#I get it I saw his bonus on Forbes

[tinseltownie]

I just KNOW he lives in Monaco now because peep the loro piani loafers

[misssophiachase]

Sequel for how to save a life please

Sorry for the delay nonnie. You got it, here goes...For anyone who didn’t read part 1 you can catch it on AO3 HERE - Let me know what you think. 

In the last part Caroline showed up hungover for her first day as a surgical intern only to discover her drinking buddy and one-night-stand is none other than her attending and famed neurosurgeon, Dr Klaus Mikaelson. 

Original Synopsis from nonnie’s prompt: Caroline as Meredith Grey and Klaus as Derek Shepherd.

How to Save a Life - part 2

Monday 6am

“I’m going to kill him,” she growled, holding her syringe precariously so it looked like she was cocking a firearm instead. 

It had been a twenty-eight hour shift so far and she decided to blame it on that if they decided to report her for malpractice or for ‘accidentally’ killing an attending. 

“Easy, tiger,” Kol offered, lowering her arm in the process. “I’m only an intern but maybe we should be conserving the life saving drugs for the actual patients. You know, just a thought.”

“Cute,” she drawled by way of response. Caroline wasn’t hungover this time, which was definitely a bonus, but it didn’t stop Doctor know-it-all from sharing his opinion more than a few times throughout her never-ending shift. 

“No Dr Forbes, not that way Dr Forbes, listen carefully Dr Forbes,” he’d chide, except he sounded so sexy and authoritative when he called her Dr Forbes. And that was every shift, not just this one. If he didn’t have such a pretty face, she’d most likely slap him, even if it was frowned upon in the workplace. 

“Trust me, I’ve been in your position too many times to count and letting him get to you is not the way to handle things,” Kol broke into her Klaus Mikaelson trance, which was probably a good thing. 

But then his words caught her attention. Too many times to count? It was only day nine. What exactly had Kol done to earn his wrath in that short amount of time?

Caroline looked at him curiously, besides his first name she didn’t know much about her fellow intern, except the fact he liked to talk a lot when most people weren’t interested in hearing what he had to say. He’d also taken an instant liking to Bonnie which definitely hadn’t gone unnoticed. 

“Who are you?”

“Just your friendly, fellow intern who has impeccable hygiene,” he offered, sending her his most dazzling smile. “And while we’re on the topic.”

“Of you having impeccable hygiene?”

“Yes,” he answered. Caroline, meanwhile, still had no idea where this was going. She consulted her watch to hurry him up given she knew how much he liked to talk. “I understand you have a room for rent and I happen to be looking for a place to stay.” 

Obviously word of her mom’s large house had made the rounds. Yes, she’d been looking for a third roommate but didn’t expect it to be Kol. Given both Bonnie and Kat were living in her upstairs bedrooms, Caroline wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. 

“Kol, now’s not the best time...”

“I can pay you three months of rent in advance and my share of the utilities?”

Now, that proposal caught her attention. Caroline needed money and fast.  But at the same time who was this guy? And why did he have so much money to spare? Most of them were struggling to get by given the hefty school loans they had to repay.  

Which brought her back to his proposal and how much she needed it. She’d just have to explain to Kat and Bonnie that she had no choice and surely they’d understand her dilemma. Well, hopefully. 

“Okay, fine,” she relented. “But we’ll do it on a trial basis. Four weeks and, if that hygiene isn’t anything short of spectacular I’ll be kicking you out much sooner.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he saluted. Caroline figured most responsible people would interview someone and at least get one reference but she was far too distracted by the attending to focus on proper process. 

As if on cue, Enzo was already bellowing at them from down the hall to get their asses into gear. Caroline wondered just what the patients must think of the spectacle. 

“Hang on, what’s your last name?” She asked, thinking she should probably know that if they were going to be living together, but he was already making his way dutifully towards the sound of the dictator’s voice. 

She’d get to the bottom of that once her shift was over. As well as drinking a much-needed glass of wine or six, her memories of that recent hangover after doing the nasty with the overbearing attending well and truly forgotten. 

Until next time, of course. 

“Nice of you to join us, Forbes,” he barked. “Dr Mikaelson has requested you join him at MRI.”

“Me?”

“I don’t think anyone else goes by that name, Forbes,” he growled, emphasising her surname for added effect.

“Maybe someone else could..” she could see Bonnie and Kat trying to silence her with their eyes. She wouldn’t hear the end of this after their shift.

“If you don’t get up there right now I’ll send you to do that enema. Remember Mrs Jones from last night? You know the patient that hasn’t...” Caroline didn’t need to be told twice given just what she’d have her hands elbow deep in.   

“Took your time, Dr Forbes. I’m just glad this wasn’t an emergency.” He hadn’t even turned his head and was too busy consulting the on-screen images. 

Rather than trying to explain herself and the fact she’d run from the ground floor ER to MRI in record time she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. Professionalism and all that, even if he was an ass.

She made her way by his side, trying to ignore just how good he smelled from this close proximity. It was a problem she’d experienced too many times to count. 

“What do you see?” He asked, finally turning to look at her. 

She was momentarily caught off guard given the way those navy scrubs brought out his eyes. Caroline closed her eyes briefly reminding herself that this was too important. This was work and he was her superior. Nothing else. 

If only memories of their night together weren’t still so vivid and causing places to stir that really shouldn’t be stirring right now. Caroline was pretty certain if her mother was looking down on her right now she’d be extremely disappointed. 

But she needed to concentrate for the patient’s sake.

“There seems to be a tumour in the left hemisphere of the cerebrum,” she noted, pointing to the screen.  

