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AL Notes: Machado, Yankees, Tigers, White Sox

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The market for Manny Machado is by most accounts down to three teams, though perhaps it’s not too late for others to get involved. Interestingly, the Yankees are still the least aggressive of that group, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter links), who suggests that the New York powerhouse has not yet and may not ever put more than $200MM on the table for one of the game’s best players. Meanwhile, the White Sox have now made two intriguing acquisitions of players with close personal ties to Machado, with Jon Jay joining Yonder Alonso on the South Side. And the Phillies are reportedly lining up a second offer to present to Machado.

  • Ken Davidoff of the New York Post looks further at the Yanks’ thus-far tepid pursuit of Machado, noting that the club hasn’t yet even made him a formal offer. Clearly, there’s a point at which the Bronx Bombers would be thrilled to land Machado, but there isn’t much indication at this point that the team is going to bid up a massive, long-term guarantee. Meanwhile, the club’s recent signing of veteran Troy Tulowitzki may have been an interesting development, but it likely won’t have any kind of impact on the possible pursuit of Machado. As Davidoff notes, Tulo is hardly a clear difference-maker at this stage of his career. And the veteran himself tells MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter) that he’d be thrilled to have Machado join him in New York.
  • In years past, we might have been wondering whether the Tigers might be a surprise entrant to the Machado market. But the Detroit org is now deep in a rebuild, the timing of which is unclear. As Evan Woodbery of MLive.com writes, that’s by design. While the club has intentionally not put any dates on its anticipated return to competition, though, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some in mind. As GM Al Avila has acknowledged, the club’s ledger will be clear of some hefty obligations after the 2020 season. In the meantime, there’s still quite a lot to be done to build a new competitive core.
  • In other Tigers news, the club has added former MLB infielder Josh Wilson, albeit in a non-playing capacity. The 37-year-old is an eight-year big-league veteran who played his final season with the Detroit organization back in 2015. Wilson will begin his new career in the game in a scouting capacity. As Lynn Henning of the Detroit News covers, the club also announced a series of other staffing moves.
  • The White Sox are hoping their own rebound will occur much more quickly than that of their division rivals. Accordingly, the team is not only pursuing Machado but continues to hunt for quality veteran pieces to plug into its roster. Before agreeing to sign Kelvin Herrera yesterday, the Sox “were among the finalists” to ink fellow hard-throwing, right-handed reliever Joe Kelly, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (via Twitter). Kelly, of course, landed with the Dodgers for three years and $25MM. Clearly, the White Sox have knocked down quite a few doors this winter. It’ll be fascinating to see what other players they end up adding to the MLB roster.

Orioles To Sign Gregory Infante

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The Orioles have agreed to a deal with right-hander Gregory Infante, MLBTR’s Steve Adams has learned (Twitter link). It’s a minor-league arrangement for the Venezuelan hurler, who is repped by Godoy Sports.

Infante, 31, has seen action in each of the past two seasons with the White Sox — his first time in the big leagues since a brief showing way back in 2010. He provided 54 2/3 useful innings in the 2017 campaign, working to a 3.13 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Things didn’t go as well in 2018 for Infante, who struggled through nine frames in the majors. He did rack up a strong 51:10 K/BB ratio over fifty innings at Triple-A, though he was also touched for ten long balls and ended with a 4.50 ERA at Charlotte.

There’s opportunity aplenty in the Baltimore bullpen, so this looks to be a nice landing spot for Infante. As things stand, only a few O’s relief jobs seem to be sewn up, with most of the spots likely to be competed in camp this spring.

White Sox To Sign Jon Jay

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The White Sox and free agent outfielder Jon Jay have reportedly agreed to a deal. If he passes his physical, the CAA client will receive $4MM on a one-year term.

Jay, 33, would seem to represent a solid veteran addition to an outfield unit that is quite light on experience. The South Siders have already made multiple short-term additions even while pursuing bigger fish.

A contact-oriented, left-handed hitter, Jay has posted an exactly league-average 100 OPS+ output at the plate over the course of nine MLB seasons. Of course, that overall mark has suffered over the past four seasons, over which Jay has mustered only a .272/.340/.351 slash (86 OPS+) — a significant dip in comparison to his prior levels of productivity.

It certainly does not hurt that Jay has ample experience in center field — an area of need for the Sox. He only lined up there for 223 innings last year, but has spent the bulk of his career up the middle.

All things considered, the veteran ballplayer profiles more as a second-division regular or as a platoon asset for a contending team. That’s no knock on Jay, who is a steady performer. But there’s virtually no pop in his bat, with a lifetime .093 isolated power mark. And his typically strong on-base abilities haven’t been quite as reliable of late, with sub-.340 OBP figures in three of the past four seasons.

