiling a 3.03 ERA while striking out nearly 35 percent of his opponents. Control was an issue (13.5 percent walk rate), but Edwards looked the part of a high-quality, late-inning arm.

However, Edwards began to unravel in Sept. 2018, when he walked 12 of the final 38 batters he faced in a total of just seven innings pitched. He began the 2019 campaign in similarly shaky fashion, pitching to a 5.87 ERA with nine walks, a hit batter and eight hits (three homers) allowed in 15 1/3 frames. The Cubs somewhat surprisingly moved on, and he’s been unable to find his stride again since that time. He looked sharp in a brief stint with the Mariners in 2020 but ended up missing the bulk of the season due to a forearm strain.

If Edwards is able to recapture his peak form, he’ll give the Braves a high-octane strikeout artist who can be controlled for another season via arbitration. Walks will likely to continue to be an issue even if he does find some success, however, which isn’t ideal for a club whose bullpen already has the fifth-highest walk rate in the Majors (12.2 percent).

Whether Edwards rebounds or not, Atlanta could eventually turn to the trade market to augment a bullpen that currently ranks 23rd in the Majors in ERA (4.58), 21st in FIP (4.41) and 25th in SIERA (4.23).

Reds Activate Shogo Akiyama From Injured List, Shuffle Defensive Alignment

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The Reds announced Friday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Shogo Akiyama from the 10-day injured list and put Joey Votto on the injured list in his place. Votto is expected to be out three to four weeks after fracturing his thumb in yesterday’s game. Akiyama has yet to play in 2021 due to a hamstring injury.

Perhaps of more interest to Reds fans will be the new-look defensive alignment the team is rolling out in the wake of Votto’s injury and Akiyama’s return. They’ll open this weekend’s series against the Indians with Mike Moustakas sliding over to first base in Votto’s place, while Nick Senzel moves from center field to second base. Eugenio Suarez is back at third base today, with Kyle Farmer stepping in for him at shortstop. Tyler Naquin is in Senzel’s customary center field, and Akiyama is getting a day in left while Jesse Winker serves as the designated hitter.

This particular alignment obviously won’t be the norm in Votto’s absence, as the Reds won’t have the DH in most of the games they play over the next month. But Moustakas sliding over to first base and Senzel moving from a crowded outfield into the infield could be frequently featured tactics. Second baseman Jonathan India has ample experience at third base, of course, so it’s possible we’ll see a frequent infield of India, Suarez, Senzel and Moustakas. Meanwhile, the Reds will rotate Winker, Naquin, Nick Castellanos and Akiyama in the outfield. Presumably, with the first three all hitting so well to begin the year, they’ll be viewed as the starting trio.

That said, the club surely still has hope of a better performance for Akiyama in is second season at the MLB level. The former Seibu Lions star signed a three-year, $21MM deal with Cincinnati in the 2019-20 offseason, and while he got on base at a nice clip last year, he struggled to hit for much average or power. The now-33-year-old Akiyama batted .245/.357/.297 with six doubles, a triple, no home runs and seven steals (10 attempts) through his first 183 big league plate appearances.

Cubs Designate Kyle Ryan, Select Nick Martini, Place Ian Happ On 10-Day IL

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably designating lefty Kyle Ryan for assignment and placing center fielder Ian Happ on the 10-day injured list due to a rib contusion stemming from his recent collision with infielder Nico Hoerner. To take their spots on the roster, the Cubs recalled righty Jason Adam and selected the contract of outfielder Nick Martini from Triple-A Iowa.

Ryan, 29, has been the Cubs’ most oft-used reliever since 2019, although he opened the 2021 season at the team’s alternate training site. He was called back up recently and yielded a run on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Since latching on with the Cubs in 2019, the former Tigers southpaw carries a 3.86 ERA, a 20.8 percent strikeout rate, a 10.9 percent walk rate and a hefty 55.7 percent ground-ball rate. He hasn’t dominated lefties in a way that so many southpaw relievers do (.240/.319/.368) but he also hasn’t been a total liability against righties either (.264/.347/.408).