“Can you tell if it is cancerous or benign?” She looked at it again closely wondering if he saw something she hadn’t, he was the neurosurgeon after all. It was too easy to second guess herself but Caroline knew she needed to own her diagnoses. 

“I can’t tell from the scan.” She really hoped that was the right answer, especially given she’d been awake over 32 hours straight. 

“So, based on that diagnosis, what is the required course of action, Dr Forbes?”

“Biopsy surgery.”

“And what does that entail?”

“Obtaining brain tissue samples to diagnose whether the tumour is cancerous or benign.”

“Good work, Dr Forbes,” he murmured. “I want you to scrub into the surgery.” Caroline looked at him incredulously. Trying to figure out if he had a motive but at the same time really hoping he didn’t. 

“You deserve this,” he murmured kindly. Not like everything she’d experienced so far in his presence. “As much as I like to give you a hard time on the floor, you are a quick learner and you work hard. But, not gonna lie, that attitude needs some work.”

“Okay,” she replied quietly thinking the attitude was probably sexual frustration but didn’t want to share that with him. “But I fully expect you to tell me when I’m not doing a good job. I happen to be a lot more resilient than you think I am.” 

“And that’s why I like you.”

Caroline decided she needed to leave the room quickly before she said or did something she might regret. Like throw her arms around him or kiss him. She was still learning how to deal with a superior she’d done the nasty with after all.

“I’ll see you in surgery,” she offered, walking out of the room, not bothering to respond or look back. She decided it was safer that way.   

9 hours later...

“My butt cheeks have gone to sleep,” Kat groaned, her head hitting the bar. “I was tasked with just watching someone and that shit hurts, let me tell you.”

“Consider yourself lucky, Pierce, have you monetarily lost your hearing due to the wailings from the patient in 3A?” Kol shot back, tipping back a whiskey for his trouble.

“No, I was too busy trying to pretend I was professional during that x-ray of someone sticking random things up his, well you know what,” Bonnie shared, albeit quietly. 

“You do realise you’re a surgeon and a doctor so anatomy is not a dirty subject...”

“Call it a professional courtesy,” she huffed. 

“I think Bon Bon here is definitely in the wrong career, just saying.”

“If I needed your opinion Kol, I’d ask for it,” she growled. 

“For the love of god, Kol,” Caroline groaned, swirling the red wine in her glass and trying not to fall into its hypnotic tendencies. “I’m barely alive here.”

“Says the girl who scrubbed into surgery today.” 

This is what Caroline was worried about, the fact her friends would think it was blatant favouritism. She didn’t sign up for that. At least they didn’t about what happened with Dr Mikaelson and for that she was grateful.  

“Yeah with Dr McYummy” 

“Who?”

“It’s what all the nurses call him,” Kat shared. “I really think it could take off hospital-wide.” 

Caroline wasn’t sure if she wanted it to and weirdly Kol seemed freaked out at the prospect too given his outraged expression. 

“Or it could be one of those things that you accidentally blurt out during surgery. Like ‘here’s the scalpel, Dr McYummy’ and that’s just asking for trouble and a demotion for being unprofessional.” 

Trust Bonnie to see the sense in it all.

“I’m with you Bonnie,” Kol offered. “Better we don’t equate any names with any of the attendings.” Seems like the two most expected to disagree had finally agreed on something. Hopefully that would soften the blow when Caroline decided to reveal they were all rooming together. 

Caroline was still trying to get her head around everything she’d done the past ten hours, glad that she had a day off before her next shift to properly focus. And to finally get some sleep. Until it happened.

“Kol!” She looked up towards the sound.

“There goes my reputation,” her fellow intern muttered. 

“Can I buy you a drink?” Caroline was trying to reconcile the intrusion in her half asleep state. But when Klaus approached their table she knew things were unfolding and not in a good way. 

“And you wonder why I was so glad to move in with you,” Kol whispered before their attending appeared in all his glory. Something she wasn’t expecting and was trying to . 

“So, you two know each other?” She asked, probably against her better judgment. 

“Siblings,” Kol offered gingerly. 

“And you two?” Klaus asked, his expression telling her he was trying not to show his jealously but killing his brother wouldn’t be out of the question. 

“We live together.”

If this was supposed to feel awkward then it really did now. 

[honestgrins]

KC AU AH as kids being best friends and mini!Klaus being smitten with mini!Caroline (bonus: Esther and Liz totally ship it)

Puppy Love

The football landed on his pile of crayons, sending them flying all over his sketchbook. "Kol!"

Klaus watched as his little brother bounded over to him, snatching his ball back without even an apology. Shaking his head, he went back to his drawings. Stretching out over the lawn wasn't his first choice, but Mother had urged them all outside so she and Mrs. Forbes could watch them from the patio. He looked over his shoulder to see his mum rubbing her belly, reminding him that yet another terror was on its way. 

As the ball came sailing back in his direction, he hoped it would be a girl; no one needed another Kol.

Before he could yell, though, flowers dropped all over his paper. Squinting up into the sun, he remembered why sisters weren't that much better. "Bekah, stop it!"

Pouting, Rebekah dropped to her bottom and twisted a stem in her hands. She didn't talk much, but her sad eyes said plenty. And she had Caroline to fight her battles for her. 

"Hey," Caroline snapped, her arms crossed as she glared down at him. "She picked those 'specially for you. Be nice."

"They keep ruining my drawing," he whined back. "You're lucky not to have brothers and sisters ruining your stuff."

