San Diego, CA
Progress report: Chicago Cubs
CHICAGO CUBS
- 2024 finish: 83-79 (2nd in NL Central)
- Manager: Craig Counsell (2nd season, 83-79)
- Leading the front office: Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations (5th season)
DOLLARS AND SENSE
- Largest luxury tax hit: SS Dansby Swanson ($25.3 million)
- Top returning player(s): SS Dansby Swanson (4.3 fWAR), INF Nico Hoerner (3.9), OF Ian Happ (3.6)
- Top returning starting pitcher(s): LHP Shota Imanaga (3.0 fWAR), LHP Justin Steele (3.0), RHP Jameson Taillon (2.3)
- Top returning reliever(s): RHP Porter Hodge (0.9 fWAR), RHP Tyson Miller (0.5), RHP Nate Pearson (0.2)
ROSTER WATCH
- Key additions: OF Kyle Tucker (trade), RHP Ryan Pressly (trade), LHP Matthew Boyd (free agent), C Carson Kelly (free agent), 1B Justin Turner (free agent), LHP Caleb Thielbar (free agent), INF Vidal Brujan (trade), RHP Cody Poteet (trade), 3B Jon Berti (free agent), RHP Colin Rea (free agent), RHP Eli Morgan (free agent), RHP Ryan Brasier (trade), RHP Phil Bickford (minors), OF Travis Jankowski (minors), C Reese McGuire (minors).
- Key losses: OF Cody Bellinger (trade), RHP Hayden Wesneski (trade), 3B Isaac Paredes (trade), RHP Kyle Hendricks (free agent), C Matt Thaiss (trade), RHP Jorge Lopez (free agent), RHP Yency Almonte (free agent), LHP Drew Smyly (free agent), C Christian Bethancourt (free agent), 1B Matt Mervis (trade), OF Mike Tauchman (free agent), SS Miles Mastrobuoni (trade), RHP Adbert Alzolay (free agent), RHP Trey Wingenter (free agent), 1B Patrick Wisdom (free agent), OF Brennan Davis (free agent), 3B Nick Madrigal (free agent), RHP Juan Bello (trade).
- Baseball America top-100 prospect(s): 3B Matt Shaw (35), RHP Cade Horton (54), C Moises Ballesteros (62), OF Owen Caissie (64), OF Kevin Alcantara (71).
KEEP AN EYE ON
- The Cubs ended their Word Series drought in 2016 and made the playoffs in three of the four ensuing seasons before tearing down. They’ve won 83 games each of the last two seasons and have pushed their chips back toward the middle in the NL Central, trading RHP Hayden Wesneski, 3B Isaac Paredes and prospect Cam Smith for OF Kyle Tucker’s walk year. Tucker agreed to a $16.5 million salary to avoid arbitration, but the trade will make a lot more sense if the Cubs can work out an extension.
- Trading away Paredes opens the door for prospect Matt Shaw to win the third base job. The 2023 first-rounder hit 21 homers between Double-A and Triple-A last year and could team with 1B Michael Busch (.775 OPS, 21 HR in 2024) to give the Cubs a young nucleus on the corners, not unlike Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo during their 2016 run.
- The Cubs are running out a new-look bullpen in 2025, led by the trade for RHP Ryan Pressly, who has 112 saves and a 3.27 ERA over his 12-year career. Pressly saved as many as 33 games in 2022 for the Astros. Other newcomers include RHPs Ryan Brasier, Eli Morgan and Colin Rea and LHP Caleb Thielbar.
PECOTA projection: 91.8 wins
PECOTA RANKINGS
(As of March 18)
- 91.8 wins | Chicago Cubs
- 91.3 wins | New York Mets
- 90.4 wins | Texas Rangers
- 88.2 wins | Baltimore Orioles
- 87.8 wins | Houston Astros
- 87.4 wins | Arizona Diamondbacks
- 87.3 wins | San Diego Padres
- 87.1 wins | Minnesota Twins
- 86.2 wins | Seattle Mariners
- 85.8 wins | Philadelphia Phillies
- 85.1 wins | New York Yankees
- 84.8 wins | Toronto Blue Jays
- 82.4 wins | Tampa Bay Rays
- 81.4 wins | Kansas City Royals
- 80.1 wins | Cleveland Guardians
- 79.8 wins | Boston Red Sox
- 79.1 wins | Milwaukee Brewers
- 78.4 wins | Pittsburgh Pirates
- 78.1 wins | San Francisco Giants
- 78.0 wins | Detroit Tigers
- 77.7 wins | St. Louis Cardinals
- 74.1 wins | Cincinnati Reds
- 74.1 wins | Los Angeles Angels
- 71.7 wins | Sacramento Athletics
- 68.8 wins | Washington Nationals
- 61.7 wins | Chicago White Sox
- 60.3 wins | Miami Marlins
- 55.3 wins | Colorado Rockies
Originally Published:
San Diego, CA
Taco stand robbery suspects arrested after high-speed pursuit
Two suspects in a San Marcos robbery Saturday night were arrested early Sunday after leading police officers on a high-speed pursuit throughout San Diego County, authorities said.
Deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office responded at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday to a 911 call reporting an armed robbery at the Quesadilla Taco Stand near South Santa Fe Avenue and Smilax Road, sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Ritt said. They quickly responded to the area, but the suspects fled in a vehicle before their arrival.
”While investigating the crime, deputies were able to obtain license plate information for the suspect vehicle. This information was broadcast to other law enforcement agencies throughout the county,” Ritt said. “At 11:35 p.m., officers from the Chula Vista Police Department spotted the vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic enforcement stop. The driver failed to yield and fled from the officers.”