Jay has also typically been more productive against right-handed pitching, though not dramatically so. He could conceivably pair with the right-handed-hitting Adam Engel up the middle in Chicago. It’s also possible Jay could spend some or most of his time in a corner spot. The club’s remaining offseason moves will no doubt dictate the ultimate alignment.

As Rosenthal notes, the potential addition of Jay represents another eyebrow-raising move from the Chicago organization. Jay and the recently acquired Yonder Alonso train in the offseason with superstar free agent Manny Machado, who is a prime target of the White Sox.

Ken Rosenthal and Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link) reported that the sides were in serious talks. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported (Twitter links) that the deal was done and included the terms.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Harper, Machado, Rendon, Cubs, Mets

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As outfielder Bryce Harper prepares to sit down with the Phillies, still-early intrigue seems to be brewing in his market. Notably, the Philadelphia organization has yet to make any formal offers to Harper, per NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury, who notes it’s still not certain whether the team will do so. As has long been rumored, Manny Machado is still the apparent top choice of the Phils brass. Notably, per Salisbury, the club is “expected to make another offer” to Machado this week as his own market continues to develop.

  • Of course, Harper’s long-time club in D.C. still has interest in a reunion, with some intriguing recent information emerging of late. But that drama may be overshadowing an equally important aspect of the Nationals’ offseason: the possibility of a deal with pending free agent Anthony Rendon. As Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post writes, this Friday’s deadline to swap arbitration salary submissions may push the sides to think hard about the broader contractual situation. If talks on a long-term deal are progressing, perhaps the sides won’t bother trying to nail down a 2019 salary at this point. If not, they could well focus more energy on settling on an arb number before the exchange deadline. Beyond that, of course, there’s the question of Harper’s status and how it’ll tie into that of Rendon — who’s also a client of agent Scott Boras.
  • If all that’s not intriguing enough, the conflicting signals surrounding the Cubs’ interest in Harper remain an oddity of the winter. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic weighs in on the matter in a subscription post, suggesting there’s no reason to believe there’s a match. Indeed, per Rosenthal, the Chicago front office is so strapped for 2019 payroll space that it more or less can’t make any further acquisitions without clearing the cash to do so. The example he gives is reliever Adam Warren, the former Cubs hurler who performed better after his departure from the club. While Warren is certainly deserving of a MLB job and guaranteed money, there’s no reason to think he’ll be a particularly expensive player. As Rosenthal notes, there are still some available ways for the Cubs to clear salary space, though most would seem to involve weakening the MLB roster. Affording Harper, then, would seemingly require a change of heart from ownership or some true creativity.
  • As Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen continues to tinker with the club’s 40-man roster, Rosenthal adds, it’s possible there’ll be a few more departures. Backstops Travis d’Arnaud and Tomas Nido have drawn interest and could follow Kevin Plawecki out the door. In such a scenario, it seems, the Mets would go onto the open market for another catcher. Dumping d’Arnaud would have the added benefit of clearing some real payroll space, though obviously a replacement would cost something as well.
  • Notably, as he continues to seek ways to upgrade the Mets bullpen, Van Wagenen seems largely to have run through his available funds, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). It seems the organization will mostly be bargain-hunting the rest of the way. That also explains the fact that the Mets have seemingly bowed out of the market for expensive outfielders. Per Andy Martino of SNY.tv, via Twitter, the club isn’t shopping Juan Lagares in trades — though a deal still hasn’t been ruled out entirely — and expects him to line up in center field, where he’ll be supplemented by the just-acquired Keon Broxton. Presumably, Broxton will also spell the team’s left-handed-hitting corner outfielders as well.

Phillies Planning Face-To-Face Meeting With Bryce Harper

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JANUARY 7: The meeting will occur this coming Saturday, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Phillies owner John Middleton will head up a contingent that will visit Harper and Boras in Las Vegas.

JANUARY 2: The Phillies are planning to meet with Bryce Harper in Las Vegas within “the next week or so,” a source tells NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury.  This comes on the heels of a Winter Meetings chat between the team and Scott Boras, Harper’s agent, that wasn’t attended by the free agent outfielder.

While Philadelphia has long been linked to Harper, it seems the team has directed much of its attention towards Manny Machado in recent weeks.  Reports from the aftermath of Machado’s visit with the team indicated that the Phillies preferred Machado to Harper if they had to pick between the two superstars, and Salisbury writes that “Machado remains the Phillies’ primary focus.”  That said, the Phillies know they have at least two other major suitors for Machado in the form of the Yankees and White Sox, so obviously it makes for the Phils to explore all options with Harper should Machado sign elsewhere.