She plopped down next to him, helping him pick up the flowers and building herself a bouquet. "I still have you for that," she pointed out. "Bekah and I were having a good time, and you ruined it by complaining." As though agreeing with her, Rebekah climbed over to Caroline's lap to play with the flowers, giggling when she waved them under her nose. 

When a daisy fell from her grasp, Klaus quickly handed it back to her. Smiling, Caroline tucked it behind his ear instead. "That's what you get for complaining about flowers," she warned.

Rolling his eyes, he tried not to grin as he looked anywhere else. That's how he saw their moms watching them, smiling themselves. He scowled instead, focusing back on his sketchbook. Turning it to a fresh page, he let Rebekah hand him a different crayon. "What should I draw?"

"Our flowers," Caroline answered, like it was obvious. She settled back on her hands, content to watch him draw and bouncing the toddler on her legs. "And make them pretty, please."

"Petty pease," Rebekah added in her babyish voice.

Klaus sighed, but nodded. He glanced over Rebekah to give Caroline a bored look, and she only smiled in return. "Fine, but you have to block the football if Kol kicks it over here again."

She shrugged, straightening the daisy behind his ear. "What are best friends for?"

His hand froze, green crayon poised over the paper for a second too long. "Exactly," he finally said, keeping his eyes down. Best friends. Not the "puppy love" Finn and Elijah kept teasing him about.

Not at all.

[zankivich]

The Arrangement: CEO’s Son/Dom!Shawn x Black Sub Reader Chapter 1

This entire series is thanks to this gif set by @fallininyou

a/n: She’s a mouth full but I think this is going to be my next series post Neighbors (I promise that epilogue is still coming though!) I’m honestly so excited to explore this. I think it’s gonna be a Dom/sub relationship in my eyes, like one I would feel comfortable with which isn’t necessarily what everyone else would consider it. I will admit this isn’t going to get MAJOR kinky? But I want to use the relationship as a means to reflect what a sexual relationship can offer outside of everyday life? It’ll make more sense as you read. this is wildly different for me and I’m so so so nervous to put it out. Let me know what you think. Idk I’m scared. Please don’t hate it. 

WARNINGS: Heavy smut. No condom (wrap it up kids)

It’s just a glance across the room. That’s usually all it takes. He’s standing next to his father and tugging his fingers through his curls in that way that is entirely unnecessarily but absolutely tantalizing. The pheromones this man could cause in the room. And that’s on a regular day. Add in the added bonus of a banquet where the son of the biggest music exec in the industry was officially joining his father’s company, and the result was a suit tailored to the very millimeter of his body. It was a bit ridiculous. But every woman, and frankly anyone with sight and a sex drive, couldn’t keep their eyes off of him. And he knew it, which is exactly why you weren’t interested. That didn’t mean you couldn’t look, right?

Mendes Industries was the end all be all of the music industry. It helped to have a rags to riches story of Mandy Mendes pulling himself up by the bootstraps and creating his company from scratch with a pristine ability to know a hit when he heard it. It was like the american dream personified, except they were Canadian. Looking at Manny now, no one would ever be able to guess the rags part. He practically glides across the floor with entitlement, smooshing investors and shaking hands with every old, rich white man in the building. And there are many.

Shawn Mendes was on track to follow directly in his father’s footsteps with everything from the asshole grin to the billion dollar inheritance waiting for him the second he turned twenty-five. In the meantime, he was just a rich daddy’s boy with an ego that surely had to be bigger than his dick. Word on the street was that was pretty big too.

“You know for someone who frowns so much on all these rich pampered white boys, you sure seem to have an eye for ‘em.” Tiana snickered over her champagne glass.

You let your eyes fall away from the Mendes boy as he fluffed his curls again and turned them to your obnoxious best friend turned assistant instead.

You rolled your eyes. “I’m not doin’ nothing but people watching. What else is there to do at these events? I haven’t got my white supremacist chuckle down yet, so I can’t go mingle unfortunuately.”

Tiana laughed at your quite accurate joke as you both took sips of your drinks.

At thirty years old you were the up and coming manager in the industry. At just twenty five you’d come in a number one on Forbe’s 30 under 30 list, and you had yet to slow down. In fact it seemed to be that most of the biggest artists in the industry fell under Mendes industries, except for the ones who fell under you. You had a feeling that was the only reason you were invited to this dumbass event to begin with. Mandy was the type to keep his enemies closer than his friends, and he was also the type to definitely view you as an enemy. Oh well.

Speak of the devil.

“Y/n! Darling.” Manny greeted hand coming naturally to your arm against your will.

His son was right behind him, and he was a lot more to deal with up close. Maroon printed button up with one too few buttons undone. The dark suit that he only drew attention to by sliding his hands purposely into his pockets. You noticed the way that his eyes ran over your body with heat. And the way that he seemed to pay attention to nothing in the world but the way your dress melded to your rounded thighs. You would have liked to think that you would be a lot less affected by that gaze, yet the way your inner thighs pulsed told a different story. When he licked his bottom lip, you leaned a little harder on the table.

“Manny,” You breathed smoothly. “You sure know how to plan a party.”

False. You had clocked fifteen changes you would’ve made the second you walked in the door.

“Well that certainly means a lot coming from you. I saw a couple of your artists next to mine on the TIME’s most influential. You’re coming up, aye?” He chuckled.

Your eyes widened. “Yes. You know the come up is hard Manny. I remember when we got Ariana on the cover of that issue that’s exactly what I was thinking too.”

It has its intended chilling effect on Manny. It seems to have the opposite effect on Shawn who’s now biting his lip at you like you’re something to eat. Men. So obvious.

