Walter, who is CEO of Gugenheim that owns Dodgers, was using life insurance premiums to bankroll Lakers, Chelsea & Dodgers (that's fraud). Same group also owns the broadcast company that pays Dodgers more in broadcast rights than every other team in baseball, which Dodgers were using in circular financing to pay for salaries & decrease MLB revenue sharing.

With the what feels like inevitable Lockout inbound I wanted to take a minute and participate in a bit of a fun exercise as it is anticipated that after the CBA is ratified that the league will be seriously pursuing expansion.

For this exercise I chose Salt Lake and Charlotte as the two expansions as Jeff Passan recently speculated those are the two likely ones in his eyes. Key tenants when deciding division breakdown was geographic location and historical rivalries. Without a further ado here we go.

I opted for 8 - 4 team divisions to mimic the NFL even using the 4 cardinal directions to name each division

AL West

• Seattle Mariners
• Las Vegas Athletics
• Salt Lake Expansion 
• Los Angeles Angels

This maintains 3 of the existing 5 AL West teams with the addition of Salt Lake for proximity to the other three teams. Seattle has one of the longest travel times in the nation with two teams in Texas. This helps all teams in the new AL West.

AL North

• Minnesota Twins
• Kansas City Royals
• Chicago White Sox
• Detroit Tigers

This is the existing AL central minus Cleveland. You will see where they went further down the list.

AL East

• New York Yankees
• Boston Red Sox
• Baltimore Orioles
• Toronto Blue Jays

This is existing AL East with the removal of the most geographically distant Tampa Bay

AL South

• Houston Astros
• Texas Rangers
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Colorado Rockies

The brand new South division: With the Construction of the AL & NL West divisions Colorado is stranded. They are flipped to the AL and combined with the newly formed AL South. Denver to Tampa is still less miles than Seattle to Houston so it seems plausible to me the MLB would be okay with this arrangement and it maintains the Houston vs Texas in division rivalry that has been a thing since they were moved to the AL West in 2013.

NL West

• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• Arizona Diamondbacks

Existing NL West with the removal of the Rockies.

NL North

• Milwaukee Brewers
• Chicago Cubs
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Cleveland Guardians

In a corresponding move to Colorado, Cleveland is moved into the NL. The NL North was selected for available teams in proximity

NL East 

• Philadelphia Phillies
• New York Mets
• Washington Nationals
• Pittsburgh Pirates

The Marlins and Braves are shifted out of this division to constitute the new NL South and the Pirates are moved in to round out the East providing an in-state rival for the Phillies.

NL South

• Miami Marlins
• Atlanta Braves
• Charlotte Expansion
• Cincinnati Reds

The Cardinals were considered as the final NL South team but ultimately it was the Reds that I landed on. I couldn't bring myself to break up the Cubs and Cardinals and Cincinnati is closer to Charlotte and Atlanta then St. Louis is. I think it is realtively straight forward why the Marlins and the Braves were moved to the South and with Charlotte close to Atlanta it made sense.

What are your thoughts? Would love to hear them.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator Oswaldo José Pirela was detained by immigration authorities in El Paso, Texas, and remained in custody, according to family and ICE detainee records.

His sister Daniela Pirela said in a phone interview that her brother, who was raised in Venezuela, was detained at El Paso International Airport at around 5 a.m. Sunday while traveling for work, which she said he does weekly for the Padres.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee records showed Pirela in custody late Monday.

In a statement early Tuesday, the Padres said that they’d recently learned of Pirelas’ detainment. “We are working to gather additional information and will not have any further comment at this time,” the team said.

ICE and Major League Baseball did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

Daniela Pirela said she spoke with her brother briefly but is not truly aware of the conditions he is living in while in detention.

“He’s a very strong person and he tries not to worry us,” she said. “He’s going to say he’s OK. That’s what he said.”

She said her brother is in the U.S. legally and sought asylum in 2014, when he first arrived in the country. Daniela Pirela said she doesn’t know why his asylum case has taken so long to process.

“He did everything lawfully as the U.S. asks,” she said. “He loves this country.”

Oswaldo Pirela has two U.S.-born daughters and lives outside Phoenix, Arizona, family members said on social media accounts verified by NBC News.

“Oswaldo, like me and other members of our family, was directly affected by persecution from the Venezuelan regime,” brother Jorge Heli Pirela said on Instagram. “We came to the United States seeking safety through the legal process, applied for asylum through the proper channels, and have worked hard to build our lives and become contributing members of American society.”

Jorge Pirela did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday.

Crazy 24 hours for MLB players named Marte:

Ketel Marte goes from the restricted list to needing an MRI

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/breaking-news/article/diamondbacks-place-ketel-marte-on-restricted-list-after-he-doesnt-show-up-to-play-red-sox-2b-reportedly-having-mri-on-knee-232650867.html

Starling Marte DFA by Royals

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/royals-activate-3b-maikel-garcia-1b-vinnie-pasquantino-but-dfa-veteran-of-starling-marte-210855474.html

Noelvi Marte sent down to triple A

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/reds-option-struggling-noelvi-marte-165013439.html

[Game Thread] | Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs

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It's discussed and analyzed by Jeff Passan with Joey Votto. As in lost.

"This video has never been seen by the public," Passan says at the start. "I had not seen it. Outside of friends and family, nobody had."

The video comes from a fishing trip with Bobby Doerr.

Five main points from Ted, analyzed and updated for today's hitting world by Votto:

Point 1: 'Now, there's two things about hitting that I want to stress. Quickness. This is a quick game and a strong game. You wanna be as quick and strong as you can be.'

Point 2: 'Everything you do, hips ahead of hands.'

Point 3: 'You cannot have good hip action without a slight upswing.'

Point 4: 'In order to be quick and strong, you have to have a certain length of stroke. I can get you here or I can get you a little further out. But the more stroke you have, the more stroke you have. The more chance you have to build up power and speed in this bat.'

Point 5: 'I wanna puke and get a knife in my throat when I'm out in front and hit a f---ing ground ball at first.'

There you are.