The more nebulous nature of Harper’s market also presents some opportunity for the Phillies to strike, while there is some sense of a “final three” for Machado, there has yet to be such a level of concrete public interest exhibited by Harper’s suitors.  The Dodgers, Nationals, White Sox, and Cubs (if they can free up some payroll) all have at least some level of interest in Harper, though other potential suitors like the Yankees, Cardinals, Giants, or Braves all seem to be on the periphery of talks, if involved whatsoever.  Some teams already held face-to-face meetings with Harper during the Winter Meetings or at Harper’s home in Las Vegas, though the exact identities of the teams involved is still somewhat vague.

The Phillies have a clear positional need for Harper and seemingly little in the way of payroll constraints that other teams are facing to fit Harper within the luxury tax threshold.  Therefore, there’s certainly room for the Phils to push their way to the front of the pack if they so desire.  If the Phillies would indeed “probably have to significantly outbid the Yankees to land” Machado, as Salisbury writes, Philadelphia might prefer to simply direct its resources to a superstar that the Yankees (seemingly) aren’t pursuing.

Mets, David Wright Mutually Agree To Release; Wright Joins Front Office

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3:28pm: Per a club announcement, the Mets and Wright have “mutually agreed” upon his release from the active roster. He’ll take on a new role as a special advisor to COO Jeff Wilpon and Van Wagenen. Though the specifics of his new position were not divulged, SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that Wright will spend less time in uniform as a coach/mentor than other retired players-turned-front office advisors and will spend more time actually in the front office.

“David attended the recent Winter Meetings at the suggestion of myself and Brodie Van Wagenen where he contributed throughout with our baseball operations group and wanted to pursue this route,” said Wilpon in a statement accompanying the press release. “We are thrilled he will remain close to the Mets family and will be a great asset in this new role.”

There’s no mention of the remaining money on his contract, though presumably the Mets reached a buyout agreement with the insurance company. The new role for Wright opens up a spot for Wright on the 40-man roster, which had previously been full.

12:30pm: David Wright’s playing days are done, but the Mets icon will transition into a front office role with the team and serve as a special assistant to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen moving forward, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports.

Wright, of course, is still under contract with the Mets for another two seasons but made clear upon his emotional return to the field in late September that the lone game he started would be the final one of his career. After more than two years of grueling rehab from neck, shoulder and spinal injuries, medical professionals informed Wright that his condition simply would not improve to the point where he could safely resume the rigors of playing baseball professionally. Wright is owed $27MM through the 2020 season, though that sum is heavily insured, and the Mets are working toward a buyout arrangement that would not require Wright to be on the 40-man roster throughout the remainder of this offseason and next offseason. (Simply releasing him would mean paying the whole $27MM sum.)

Ackert notes that Wright’s role will be a part-time position that allows him to stay involved in the game and with an organization to which he remains extremely loyal, while still affording him ample time to spend with his family. Such roles are hardly uncommon for retired players — particularly those who had a long history with a specific organization. Ichiro Suzuki moved into that type of role with the Mariners early last season, and the Twins gave Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and LaTroy Hawkins comparable positions a couple years ago. Michael Young holds a similar position in the Rangers organization, and a look through the front-office directories throughout the game would reveal dozens more familiar names.

Responsibilities involved with special assistant roles vary case by case, though it’s common for former players turned special assistants to be on-hand as a coach/mentor in Spring Training. They also frequently visit minor league affiliates throughout the season to work with younger players as they rise through organizational ranks. Some also have a hand in evaluations leading up the amateur draft each June and also in various player development and in internal player evaluation.

Mets, Hector Santiago Agree To Minor League Deal

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Jan. 7: Santiago’s deal comes with a $2MM base salary in the Majors and allows him to earn an extra $100K for every fifth start up through 25 total starts, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The contract contains an out clause that stipulates the Mets will release Santiago on July 31 if he’s not on the MLB roster and if another club is willing to put him on its 25-man roster.

Jan. 5: The Mets have reportedly picked up some rotation and bullpen depth, adding veteran left-hander Hector Santiago on a minor league deal. He’ll head to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Santiago is repped by Excel Sports.

Santiago, 31, appeared in 49 games (7 starts) for the White Sox last season, pitching to a sub-replacement-level 4.41 ERA/5.09 FIP/5.38 xFIP in 102 IP. The journeyman lefty apparently brought back one of the league’s only screwballs last season – which he featured regularly in his first stint on the Southside – in an effort to rejuvenate a floundering career. He was, yet again, quite homer-prone, surrendering 1.41 big flies per nine, a mark just slightly above his career average of 1.37 HR/9 a season.