“Oh no need to get yourself in a tizzy, y/n. We’re all friends here.” He grinned. “Have you met my son yet? It’s his celebration after all.”

You rolled your eyes but turned to him regardless. He still was refusing to mask those bedroom eyes of his, and stepped just close enough to be in your space as he reached his hand out for you to shake.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure, yet.” He smirked.

It was a much different smirk than his father’s. Still arrogant, still totally full of himself. But, there’s something less sinister about it. He clearly hasn’t gotten around to being the bad guy yet, he’s just immulating his dad.

But, also what a cocky asshole to say “yet” as if it was inevitable that he would be getting any pleasure from you ever. Wild.

You took his hand and squeezed it gently. “You most certainly haven’t.”

Someone else comes to wisk Manny away leaving you there with Shawn who has neglected to let go of your hand yet.

“Let me buy you a drink.” He murmured, eyes just as dark at the suit on his back.

You hummed. “You old enough?”

He nodded. “I’m rich enough too.”

“Oooh child, I must be going. Bye now!” Tianna giggled disappearing into thin air.

You made a mental note to fire her tomorrow.

You peered over at where your assistant had practically flown into the crowd in her attempt to abandon you, before peering back at Shawn. He was still holding your hand, but he took it upon himself to lean against the table so that there was even less space between you.

“Now that we’re alone and you can stop pretending you weren’t eyeing me earlier, how about that drink?”

The fucking gall. Ooooo you wanted to hate him. And you did. A part of you definitely hated him and everything that he stood for. And when you thought about the years it took you selling t-shirts at the merch booths, being the assistant to every white guy who thought his shit didn’t stink, just inching for the opportunity to do the work you got to do now? When you thought about the fact that this man-child was just going to step directly above you without any hard work, without anything? You did hate him, at least everything that he stood for. The major error here was that your body had not quite gotten the memo that your head had settled on. And for whatever fucked up reason, he was getting to you. The worst part of it all was that he knew it.

“I’m still a little curious how this all is going to work. Do you have to go get Daddy’s credit card, or do they just have someone follow you around to make your purchases for you?” You grinned. “I’m a grown ass woman, not one of them girls you’re used to.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. He released your hand, and your fingers clenched uncontrollably at the loss. For a second you thought he might actually give up. Your stomach tightened.

Instead he leaned across the table and brushed the curtain of waist length braids you’d sported for the evening off your shoulder. His lips pressed just right against your ear, and his thumb sent absolute fire into your skin where he grazed your hip.

“Listen, whatever you think I’m capable of, or not capable of? I’d suggest you toss that all out the window. I’d be without a doubt the best you ever had. That’s not a dig towards the type of guys you’re pulling because I think you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s just a fact. A very fortunate fact I’d like to show you if you stop thinking about who my dad is for two seconds and just let me buy you the damn drink.”

It was without a doubt the wildest shit a man had ever said to you in your life. And you worked in the entertainment business. Your eyes fluttered shut, and your teeth sunk into your bottom lip. He had you. It was bad. Like breathy sigh, stumbled a little closer to him type bad. Shit. Where in the hell did this one come from?

“Fine. Buy me a damn drink.” You huffed.

“Good. Come with me.”

He led you with a hand on the small of your back, a very delicate and sensitive area on your body, to the bar. It did not go unnoticed that Shawn Mendes was talking to y/f/n/ y/l/n. But he seemed to feed off people staring at him, seemed to thrive under it even. He got you a vodka soda and a whiskey for himself. He’s still way too close to you, and you’ve yet to ask him to step back. The heat that radiates off his body is doing things you’d rather not think about. And you keep squeezing your thighs together in a desperate attempt to ignore whatever he’s got going on in your underwear.

“You don’t like me.” He smirked into his drink. “Or my dad, I presume.”

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t like what you stand for no. And with all due respect, your dad is an ass.”

He laughed and clapped that catcher’s mitt he called a hand against his thigh.

“No offense taken, we can definitely agree there. You don’t need to like me. I don’t need to like you. Not for what I’ve got planned.”

“And just what exactly is that?” You snorted.

“I wanna take you home with me tonight.”

“Bold!” You grinned. “You are so bold.”

He simply shrugged at you dark eyes raking in your every movement like you were his prey. Shit maybe you were.

“Maybe. I meant what I said earlier. It’d be good for you. Real good. But I have a feeling you already know that.”

It wasn’t exactly news, especially not in A&R. Shawn got around, but he never left a girl unsatisfied. His sex life was an underground running joke at this point. Didn’t matter if the woman was twenty, or apparently as old as fifty.  He was selective enough that it hadn’t gotten out to the press, but the industry knew. You knew.

You bit your lip and stirred your glass anxiously to avoid those dark eyes of his.

“So I’m just supposed to let you take me home tonight, just cause you want to?”

He shook his head. “No. I only want you to come home with me if you want it. But, I think you do. And I know I can make it worth your while. What do you say y/n? Do you want it?”

You could feel your heart beat a little faster in your chest. Your thighs were getting a hell of a work out as you felt yourself practically pooling. This was ridiculous. This was unsustainable. There’s no way in hell you should go home with him. No way. You couldn’t!

A voice on the mic system broke you out of your daze as someone made the announcement for people to head toward their seats as the program was about to begin. Shawn rolled his eyes and reached into his suit jacket to produce a thin piece of plastic.

“I have to go get another position handed down to me. I’m staying in the penthouse tonight. You can either get yourself another drink on my tab and go home, or you can meet me there. It’s up to you, sweetheart.”