Happ and Hoerner had a scary collision when the two converged on a pop fly to shallow center field. Hoerner made the catch but tumbled over Happ and kicked him squarely in the ribs in the process. Thankfully, both avoided a major injury, but Happ now joins Hoerner (forearm strain) on the 10-day injured list in the days since the collision. Perhaps the downtime will give the struggling Happ some time to reset; in 102 plate appearances this year he’s limped to a .167/.307/.250 batting line.

The 30-year-old Martini will be making his Cubs debut whenever he first gets into a game. The former Padres and A’s outfielder inked a minor league deal with Chicago over the winter. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots and is known for a patient approach at the plate, evidenced by a career .269/.372/.380 batting line in 87 MLB games (288 plate appearances). Martini isn’t teeming with power, but he has an excellent track record in the upper minors, specifically Triple-A: .305/.401/.435 in more than 1400 plate appearances.

Jerry Dipoto On Jarred Kelenic Timeline

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Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic made his Triple-A debut last night and did little to quell the growing fan clamor for his promotion. The 2018 No. 6 overall pick and centerpiece of the Edwin Diaz/Robinson Cano blockbuster ripped a pair of home runs to right field in his first minor league game since Sept. 2, 2019. (You can watch both blasts at these Twitter links, courtesy of MLB Pipeline and MiLB Mariners.)

The multi-homer showing came just hours after MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweeted that Kelenic was “likely” to debut this month — a timeline most already expected — which prompted some comments from Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto in a radio appearance on 710 ESPN (link via 710’s Brandon Gustafson).

Dipoto acknowledged that Kelenic is getting “closer and closer” to the big leagues and that a promotion will come “sooner than later.” He made clear that the organization wanted to see him get some work against Triple-A pitching. There’s surely some truth to that, because if service time were the only issue, Kelenic could’ve been called up more than two weeks ago. But with the Mariners slumping as a team, even before being no-hit by Orioles lefty John Means, the GM also noted that Kelenic “might add a spark to our offense if we give him that opportunity.”

Dipoto has spoken in the past about the importance of taking 30 to 40 games to evaluate the club with which they broke camp, and we’re now into that territory with generally lackluster results from the offense. Fellow top outfield prospect Taylor Trammell is hitting just .156/.261/.338 with a 43.8 percent strikeout rate. Neither Jose Marmolejos or Sam Haggerty has hit especially well during their time in left field; Mariners left fielders are hitting just .204/.316/.357 on the whole.

The Mariners have gotten a nice bounceback effort from Mitch Haniger in right field, as he’s returned from injury to bat .254/.300/.534 in his first 130 plate appearances. Kyle Lewis missed the first several weeks of the year on the injured list and has struggled to a .181/.231/.388 slash. That’s not a pretty result, but it’s only 52 plate appearances and as the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, he has a longer leash than others might.

There’s no denying that left field has been a black hole on an already sub-par offensive club, however. And with Haniger, Ty France and Kyle Seager all slowing down to varying extents after hot starts to the season, the Mariners’ offense looks increasingly lifeless. As a team, the Mariners are batting only .201/.280/.359. They rank last in the Majors in average, 29th in OBP and 26th in slugging percentage.

Despite the putrid offensive showing, though, the pitching and good timing on some of the few hits the Mariners have put together has helped them to a 17-15 record. That they’re currently sitting in second place only serves to create additional temptation to take a look at Kelenic, who currently ranks as the game’s No. 4 overall prospect at Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com. Plugging Kelenic into everyday at-bats in left field isn’t going to be a panacea for the team’s overarching offensive futility, even if he immediately meets expectations, but it’d be a step in the right direction.

Regaedless of when Kelenic debuts this year, the Mariners will be able to control him all the way through the 2027 season. A May promotion would put him on track to earn Super Two status, making him arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three, but his path to free agency has already been delayed.