The lefty has shown occasional aptitude for the strikeout over the course of his career, but it’s too often been offset by command issues – Santiago walked 5.29 men per nine last season, and has yet to finish a single big-league campaign with a total under 3.5 BB/9 in that category. He’ll look to compete for the 5th-starter role in the Mets’ rotation, currently occupied by Jason Vargas, with Seth Lugo, Corey Oswalt, and others – P.J. Conlon, Drew Gagnon, Chris Flexen, and more – also in the mix.

In 887 career MLB innings pitched with the ChiSox, Angels, and Twins, Santiago sports a career 4.05 ERA/4.88 FIP/5.05 xFIP.  The lefty, it should be noted, is one of the rare pitchers to outperform his fielding-independent marks in every career season, owing in large part to his stellar 77% career strand rate.

Rich Mancuso first reported that the Mets and Santiago had a deal (Twitter link), and SNY’s Andy Martino clarified that it was a minor league pact (Twitter link).

White Sox To Sign Kelvin Herrera

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3:06pm: Herrera’s third-year option is valued at $10MM with a $1MM buyout, tweets Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago / 670 The Score. That indicates that Herrera will earn $17MM between the first two seasons of the deal, with the buyout making up the remainder of that $18MM guarantee. The exact terms of the vesting option remain unclear, though Levine notes that Herrera will need to be healthy in both 2019 and 2020 for it to vest, so it’s likely a combined number of innings pitched or appearances that’ll trigger the third year. As with all vesting options, it’ll revert to a straight club option if Herrera does not meet the designated criteria.

1:45pm: The White Sox are in agreement with free-agent righty Kelvin Herrera on a two-year contract that will promise him $18MM, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The Wasserman client’s contract will also come with a vesting option for a third season. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that the vesting option could bring the total value of the deal to $27MM.

Kelvin Herrera | Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Given the manner in which Herrera’s season ended, the righty looks to have done quite well for himself in free agency. Herrera was lights out in Kansas City top open the season and was the centerpiece of an early-June trade sending him from Kansas City to the Nationals. Herrera, though, wasn’t as effective in Washington, as the superb control he showed with the Royals regressed and he became uncharacteristically homer-prone.

Those flaws might’ve been little more than a small-sample blip, but Herrera did hit the disabled list for just under two weeks due to a shoulder impingement. More concerning, however, was the foot injury that ended Herrera’s season. The righty tore the Lisfranc ligament in his left foot in late August — an injury that comes with a lengthy rehab process and can have lingering effects down the line. Herrera was said to be jogging in early December but, at that point, had not yet progressed to throwing at full strength. Based on the size of his contract, it seems that the ChiSox are expecting him to be available for the majority, if not all of the 2019 season.

Prior to his hiccup on the mound with the Nats and his subsequent season-ending injury, Herrera looked primed for perhaps the second-biggest payday on the relief market this winter (behind Craig Kimbrel). He only just turned 29 on New Year’s Eve, placing him among the youngest free-agent relievers on the market. He was also nothing short of dominant to begin the season in K.C., pitching to a 1.05 ERA with a pristine 22-to-2 K/BB ratio in 25 2/3 innings. That level of control was likely unsustainable for Herrera, meaning the same applied to his ERA, but he nonetheless looked legitimately dominant. He was averaging better than 96 mph on his heater with a 14.4 percent swinging-strike rate and an otherworldly 40.5 percent opponents’ chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone. Simply put, he looked well on his way to proving that a down season in 2017 was a fluke.

Given his age and a generally excellent track record, we at MLBTR predicted that Herrera would sign a one-year deal with an eye toward reentering free agency in advance of his age-30 season next winter. It’s hard to blame him, though, for preferring the security of a guaranteed multi-year deal — especially considering that he could still once again return to the market before his age-32 campaign even if he maxes out the value of the contract. As pitchers such as Andrew Miller and David Robertson have already demonstrated this winter, it’s certainly plausible for pitchers to secure hefty annual values on multi-year deals even as they enter their mid-30s.

Herrera will pair with trade acquisition Alex Colome to give the ChiSox a dramatic and much-needed upgrade at the back end of the bullpen. That duo, teamed with a hopefully healthier Nate Jones, will give manager Rick Renteria a trio of high-caliber right-handers to deploy in the late innings as the Sox look to begin to emerge from a multi-year rebuilding process. Of course, Chicago still has myriad other needs to address; in addition to questionable outfield mix — Eloy Jimenez looms, but Nicky Delmonico, Adam Engel and Daniel Palka are lined up at present — the Pale Hose will likely need to add some established talent to the rotation beyond already-acquired Ivan Nova if they indeed aim to be competitive in a weak AL Central. They’ll be without top prospect Michael Kopech in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery, while former top prospect Lucas Giolito has yet to prove his mettle in the big leagues.