He placed the key card on the bar top beside your drink and squeezed delicately at your hip as he passed. You weren’t able to breathe until he was no longer in front of you. Fuck.

The ridiculousness that was a thirty year old grown ass woman shaking in her thong over this….this man. Who was barely a man. What were the chances that he was actually going to show you something special? What were the chances that he had any idea what he was doing? It just felt unrealistic. And you still wanted to hate him.

Then Manny pulls him on stage and he leans against the podium. His hands are so large that the mic gets eaten up every time he reaches for it. He tugs at his curls again and you squirm against the bar before knocking back the rest of your vodka soda. It’s even worse because he’s charming. He’s got that dumbass smile and he gets the crowd laughing. It’s charisma and spunk and everything you wish you didn’t want.

You get another vodka soda and watch him accept all the love and adoration that the crowd is throwing at him. The final straw comes when he makes eye contact with you. All of the heat comes roaring back immediately. His gaze is tense and unwavering. He’s got you.

You reach for the key card and stomp off in the direction of the elevators before your liquid courage can diminish. When you peer back over your shoulder you catch him walking through the crowd ignoring hand shake after handshake to get to you. It’s not just you. Apparently you have him too.

***

The penthouse suite is bigger than your first apartment. There’s a full kitchen, mulitiple bedrooms, and a fucking jaccuzi that you’re a little curious about. None of that matters the second he steps in the room though. His suit jacket is already off and lands on one of the many expensive couches. His sleeves are rolled and he’s got those damn hands in his pockets again as he looks you over. You wish you didn’t practically keen under his gaze, but there’s no denying how hot this is.

“Hmmm” He hummed taking you in. “You wanna pick a bed? Or we can get creative if you’d like.”

It was so fucking cocky! Ugh.

“How is it that every time you speak I both want to punch you and sleep with you?” You groaned.

He smiled. “It’s my speciality. Here, come here?”

“What?”

“Just come here.”

He reached his hand out and you sighed and took it. You know? Like an idiot.

He spun you into his arms and ran his fingers over your hips, nose skimming along yours. You felt your eyes widen as he leaned in to kiss you. A new problem arose. Boy. Could. Kiss.

It’s gentle at first. His lips are soft but sure of themselves as they wrap sweetly around yours. It’s inquisitive though. He’s trying to figure out what you like, what you want. So, when he captures your bottom lip between both of his and you groan, he keeps doing it. And when he nips playfully at you and your fingers tighten against his shirt, he seems to know exactly what it is you need. And he’s certainly prepared to give it to you.

He licks inside of your mouth and his fingers grip at your neck as he ropes you in. It’s breathtaking. Like honestly so. It’s hard to breathe when he’s biting and licking and making you moan. It’s even harder to focus on breathing when you feel like he’s consuming you. His hands travel back down to your waist and then lower and lower until he’s lifting you clean off the floor.

“Shawn!” You gasp, hips tightening considerably as you hide your face in his neck.

“I’m gonna guess you’re good with me picking a room?”

He takes you to the master bedroom where your body nestles perfectly into the sheets. Your ass bounces a little bit and he gives you a look that practically has your clothes coming off alone. The verbal command is merely an added bonus.

“Take your clothes off.” He murmured voice authoritative and rough.

You do as he asks, not wanting to look away from him for even a moment. He’s got one hand on his groin and another on your calf and the second your dress is off he makes a sound that makes your nipples harden.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”

He reaches for your face with those big, warm hands as he stares down at you like you’re already his. You melt beneath that gaze. When your fingers reach for the expensive belt on his expensive slacks, his fingers turned to steel around your wrists.

“Not now. Lie back.”

He taps at your leg and watches as you shuffle back on the bed, crawling in after you. His chest nestles between your legs and you bite your lip as he kisses your inner thigh.

“You wet for me yet?”

God his voice was so husky and gravely, you could practically feel it. His lips map out whole stories along your thighs. You arch your back as his thumbs push just below your ass. It’s not enough to actually touch you, he has to destroy you first.

“These fucking thighs.” He sighed inching closer to skin his nose against your heat. “Bet this pussy tastes good too.”

He doesn’t even have the decency to move your thong out the way, has to lave and soak it through with his tongue instead. The piece of fabric nestles just perfectly against your clit and he licks it back and forth. You’re so wet already it’s obscene. You tug a little desperately at his palms on your hips as he suckles at your outer lips. It’s too much already. How the fuck is it that good?

“Shit. Oh shit.” You whine.

He leans up on his knees and pushes his face closer chasing you every inch you try to wiggle away. His eyes get darker and pulls back to sink his teeth into your thigh. You let out the most embarrassing sound, something between a sob and a groan. The pain gave way to pleasure and traced the skin with his tongue immediately after.

“Stop that. Let me make you cum, or you won’t get to cum the rest of the night.”

He gets more and more direct with every passing moment, and each time he makes a demand, your hips only pulse a little more. It’s so good. He wraps his lips around your clit and sucks and it drives you up the wall. Your moans pours out into the air and your fingers tighten into the sheets. He’s sucking sucking you hard and fast, his tongue flicking over and under and around that small bud like he’d already memorized every nerve ending. You find heaven against his mouth and ride the wave while he sucks you for every single drop you have.

“Oh my god. What the hell was that?”

You peer down between your legs and there his dumb fucking face is nestled against your thigh. He looks soft for just a moment, curls tickling your stomach.

“Yea. Feels good, aye?” He chuckled. “It gets better.”

He slides from between your legs and reaches for his belt. The whole time his eyes burn into you making your toes curls in the expensive ass sheets.