Of course, his timeline to arbitration and to free agency could ultimately be rendered moot if the two sides eventually do come to terms on a long-term contract. Now-former Mariners president shined a spotlight on Kelenic by revealing earlier this year that he’d turned down a contract extension and would open the year in the minors. That comment prompted Kelenic and agent Brodie Scoffield to tell USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that the club had made clear to him that Kelenic would’ve been in the Majors last year had he taken the extension offer prior to the 2020 season. Many assumed that may have led to some burned bridges or harsh feelings, but Scoffield told MLBTR in the wake of that interview that Kelenic remained open to future proposals.

For now, the focus is on when Kelenic debuts in the Majors. If he meets or exceeds expectations at the big league level, however, it’d be a surprise if the team didn’t make another run at putting together an offer.

Atkins: Blue Jays Expect Kirk To Miss At Least Four Weeks

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The Blue Jays will be without catcher Alejandro Kirk for at least the next four weeks after sustaining a hip flexor injury, general manager Ross Atkins announced yesterday while acknowledging that the absence “could be longer” than that (link via the Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm). Kirk exited the Blue Jays’ game on May 1 early after apparently sustaining the injury while running down the line after hitting a ball that narrowly went foul. He initially stayed in but was removed innings later and hit the 10-day IL the following day.

Sportsnet’s Ben Wagner reported earlier in the week that Kirk could miss at least six weeks, but the team has publicly put forth a slightly more optimistic timeline. Whether Kirk is sidelined until late May or mid-to-late June, it’s another tough loss for a Jays club that, like so many other teams around the league, has been hit hard by injuries in 2021. Kirk went 0-for-13 to start the season, but his bat has taken off in the 33 plate appearances since. He also impressed down the stretch with a big late showing in 2020 and is currently carrying a stout .281/.352/.516 batting line with four homers and three doubles through his first 71 MLB plate appearances.

With the 22-year-old Kirk sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Jays will entrust catching duties to Danny Jansen and the recently promoted Reese McGuire. Jansen, who turned 26 last month, has been the Blue Jays’ primary backstop for the past couple seasons but has seen his bat decline since a promising rookie showing in 2018. After batting .247/.347/.432 in 95 plate appearances as a rookie, he’s managed only a .188/.275/.336 line through 597 trips to the plate. McGuire hit well in 2018 but went just 3-for-41 last season.

In addition to Kirk, the Jays are without George Springer (quad strain), David Phelps (lat strain), Julian Merryweather (oblique strain) and Kirby Yates (Tommy John surgery). They’ve also already had weeks-long absences for Hyun Jin Ryu (glute strain) and Teoscar Hernandez (Covid-19), although both are now back with the club.

Angels Designate Albert Pujols For Assignment

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The Albert Pujols era in Anaheim has come to an end. In a shocking move, the Angels announced Thursday that Pujols has been designated for assignment. The DFA is largely a formality, as Pujols and the remainder of his $30MM salary will go unclaimed on waivers. It’s possible the Halos could work out some kind of trade where they effectively eat all of that salary, but a release is most likely. Pujols is in the final season of a 10-year, $240MM contract.

Albert Pujols | Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

“The Angels organization proudly signed Albert Pujols in 2011, and are honored that he was worn an Angels jersey for nearly half of his Hall-of-Fame career,” owner Arte Moreno said in a statement announcing the move. “Albert’s historical accomplishments, both on and off the field, serve as an inspiration to athletes everywhere, and his actions define what it means to be a true Superstar. Since his Rookie of the Year season in 2001, Albert and his wife Deidre have generously given their time and resources to countless charities throughout the world. We are thankful to the entire Pujols Family.”

It’s a stunning end to one of the largest contracts in Major League history, although from a pure performance standpoint, it’s hard to fault the move. The 41-year-old Pujols has connected on five homers in 2021 but is batting just .198/.250/.372 overall. He’s drawn only two unintentional walks in his 92 trips to the plate this season. The results in 2020 were similarly disappointing, and Pujols has an overall .214/.263/.387 line across his past 255 plate appearances.

