San Diego, CA
Nick Canepa: Hard to believe AJ Preller’s on the hot seat given the work he put into ’24 club
Sez Me …
Baseball was founded on two things: Failure and rumor.
Gossip is much more fun, although in this era of Unsocial Media, the grapes from the vine can be stupid-bitter and much more toxic than anything Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper came up with during Hollywood’s golden age.
Anyway, as the second half of the MLB season begins, one has caught my eye, the snowballing rumor that Padres GM A.J. Preller’s seat is white-hot, that he will be out if his team doesn’t make the playoffs (a distinct possibility) and spend his time scouting Latin America, where he can find players to trade away.
It’s not surprising. But I’ve heard this all before, and I remain hard to convince.
It’s not a Manhattan Project secret that I’m not a fan of Preller, nor him of me. That’s fine. I have managed to get by without his bon mots during his time in charge, and somehow — thanks largely to late owner Peter Seidler’s loyalty to his GM — so has he.
He’s working on his fourth manager (Mike “Rose Colored Glasses” Shildt), and has yet to do much of anything more than spend hundreds of millions of Seidler’s money. His record is almost 100 games below .500. I can think of no GM — outside of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — who could get away with losing for so long.
But, I have been thinking this team may be Preller’s best work. As it is at this moment, it isn’t even a good club, terribly uneven, with awful elevator moments of good, just enough, and zilch.
While I’m certain the current ineptitude of the game as a whole has helped them remain hovering at .500, they have managed to remain in playoff contention despite their foibles.
Consider:
• The Pads’ top two starters — Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove — have been absent forever. Yu, citing personal issues, may be gone for the season. Joe could be back in a month. What Preller has done with the starting unit during their absence has provided enough buoyancy to keep their heads above the waves.
• Fernando Tatis Jr., their best player, the game’s best right fielder and up there among the most gifted athletes, has a stress reaction in his right femur and hasn’t played since June 21. There remains no timeline for his return.
• Manny Machado’s offseason elbow surgery damaged him at the plate for many weeks and he’s just now coming around to being a threat with the bat.
• Preller’s signing of left fielder Jurickson Profar prior to the season seemed like a $1-million afterthought to most (not me). He’s been their best player and his enthusiasm brings fun to the dreary.
• Expensive Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been near what he was in Boston, but he missed a lot of time with a busted shoulder and has just returned. Maybe he’s not as advertised, but there is threat there. He isn’t a stiff and you start because you’re better than your replacements.
• Robert Suarez has been a find as the closer.
• Ha-Seong Kim is a fine fielding shortstop with a Gold Glove, and yet through most of the first half he was far too unreliable. He’s improved, but he’s been a run-saver in the past. Saving runs can mean wins.
• Preller drafted Jackson Merrill as a shortstop, and lacking a center fielder — so important in Petco — he put Jackson out there. Success. He’s a Rookie of the Year candidate and an All-Star.
• Preller made a trade with Miami for Luis Arraez, a batting champion in both leagues. He can hit a baseball with great regularity, although he isn’t very good at doing anything else. His production has dropped recently due to a jammed thumb, which makes me wonder why the hell he’s been playing with it.
I can just guess how much weight baseball managers carry. Shildt, who doesn’t seem to believe the media and fans have eyes, is a strong candidate for World Optimist Hall of Fame, who all too often sprays cologne on crap. But somehow he’s been a captain managing to throw enough lifesavers to keep his team afloat.
If Preller holds to form, he will buy, not sell, at the trade deadline — even if his team doesn’t appear playoff-worthy.
Alas, if the Padres play into October, the fishes will be sleeping alongside the rumors. …
Nerds say home plate umps blew nearly 17,000 ball-and-strike calls during the first half. So I don’t want to hear the blue men aren’t getting better. …
A Dodger won Home Run Derby. Now I like it even less. …
Derby TV ratings were the lowest since 2014. America (partially) wising up. …
Baseball’s All-Star Game is the only one of its kind that can do it. Players should wear their team uniforms. The ones they wore last week were designed by people who were asked by MLB fashion geniuses to come up with something swell after spending their entire lives in caves. …
Great news for the rest of the AFC East. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is dumping his other business interests to focus on the team. …
Billions of dollars are being spent on quarterbacks. And yet Patrick Mahomes is the only active NFL QB under 35 who has won a Super Bowl. …
Caleb Williams wanted more money from the Bears than he got in NIL at USC. Barely exceeded it — $39 million over four years. …
Baseball sign: “Nobody cares how hard you throw ball four.” …
San Diego sign on a car: “Dodging potholes. Not drunk.” We have so much to be proud of. …
RIP, brilliant Bob Newhart. When he arrived at Johnny Carson’s palatial Malibu home: “Where’s the front desk?” When asked why he never corrected his stammer: “What do you think got me my home in Beverly Hills?” …
RIP, Abner Haynes. There are backs in the Hall of Fame who weren’t Abner. …
RIP, Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten everything you taught me. …
RIP, Richard Simmons. I never tried to do anything you taught me. …
RIP, Joe Bryant. I liked Jelly a lot, a marvelous talent who, unlike son Kobe, couldn’t consistently put it to use. …
Princess Kate went to Wimbledon and a big deal was made of it. Just because she had to pay for tickets. …
Rafael Devers home-runned so hard it broke a seat in Fenway. Know what that means? Bad seat. …
Fans broke through security prior to the Copa America finale when they heard it was possible a goal might be scored. …
Ingrid Andress admits she was drunk during her All-Star Game butchering of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” There’s never been a clear explanation as to why it’s sung prior to our sporting events. But, patriotic as I am, I have to say that, if it were not, anthem problems would be few. …
I don’t know how many people go into work anymore, but if you do, does the anthem play before you sit down at your desk? …
If you “almost” did something, you didn’t do something. …
I know enough about politics to believe that, if you’re passing the torch, you’d better be sure the person you’re passing it to can grab it.