“Flip over. Ass up.”

You sighed softly letting your legs plop down on the bed.

“Give me a second.”

His toned arms flexed as he worked on the buttons to his pants, teeth sinking dangerously into his lip.

“Don’t make me have to do it for you, honey.”

You’d never done quite well with orders. Your job was always to mitigate people who thought they could overpower you, who thought they were smarter than you. It had always been about fighting for every inch that you had, and never letting go. In this moment with him, in this penthouse that cost more than your rent, you feel…oddly safe with him. Like, giving up a little bit of your power wasn’t going to be used against you. Anything that you let up, or let go of, was only going to result in your pleasure. He didn’t want to hurt you. He wanted to make you feel good. You just had to let him do it.

Your shoulders relax as you flip over onto your stomach and listen to the sound of his pants hitting the floor. His large palms ease over your shoulders and down your back as he settles behind you. It already feels good just to have him touching you. And then the second he picks up the pace and spreads your thighs, your heart rate picks up again. Just let go. Let him have this.

“Do I need to use a condom?” He hummed voice puffing against your neck.

You wiggled impatiently. “I’ve got an IUD. Are you clean?”

“Yea. Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

His hands come to your hips pushing down at the arch in your back to make it more prominent. You feel him against your heat and it’s a bit intimidating at first. . Mostly because the rumors of whether or not he’s packing is literally being confirmed against your vulva. And also because he’s rubbing his head against your clit like it’s your own personal sex toy, and you are…a mess. He hadn’t even put it in.

“You’re so fucking wet for me.” He sighed rubbing a little firmer against you. “Talked all that shit downstairs but this pussy was made for me, aye? Tell me you need it.”

All your inhibitions are gone. Sex is a hell of a thing. Makes the wildest shit okay in the right setting, and you’ve completely fallen into his spell for the night.

You whined against the sheets pressing yourself against him.

“Shawn, please.” You whimpered. “Need it.”

“Fuck. I’m gonna give it to you.”

He pushes in, filling you up inch by inch and your muscles spasm around him as he stretches you perfectly. Your eyes close and your lips open to let his name come out of your mouth in a voice that is just as filthy as the way his cock feels inside of you. It’s too much already. You don’t see how the hell you’re gonna make it out of this in one piece. You quickly learn that was never his intention in the first place.

His hips set a brutal rhythm against the back of your thighs, the noise in the air lewd and filthy. His fingers dig so deep into your hips you might have felt yourself bruise if you weren’t so concerned with how good he feels inside you. It’s instantly too much. And he’s not letting you up, not letting you breathe. He flips you over without even dislodging himself and the feel of it is incredible. He gets close enough that you’re pressed together chest to chest and it feels like your skin is on fire. God, it’s too much.

Eventually the sounds you’re making start to get embarrassing and you have no choice but to start sucking at the skin of his collarbones and chest just to have a chance at avoiding combustion. That’s where you discover the nipple thing. Your thighs bracket his hips and your tongue traces his right nipple and the results are exquisite.

“Shit” He whined. “Don’t know what you’re doing to me.”

You let your teeth graze the flesh as it pearled in the air and he pushed his hips harder against yours.

“Fuck! You trying to make me cum?”

His voice was more raw, less perfect chiseled sultriness and more fucked out bliss. It turned you on more than ever.

“What if I am?” You whispered peering up at him.

You bit your lip and clenched slightly around him endlessly enjoying the way the muscles in his jaw twitched in response.

���You’re so fucking bad.” He grunted and ran his thumb along your bottom lip. “Gonna have to gag this pretty mouth of yours sometime.”

You giggled softly letting your teeth nip at his thumb.

“Wanna see you try.”

“God, where the hell did you come from?” He whispered.

“I’m a Black woman. I come from the sun and the earth and everything God herself made. Duh. Now fuck me like you mean it, white boy.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He leans up on his knees and takes that hold on your hips again. There’s sweat on his brow and he’s biting his lip and he genuinely gives you all that he’s got. He has the audacity to slow down, but you wouldn’t even know it the way he’s dragging his hips. In a dick crazed brain you’d say his cock was meant for you. His hips swirl against yours and he fills you over and over again making sure to stop just long enough on every lunge to get your moans to keep coming out into the stale air.

You reach for his thighs with your fingers and push back against him with your hips. He cries out for you again and it’s like an adrenaline kick. His grunts and moans are like food for your soul, and there’s no stopping either of you. His thrusts get more rugged, less precise, but more piercing, and your moans get higher. It feels so fucking good. You never want him to stop.

“Please! Please!”

“Fuck! Where do you want it, baby girl? Tell me where you want it.”

“In me.” You sigh breathlessly. “Want it in me.”

His fingers digs into your ass and he pulls you into him raggedly over and over and over until he’s pumping you full, warm and overflowing. You collapse there in one massive, tangled heap as you both try to regulate your breathing. He’s heavy as shit, but somehow it manages to feel good. You feel like you might float away if he weren’t there to hold you down. It’s as your looking up at the cieling, and all you can smell is sweat and sex and him, that you realize just how fucked for him you are already. And how bad this was going to be for you. Shit.

TBC

Please consider buying my broke ass a Kofi!

permanent tag list: @simpledomain @liliane106 @kamahriii @thecurlsofgod

Arrangement taglist: @shawnase @mani-lifes @littlefiercequeen 

[coolknowledgeispower]

Social dictators Cristiano Ronaldo- El Rey

It’s very important to comprehend the magnitude of social influence and how SOME people take charge whilst others remain in a herd. This is not to say that the herd do not have the power to wake up, they certainly do. It is not a person’s fault to idolize another person, it is the extent to which that person will go to make this idolized person different from him/her. That is important.