Pujols’ fit on the Angels has become increasingly difficult, given Shohei Ohtani’s flat-out excellence at the plate and the emergence of slugger Jared Walsh. The 26-year-old Ohtani is batting .264/.316/.623 with nine home runs through 114 plate appearances. Walsh, a former 37th-round pick, has built upon last year’s surprise production with a ridiculous .333/.412/.576 line in 114 plate appearances, bringing his overall output since Opening Day 2020 to a robust .313/.369/.611 in 222 plate appearances.

Even with Pujols forced into action at first base, this announcement has sent shockwaves through the baseball world. Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times reports that Pujols was unhappy not only with the fact that he was benched against Rays lefty Ryan Yarbrough last night — against whom he is 6-for-9 with a pair of homers in his career — but that the decision to sit him was made by the front office rather than by manager Joe Maddon. The extent to which that specific instance contributed to today’s move isn’t clear, but MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds that Pujols was also recently given the message that his playing time would begin to be scaled back.

Pujols’ signing in Los Angeles was a watershed moment in both Angels and Cardinals franchise history. The three-time National League MVP spent the first 11 seasons of a surefire Cooperstown career in St. Louis, cementing himself as one of the game’s top all-around players while batting .328/.420/.617 with 445 home runs through 7433 plate appearances.

Pujols hit the market as one of the most coveted free agents in history. At the time of his signing, his 10-year, $240MM deal was the third-largest in MLB history, trailing only Alex Rodriguez’s prior $252MM and $275MM contracts. That contract was negotiated by Moreno himself, and it’s now Moreno who has formally made the announcement and issued a statement confirming the end of Pujols’ time with the organization.

The contract, of course, didn’t pan out as hoped. Pujols began his Angels tenure mired in a dreadful slump, though he recovered to finish his first year with a .285/.343/.516 slash and 30 home runs. With the Angels, Pujols was never the juggernaut that he’d proven to be in St. Louis, but the first five seasons of his contract still resulted in a solid .266/.325/.474 batting line — good for a 119 wRC+. It’s not the production for which the Halos had hoped, but it’s a far sight better than the cumulative .240/.289/.405 output he’s compiled since 2017.

Pujols hit several iconic milestones during his time with the Angels, belting his 500th and 600th career home runs and also tallying his 3000th hit. But beyond the individual milestones, the Angels had only one postseason appearance during the Pujols era — a winless, three-game sweep at the hands of the upstart Royals back in 2014.

It’s not clear what’s next for Pujols. There’s already been immediate speculation and plenty of clamoring from fans about a farewell tour in St. Louis. A reunion of Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright would no doubt give Cards fans chills, but with Paul Goldschmidt at first base and no universal designated hitter, Pujols isn’t exactly a clean fit for that roster.

Others have suggested a reunion with skipper Tony La Russa, now managing the White Sox, also might make some sense. However, Yermin Mercedes has been the team’s best hitter at DH, and reigning MVP Jose Abreu has first base locked down. It still seems likely that some club will take a chance on Pujols if he wants to continue playing.

For the Angels, moving on from Pujols allows the club to utilize Walsh at first base and Ohtani at designated hitter once top prospects Jo Adell and/or Brandon Marsh are called to the Major Leagues for a look in right field. Were either to hit at even an average (or slightly below-average) level upon his promotion, that’d give the Angels both an improved lineup and an improved defensive outlook.

The organization surely didn’t make the decision to move on lightly. Beyond his stature as one of the best players in Major League history, Pujols is a beloved teammate who is respected by all in the league and revered by fans for both his on-field contributions and his prolific charity work off the field. The very fact that there is such widespread shock to a see the DFA of a player with his lack of production over the past few seasons is a testament to that reverence. Time will tell whether that leads to another opportunity.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported (via Twitter) that Pujols would be released.

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