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There is a big sigh of relief in the Texas Panhandle. After nearly three weeks, the Smokehouse Creek fire is finally 100 percent contained.
It was the largest and most destructive wildfire in state history, scorching more than 1 million acres, along with dozens of houses and structures.
Two people along with thousands of livestock were killed.
Officials believe the fire was started by power lines. One utility company, Xcel Energy admitted that some of their equipment may have played a role.
This week the U.S. Small Business Administration approved disaster loans for families impacted by the fires. The Texas Farm Bureau, the Department of Agriculture and many local livestock groups are also helping to get supplies to ranchers and farmers who lost so much of their livelihoods.
Longtime Southeastern Conference fans seem to be coping correctly now that the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners have wrapped up their first regular season in the league.
That includes Georgia Congressman Mike Collins, who used took the floor of the U.S House of Representatives to congratulate his Bulldogs on defeating Texas in the SEC Championship game. Collins didn’t stop there. He also demanded that Texas “be sent back to the Big 12.”
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to demand that Texas be sent back to the Big 12. pic.twitter.com/J1p6oqFr9K
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) December 10, 2024
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finally back at home #HookEm pic.twitter.com/S9MO3ZVQPU
— Texas Women’s Basketball (@TexasWBB) December 11, 2024
MLB
DALLAS — The Rangers have accomplished one of their primary offseason goals with a deal to re-sign Nate Eovaldi, the winning pitcher in their 2023 World Series clincher.
Texas has agreed on a $75 million, three-year contract with the righthander, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was subject to a successful physical.
Eovaldi became a free agent Nov. 4 after declining a vested $20 million player option for the 2025 season. The Rangers had expected that move, but said one of their priorities was to re-sign the Texas native who will turn 35 in February.
The two-time All-Star got a $2 million buyout from that option, which was earned by throwing more than 300 innings over his two years with the Rangers after joining them in free agency following 4½ seasons with the Red Sox.
His new deal came at the winter meetings on the same day Max Fried agreed with the Yankees on a $218 million, eight-year contract, the largest ever for a lefthander. Those moves leave 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star Corbin Burnes as the top pitcher still available on the free agent market. The righthander went 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA in 32 starts for the Orioles this year, his only season in Baltimore.
Eovaldi will stay in the Texas rotation with two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, who made three starts at the end of last season after missing nearly 17 months following right elbow surgery. The Rangers won all six of deGrom’s starts at the beginning of the 2023 season before he got hurt that April.
Texas acquired Eovaldi and deGrom in free agency before the 2023 season. Eovaldi’s two-year deal then was for $34 million, with $16 million salaries each season, plus the buyout. That was after deGrom, now 36, signed for $185 million over five years.
When the Rangers made the run to their first World Series title in 2023, Eovaldi was 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA in six postseason starts. He was the winning pitcher in their World Series-clinching Game 5 at Arizona.
Eovaldi went 24-13 with a 3.72 ERA in 54 starts over the past two seasons, and had 298 strikeouts in 314⅔ innings. He was 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA in 29 starts this year. He threw seven scoreless innings at the Angels to win the season finale for the Rangers, who finished 78-84 and missed the playoffs.
Texas is the sixth big league team for Eovaldi, who is 91-81 with a 4.07 ERA in 294 career games (275 starts) since his debut in 2011 with the Dodgers. Besides the Red Sox, he also has pitched for Miami, the Yankees, and Tampa Bay.
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The Texas Rangers, looking to get back to being an elite offense, agreed to acquire corner infield bat Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins for three prospects late Tuesday night, three people confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal initially reported that the Rangers had acquired the infielder, who has averaged about 31 homers the last two years with the Marlins and White Sox. The Rangers are sending infield prospects Max Acosta, Echedry Vargas and pitching prospect Brayan Mendoza to Miami in the deal.
Burger, who turns 29 in April, brings pure power on the cheap to the Rangers lineup. In addition to hitting 63 homers over the last two years, he also falls just six service days shy of being a Super Two arbitration player, meaning he will be paid under $800,000 in 2025 and the Rangers will control him through 2028. He was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox and is close friends with Rangers’ pitcher Dane Dunning.
He could also give the club some flexibility for making another trade to potentially create more payroll flexibility. Left-handed hitting first baseman Nate Lowe is set to make $10 million or more in arbitration in 2025. But Burger could also simply be plugged in as a right-handed hitting first baseman or as a DH and also gives the Rangers additional insurance at third base where Josh Jung has dealt with a number of injuries.
For his career, Burger has equal splits against lefties (a .794 OPS) and right-handers (.787), but his splits tilted towards the reverse side in 2024 when he had a .799 OPS against right-handers and .678 against lefties.
He also gives the Rangers some insurance against the fastball. Burger slugged .645 against four-seamers last year, which ranked 11th in major league baseball, just behind Fernando Tatis Jr. and just ahead of Shohei Ohtani.
Vargas, who spent the whole season at Class A Down East, is the only one of the three prospects in The Dallas Morning News’ latest top 30 Rangers prospects rankings, checking in at No. 14. Acosta was once one of the Rangers’ top prospects, but bounced back with a nice year at Double-A Frisco before compiling a .934 OPS in the Arizona Fall League and was recently added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster. Mendoza turns 21 years old in January and spent 2024 with Class A Down East and Class A Hickory.
The deal also demonstrates the value of deep international scouting finds. While Acosta received $1.65 million coming out of Venezuela, Mendoza ($20,000) and Vargas ($10,000) were low-dollar signings from the international program.
The move comes on the heels of the Rangers retaining their most important free agent, Nathan Eovaldi, agreeing to a three-year, $75 million deal with the veteran starter.
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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