The pursuit went throughout much of the county and lasted for about 47 minutes, ending with a high-risk vehicle stop on Richmar Avenue near Pico Avenue in San Marcos, according to Ritt.
Two men were taken into custody. The driver, Serafin Delgado, 34, was arrested on suspicion of felony evasion, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. The passenger, Isaac Sarmiento, 22, was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and conspiracy.
They were booked into the Vista Detention Facility on Sunday, with arraignment scheduled for Thursday in Vista Superior Court.
No injuries were reported.
San Diego, CA
The Chicano Kennedys of San Diego County put out a photo book
In San Diego County, the Inzunzas are the region’s Chicano Kennedys.
They’ve been beloved educators and doctors, prep athlete stars and authors, entrepreneurs and just plain ol’ good neighbors. But the true family business is politics, and since the 1970s, Inzunzas have served city councils in National City, San Diego and Chula Vista; school boards in San Ysidro and Imperial Beach, and even water districts.
Dozens of them gathered Jan. 10 in Balboa Park at the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art to celebrate the Inzunza clan’s latest contribution to America’s Finest City: a coffee table book of 200-plus pictures from the early 1970s taken by one of their own.
A crucial era in the Chicano movement
“Movimiento en la Sangre” (“Movement in the Blood”) is an extraordinary collection from the archives of Nick Inzunza, a Vietnam War veteran turned Chicano activist who worked as a school psychologist in National City and went on to become a school trustee. From 1971 to 1974 he took nearly 1,800 photos of a crucial era in the Chicano movement, when young activists realized they needed to run for political office to effect true change and also began to embrace the undocumented immigrants their elders once shunned.
There are shots of what would become Chicano Park, the world-famous collection of murals underneath the Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan. Casual images show giants of the Chicano movement — Cesar Chavez, Bert Corona, Reies López Tijerina, José Angel Gutiérrez — behind podiums or chatting with admirers. The photos also depict protests and conferences not just in San Diego but also El Paso, San Bernardino and Los Angeles, plus local activists who never made it into the history books — until now.
Even better are snapshots of Chicano life in that time: the puffy haircuts and sharp outfits, after-school boxing programs to keep boys away from gangs and a Christmas toy giveaway by Santa Claus to barrio kids organizing against the Border Patrol. There’s even a baby-faced San Diego mayor Pete Wilson addressing a group of Chicanos at a banquet, back in the days when Wilson was somewhat sympathetic to undocumented immigrants and before he demonized them to win reelection as California governor in 1994.
“Movimiento en la Sangre” is a much-needed addition to Latino, San Diego, Southern California and civil rights histories that too often overlook the book’s subject matter. The self-taught Inzunza knew how to frame what was before him, so the photos are as aesthetically pleasing as they are important. Breaking up his ouvre are excerpts from college papers, musings and letters he sent in that era.
“The Mexican culture which is all around us can no longer be denied,” he wrote to a teacher who protested a Mexican Christmas event held at an elementary school. “We as human beings can no longer ignore a culture that is indigenous to this land and has been here for centuries.”
Redemption for the most famous Inzunza
What’s most amazing about “Movimiento en la Sangre” is that Inzunza’s book was 50 years in the making and comes more than a decade after he died.
Inzunza’s nephew Ralph Inzunza (one of the book’s two official authors, in addition to Nick’s son Nicólas Jorge Inzunza) told a rapturous hometown crowd about the book’s genesis at the launch event, which I helped moderate.
After Nick shot his movimiento photos, he kept rolls of undeveloped film in a box that stayed in the trunk of his yellow Ford Mustang for decades, then moved them into his house. When the family finally processed them a few years ago, the results were so impressive that San Diego State English and Comparative Literature professor William Nericcio suggested the Inzunzas publish the best shots for San Diego State University Press, which Nericcio runs.
Ralph is the most famous San Diego Inzunza, for better and worse. Elected to the San Diego city council in 2001, he soon became deputy mayor and was considered a rising star. But in 2005 a federal jury convicted him in San Diego’s so-called Strippergate scandal. Prosecutors alleged Ralph and two other council members took campaign contributions so they could try to change a law that barred dancers from touching their clients. He was the only one of the three council members who served time because one died and the other had his conviction overturned.
But Ralph’s reputation rebounded. He works as a political consultant and “Movimiento en la Sangre” is his third book, following a young adult novel about life on the U.S.-Mexico border and a fictionalized memoir of his prison years (start taking notes, José Huizar).
In his short speech Ralph shouted out the many activists in the book — young then, veteranos now — who were in the audience. Above all he praised the legacy of his uncle Nick, whose box of camera rolls, left untouched for decades, were also onstage.
“It is history, and it is not,” Ralph said of Nick Inzunza’s magnum opus, “because it’s alive.”
The week’s biggest stories
Immigration agents blocked Maple Avenue and 11th Street in the Fashion District on Thursday to allow a caravan to pass through, according to a witness.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Immigration sweeps
California recycling
California politics
What else is going on
Must read
Another must read
For your downtime
Campers at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park can hike the lush Fern Canyon Trail.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
L.A. Timeless
A selection of the very best reads from The Times’ 143-year archive.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
San Diego, CA
Minor killed in hit-and-run crash in Pacific Beach
The San Diego Police Department is looking for a suspect involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a minor in Pacific Beach at around 3:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The crash occurred near the intersection of Ingraham Street and Pacific Beach Drive.
The suspect’s vehicle is being described as a dark Jeep SUV, according to SDPD.
Police say there is no one in custody as of now, and that the investigation is ongoing.
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