As for the rest of the lineup, the Sox, as everyone knows at this point, are aiming big. They’ve been prominently linked to Manny Machado and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Bryce Harper. While the addition of Herrera won’t be a tipping point in the Sox’ courtship of either star free agent, it certainly can’t hurt to show the pair that the organization is willing to add some recognizable assets in an effort to turn the tides after several seasons of playoff misses.

Orioles Agree To Minor League Deal With Carlos Perez

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The Orioles have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent catcher Carlos Perez, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training and would earn a $650K base salary upon making the big league roster.

Perez, 28, appeared in 20 games for the Rangers and another eight for the Braves in 2018, hitting a combined .143/.178/.214 in a tiny sample of 75 plate appearances. Perez has never hit much in the Majors, though last year’s struggles were a new low point in terms of his offensive output; he’s a lifetime .215/.257/.319 hitter in 670 PAs — all of which came with the Angels with the exception of last year’s brief stints in Atlanta and Texas.

For all of his offensive deficiencies, Perez is a gifted defender behind the plate. He’s thrown out a terrific 38 percent of attempted base thieves in his MLB career and a similarly strong 36 percent in parts of 11 minor league seasons. He’s also regularly received average or better grades for his framing and pitch blocking abilities, per Baseball Prospectus.

Chance Sisco, Austin Wynns and Andrew Susac are the only catchers on the Orioles’ 40-man roster, and none of that trio has proven himself capable of producing at the game’s top level just yet. While there’s hope that Sisco, long one of the game’s top catching prospects, will take that step forward in the near future, it’s also not a surprise to see Baltimore add some defensive-minded insurance on the cheap, given the uncertainty that permeates the catching corps at present.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Yankees, Ottavino, Trumbo, Bleier

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We’re all familiar with the “mystery team” as a Hot Stove idiosyncrasy, but how about a “mystery player?” Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston writes that the Red Sox have been discussing a contract extension with a core player, though he adds that it’s “unclear” which player has been the focus of those talks. Drellich notes that there doesn’t appear to be anything currently in the works with Mookie Betts, Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts or J.D. Martinez and speculatively suggests Andrew Benintendi could be the player in question. The 24-year-old Benintendi has batted .282/.359/.447 with 38 homers and 42 steals through his first 333 games at the MLB level in just over two seasons. He’s logged two years and 62 days of MLB service time, meaning he won’t be eligible for arbitration until next offseason and can be controlled through 2022.

As shown in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker, Mike Trout’s $144MM contract is the record for an outfielder with between two and three years of service, although while Benintendi’s two-plus years with the Red Sox have been strong, he obviously doesn’t have nearly as strong a case as Trout did in 2014. More relevant comparisons likely include Kevin Kiermaier’s six-year, $53.5MM deal with the Rays and the respective five-year contracts inked by Ender Inciarte ($30.525MM) and Odubel Herrera ($30.5MM) with the Braves and Phillies. It’s worth noting, though, that both Kiermaier and Inciarte were Super Two players, and Benintendi will fall shy of that distinction.

Here’s more from the AL East to help kick off the week…

  • The Yankees brought Zach Britton back into the fold over the weekend, but MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal indicated on the air this morning that the Yankees are also still talking to free-agent righty Adam Ottavino about a contract (video link). Adding both Britton and Ottavino, a New York native who’s been tied to the Yankees throughout the offseason, would make for a dynamic pairing with incumbent back-end options such as Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green and Dellin Betances, though presumably the addition of Britton at least somewhat lessens New York’s urgency when negotiating with Ottavino.
  • Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com provides updates on a pair of injured Orioles: designated hitter Mark Trumbo and left-hander Richard Bleier. Both players are expected to be ready for Opening Day, per new GM Mike Elias, but Trumbo’s case is a little murkier. The veteran slugger underwent surgery to a hole in the cartilage in his right knee — a procedure similar to the operation Dustin Pedroia had in Oct. 2017 — the lingering effects of which limited Pedroia to just three games in 2018. Trumbo has not yet progressed to running but feels that the strength in his knee is “where it needs to be” and adds that he is largely pain-free at this juncture. Bleier, meanwhile, suffered a grade 3 lat tear in his pitching shoulder in June but has progressed to throwing off flat ground without pain. His next step will be pitching off a mound. Kubatko also talked to both players about their early impressions of new skipper Brandon Hyde, which should be of particular interest to O’s fans.

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