Social dictators, especially in the 21st century, dictate and work in cohesion with brands to sell their products. They are the medium- social media is an instrument to relay the message. We have multiple biases and one goes by the name of, association, which is within our psyche. Stereotypes are one of these associations, and with the work of social dictators, the public makes a connection/association with their products and thus consume more of their goods. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo’s partnership with Nike. Cristiano is widely popular and his success in the football world has given him access to lucrative deals with other brands. Ronaldo according to Business Insider generated 500 million dollars in value for Nike from his social media properties in 2016. He also received a billion-life pact contract in 2016. We will also be evaluating his present-day scores; previous statistics were recorded in 2017. . His accumulation of prosperity and attention, success in having his own shoe line and sales that come from it, this is a stem that is the root of this contract.

Ronaldo reached 262 million followers on all his socials: 120 million followers on Facebook-fact; 122 million as of 2019, falling below Facebook at number 1 with 214 million likes, and 2nd Samsung at 160 million likes. Checked it myself as of 9/28/19 at 10:30 A.M. This is amusing. There is no other human with such followers or likes until 7th place. And of course, Shakira with 100 million likes. Big entities such as Real-Madrid at 4th, not surprised there.

Real Madrid is a historical city and team; however, they had not won the prize that every team in every European league is eyeing. The Champions League, since the 2001-2002 final. Ronaldo has 4 UEFA (Union of European Football Associations)Champions League titles under his belt. 3 won in a row. He also won 15 trophies in his time in Real Madrid from 2009-2018. In the football realm, its either Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, who is also considered one of the best in the world. I would say many people know Ronaldo because of his large following and possibly because he knows English, he is able to connect to more people. But that is just a bias I could be showcasing.

Transitioning back to his socials: Twitter followers equal to 80.1 million followers and Instagram 185 million followers. Now, the projections of 2017 statistics said 262 million followers in the social sphere. 2019 accumulative as of today, 387.1 million followers. Mind-boggling, Nike understands the height of Ronaldo’s success, furthermore. According to Forbes, Niall McCarthy reiterates on the fact that Juventus benefitted before Ronaldo had arrived to the club. The bare news that circulated after the transfer was accomplished, saw Juventus share increase by 40 percent. Consequently, Juventus socials were flooded by 1.5 new million followers in one day. Business Insider, reported 520,000 Ronaldo Jerseys sold in 24 hours. That is worth 62.4 million in revenue and the football clubs receive 10-15 percent of the revenue, so Juventus got about 6-9 million dollars.

Ronaldo has an influence wherever he goes. You can say that money does fall from his tree. 2 years ago, Ronaldo posted 347 pictures that included the Nike logo or mention, and this generated 477 million interactions.

This is a transaction of social influence into monetary power.

Ronaldo has amassed quite a following, let us try to understand why that is from a psychological perspective/philosophical perspective.

 Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan in his interview, recorded in 1977. “…When you trigger these vast media that we use, you are manipulating an entire population…” We have different avenues to lose ourselves into provided by the big corporations. In George Orwell’s famous book 1984. His belief was that the practice of hedonism was on the rise through a consumable western society. We have different brands and they each have customers. This in turn would decrease the freedom of western societies. The impediment of freedom to venture towards self-reflection, our leisure time spent in finding ways to better society, Theodor Adorno from the Frankfurt School explains this well. The School of Life on YouTube goes in-depth with this notion. Becoming the herd, rendering individuality by a consumable collective. This is what I call the matrix. Orwell believes this nature in society(hedonism) makes people less resistant to change, Aldous Huxley-in his book Brave New World had his own interpretation: this could be used as a tool to oppress, Academy of Ideas on Youtube explains, “… because people will willingly forgo freedom for sensory pleasure and endless consumption, ‘ (side note- one quotation mark is input from the understanding put forth, carry on) bringing us back to Ronaldo’s influence by the number of followers he has’… if a society can be structured so that people can devout much of their time to pursuing pleasures, gratifying materials wants and even drugging themselves to escape reality...” There was a lot of worry about how the future of technological/ media improvements would have on the masses, used as a tool to spread ideological thoughts whilst unknowingly becoming part of a system. If you’re to respond to this paragraph sir, what would you say, ‘Well, this is true. I believe we should understand the pessimistic side of situations and find a solution to these circumstances. Although association and grouping of people are in our DNA as we are social beings, we cannot escape if one is not willing to. Furthermore, one needs to be strict with oneself, abide by some rules, discipline. A few philosophies I like to follow are stoicism and epicureanism. These thoughts on the way of life have stopped me from getting lost in the sauce/illusion. In addition, it’s also important to understand, these media have created different approaches in making money, and some capitalize on it, and it’s a bonus when one is being successful.’

Group Psychology

Edward Bernays developed a theory called group psychology. In his book, Propaganda, released in 1928 *clears throat* ‘the minute people who have a deep sense of knowing how to control the masses through symbols and manipulation of habits... a constitution of people who control a country’. Bernays developed complex manipulation techniques used by companies to sell products. Sigmund Freud thoughts on group psychology, “concerned with the individual man as a member of a race, of a nation, of a caste, of a profession, of an institution, or as a component part of a crowd of people who have been organized into a group of at some particular time for some definite purpose.” Group Psychology tries to understand the psychology of people once they are branded as a group, the habits, thoughts, behaviors, how do they alter once involved in a crowd.

