Archive April 7, 2025

The Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr have agreed to a 14-year, $500m contract extension, multiple media outlets reported.

The deal, leaked on Sunday, reportedly includes no deferred money, making it the second most valuable contract in present value in the majors, surpassed only by Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765m deal, reached in December.

Guerrero, a four-time All-Star and the MVP runner-up in 2021, was set to become a free agent at the end of the season. By locking him up now, Toronto avoids the risk of getting into a massive bidding war on the open market.

For his career, the 26-year-old has 160 home runs, 511 RBIs (or runs batted in), and a .287 batting average in 829 games. Last season, he hit 30 home runs and drove in 103 RBIs with a .323/.396/.544 batting line.

In 10 games this season, Guerrero is hitting .256 with no home runs and four RBIs.

In response to declining voter support, Australia’s main opposition party has abandoned election pledges to end remote working arrangements for public servants and fire tens of thousands of government employees.

The center-right Liberal Party leader, Peter Dutton, acknowledged on Monday that the proposals were “mistakes.”

In an interview with Channel Nine, Dutton said, “I think it’s important that we say and acknowledge it, and our intention was to make sure that where taxpayers are working hard and their money is being spent paying wages, it’s being spent efficiently.”

Former Queensland police officer Dutton had promised to eliminate 41, 000 positions from the public payroll and forbid government employees from working from the office five days a week.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, doubted his opponent’s all-out demeanor last month when he called a May 3 national election.

According to Albanese, “Peter Dutton wants to undermine work rights and, in particular, doesn’t understand contemporary families, doesn’t understand the crucial role that women and men play in family life,” he told reporters.

In recent polling, Albanese’s center-left Labor Party outperforms Dutton’s Liberal Party-led coalition, despite the close race.

Labor led the Coalition 52-48 in a head-to-head matchup in the most recent Newspoll survey, up one point from the previous poll.

The election campaign has been dominated by cost-of-living issues, including a severe housing affordability crisis.

Although the majority of the vote will likely go to Labor or the Coalition, polls have indicated that there is a high chance of a hung parliament.

The Los Angeles Lakers exploded to win a surprising 126-99 victory over the No. 1 in a devastating display of long-range shooting with Luka Doncic scoring 30 points. Oklahoma City Thunder ranked No. 1.

Los Angeles rattled in 15 three-pointers, a franchise record, to give the West Conference leaders a 78-56 lead in the second quarter, effectively ending a heavyweight showdown between the third-placed Lakers and the Western Conference leaders.

With a comfortable win over Oklahoma City, the Lakers never looked like giving up that significant double-digit cushion.

After beating Oklahoma City and Houston, the Lakers were one of the four remaining automatic playoff spots in the West.

Doncic was responsible for five of the Lakers’ 22 three-pointers throughout the entire contest. LeBron James added 19 points while Austin Reaves made four three-pointers with his 20-point total.

The Thunder, who shot just 43 percent from the field and made only 12-of-37 three-pointers, led the Oklahoma City scoring with 26 points on an off-night.

After a quick start against the Western Conference leaders, James claimed that the Lakers were determined to stay put.

The best teams in the NBA are Cleveland and them, James said. You can’t let up, no matter what the score is because they’re the West’s top team because they’re always going to push themselves. Because of this, they are still in this season.

We’re just trying to develop our habits at the moment, in the middle of the year, to capitalize on it. So, that’s a really good win for us and one we can build on.

Reaves thinks the outcome will be positive for the regular season’s final week, which kicks off on April 13th.

From the third-placed Lakers (48-30) to the eighth-placed Memphis Grizzlies (46-32), six teams are vying for four playoff spots in the West.

” It’s huge, “Reaves said”. You can move up from third to eighth with the simple click of a finger. It’s significant for us to enter and play such a strong team as we did tonight. Hopefully, that momentum will continue.

On Tuesday in Oklahoma City, the teams will meet again.

For the first time since November 15, the Thunder have scored less than 100 points.