Originally Published:
Karepango, the colorful and unapologetic brand that aims to bring a smile in the most unexpected time, is coming to Comic-Con to spread joy, and give attendees the chance to show the world they are imperfect, yet still proud.
Find them at booth #5034, located in the Hall G area of the convention center, and will have dozens of their classic bestsellers, recent products and even a brand new exclusive (and very limited) shirt.
All purchases will receive free gifts, with an extra special gift for purchases over $100.
All clothing is available in sizes XS through 2XL, but in limited quantities per size.
Let’s get shopping:
Have A Good Day Shirts – $48
Limited to 75 pieces
Purple or brown with front and back printing
100% Cotton Knit Sweaters – $88
Oversized and pre-shrunk
100% Cotton T-Shirts – $48
Various Designs
Oversized and pre-shrunk
Tote Bags, Plush Bags, Puffy Bags, IRO Bags, All Sorts of Bags – $28-$45
Various designs
Drink Holders, Mesh Pouches, Nylon Pouches, Headbands, Blind Box Toys, Plush Trinkets – $15-$25
Various designs
Caps, Bucket Hats, Plush Hats, Beanies – $28-$30
Various designs
Bags, Plush, Rugs, Scarves – $50-$80
Various designs
Stickers, Socks, Pins, Air Fresheners – $4-$15
Various designs
Seek and ye shall find:
Travel back more than 250 million years with PBS Eons during a special San Diego Comic-Con preview screening of Eons: Life and Death on Pangea before the series officially premieres.
On Saturday, July 25 at 10am, attendees can watch the first episode of the new four-part miniseries, which explores the Permian Period and the “Great Dying,” Earth’s largest known mass extinction event that wiped out more than 80% of all species.
Following the screening, hosts Gabriel-Philip Santos and Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, along with series writer Farhan Mitha, will take fans behind the scenes of the production and stick around for a Q&A about bringing this prehistoric world to life.
San Diego, CA
Gibraltar ushers in a new era as British territory’s border fence with Spain is removed
MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people who travel every day between the southern tip of Spain and the British territory of Gibraltar will no longer have to cross a physical border, beginning on Wednesday.
The official opening at midnight on Tuesday, after a border fence was removed, allows a new freedom of movement under a historic treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It came after years of post-Brexit wrangling.
The contested British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in a strategic location mere miles from Morocco where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Soon after midnight, crowds crossed freely between Spain’s La Línea de Concepción and Gibraltar in both directions. Many wore Spanish soccer jerseys after Spain’s victory against France in the World Cup semifinal on Tuesday, adding to the celebratory mood.
“What you feel here is the brotherhood between the two people,” Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Spanish broadcaster RTVE.
A deal that took years to realize
When Britain left the EU in 2020, the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc had been left unresolved.
Previous talks on a deal to ensure people and goods could keep flowing across the border had made halting progress. In 2025, the EU and U.K. announced an agreement on those issues, with the two sides and Gibraltar’s government signing a treaty Tuesday that eases border crossings.
The U.K.’s Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said Tuesday that the agreement secured Gibraltar’s long-term economic future and interests.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative, praised the agreement, too.
“It has taken four years of patient, complex negotiation, but the outcome speaks for itself,” Šefčovič said. “It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down.”
Without a deal, Gibraltar could have a faced a hard land border with full passport checks, posing economic risks for the territory deeply dependent on some 15,000 Spaniards — almost half Gibraltar’s workforce — who cross the frontier every day for work.
Mendez Segura, 51, crossed into Gibraltar from Spain on Wednesday for work, unused to the newfound freedom of movement.
“I’ve been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card,” the home care worker said. “I know you’ll be able to cross without it, but it’s just what I’m used to.”
Leisure visits by people crossing both sides of the border would have been affected, too.
“People who are visiting family in Spain, or whose Spanish family is visiting them in Gibraltar. Children who are going to football matches and extracurricular activities, either in Spain or in Gibraltar. They will be able to do that without having to worry about frontier queues,” Picardo told The Associated Press in an interview.
The deal in effect brings the territory into the EU’s Schengen free travel area. At Gibraltar’s airport and port, entry and exit checks will be conducted by both U.K. and Spanish border officials. The arrangement is similar to what’s in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris, where both British and French officials check passports.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations between the two countries on the issue of Gibraltar have had their ups and downs over the centuries. The treaty that removed the border fence does not resolve the territory’s contested status.
In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in the Rock, as the territory is popularly known in English, supported remaining in the EU.
Travelers to Gibraltar from countries outside the Schengen Area, including the U.K., will have to contend with the EU Entry-Exit System, or EES, which was rolled out in Europe in April and replaced passport stamps with biometric data collected through photographs and digital fingerprints.
Facial recognition cameras at the Rock
With the border fence gone, Gibraltar officials have set up live facial recognition cameras at entry points and throughout the territory.
Chief Minister Picardo said the territory will have many more CCTV cameras and that it has increased its police presence as well as resources for customs and Coast Guard agencies.
“The fortress has become a digital fortress now,” Picardo said.
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