There was a survey done reported by Business Wire, it was working around the understanding of group psychology. Customers are influenced more by influencers than the brand itself. I remember watching a video of an influencer, and he was saying that. His followers do not purchase products in the ads that he puts on his videos, but rather products that he uses genuinely in his life.  In the United States and United Kingdom, influencers have had an impact on how consumers’ purchase:  “44 percent of all respondents said they have considered purchasing a product or service based on a social influencer post; 31 percent said they have already purchased a product or service based on an influencer post, and 24 percent said they have recommended a product or service based on an influencer post.”

 I’m ready to gobble all your feedback, toodles

[lynyrdwrites]

klaroline fullmetal alchemist au wassup wassup

Okay, so @goldcaught and I have Talked About This and I have Ideas.

Caroline joined the Ishvalan War because someone had to have Enzo’s back, and she was already a crack shot.  The things she saw and did... well, they ruined parts of her, even as they made her almost inseparable from her father’s one time student

Klaus is Wrath, because of course Klaus is wrath.  But rather than being the Fuhrer in this AU (that role belongs to Mikael), he is instead the charming high level official that has been flirting with Caroline pretty much since she returned from the war with a promotion.  The first time she smiled after Ishval was because of something he said.  She’s not sure she’ll ever forgive him for that, once she learns the truth of what he is

When she was younger, Caroline showed a lot of potential for Alchemy - specifically for Flame Alchemy.  But there’s enough spite in her that when her parents marriage fell apart because of Bill’s love for pretty men, she stops using that talent entirely, instead embracing the abilities that made her mother so terrifying.  But no matter how hard she tries to forget, she can still remembers those circles, and exactly what she has to do to set the world ablaze.

Katherine is the General at Briggs, because let’s be real - no one but Katherine Motherfucking Pierce could ever come close to matching General Armstrong in being a badass.

Klaus was created to feel only one emotion - to be the definition of only one emotion - but the first time he sees Caroline Forbes smile, he swears that for a second he can’t breathe, and thinks his chest hurts.  Which is completely impossible, because, as a homunculus, breathing isn’t really a thing he’s required to do.  I mean, he does it, but mostly because of reflex.

I’m not saying that Caroline shoots Klaus at some point... but I will say that he never knew getting shot could give him a boner, and he’s not sure what to do with this rather uncomfortable information.

And you got a bonus one there, because I, apparently, cannot count.  Which anyone who read my original novel first draft knows (insert that drum noise used when you make a joke)

Send me an AU, and I’ll give you 5 (or more) headcanons

[sunshineandfangs]

Hunter

Step 6:  Fantasy / Fairy Tale / Mythological

@howeverlongs and @joey-prue​

Warnings: Minor violence, brief mention of slight gore, off-screen character death

“They say a beast lurks in the woods.” 

Bonnie said this very grimly, the weight of belief behind her words.

But the moment was shattered by Elena’s burst of giggles, one of her hands flying out to swat at the other girl playfully.

“Heavens, a beast? Come on, Bonnie, you know those are just wild tales about the occasional wolf.”

Bonnie just shook her head, even if some of her seriousness vanished in light of her friend’s levity.

“Perhaps. The hunters do scare them off a few times a year…”

“And what do you think, Caroline?” Elena called over.

The blonde shook herself from her daze, pulling her eyes from where they had been staring into the forest. She turned to regard her two friends, needing a moment to process what they had been talking about.

“Well, considering Nana Forbes lives a little ways out. I sure hope there’s no beasts in the woods.”

Elena softens. 

“Oh! Yes, of course. You’re visiting her today too right?”

Caroline gave a little hum as she nodded, casting a glance back out the window, noting the position of the sun in the sky.

“I should get going actually, if I want to return before evening.”

With farewells exchanged between them, Caroline departed, mind running through the list of things she intended to bring over.

A spread of items were laid out on the table before her. She had packed the wicker basket this morning, but before she set out she always unpacked and repacked it, doubling checking that she had not forgotten anything.

She hadn’t.

A few wrapped parcels of salted meat. Two half wheels of cheese. Several carefully packed bags of tea. Even tinier packages of herbs and spices. Exactly one jar of varied vegetable seeds. A bundle of five pieces of newer utensils. Three spare fabric rolls of varying size.

Satisfied with her organization, Caroline tucked a cloth cover over the basket. Looping her arm under the handle, she moved to grab her red travel cloak from the hook by the door and departed.

Caroline had been walking for a couple of miles, her pace steady. She could have moved quicker, but she enjoyed the time out in the forest, enjoyed the trips she made to visit Nana Forbes. Despite tales of beasts and wolves, the woods had never frightened her. They felt peaceful to her in fact, the natural song of wildlife in her ears, the warm scent of earth and trees.

The pathway widened a bit as the trees thinned out, opening up into a tiny clearing. Wildflowers bloomed in scattered patches, and Caroline hesitated wondering if she should collect some. Scanning over the available options, the blonde nodded to herself and reached into the basket to pull out the smallest fabric roll, more of a large square if she was honest.

Still hefting the basket, Caroline stepped among the grass, keeping an eye out for small animals and insects. It only took a few minutes to carefully pick a small collection of violet, blue, and yellow blossoms which she just as carefully wrapped up and placed in her basket.

Task completed, the blonde continued on her way. The forest had quieted while she was distracted, though a few birds still chirped in the distance. The rest of her journey was completed without fanfare, Nana Forbes quite delighted with her delivery.

“Caroline, are you sure you should be traveling again? It’s only been a few weeks, surely your Nana would want you to wait until everything settles down?”

Caroline just shook her head, though touched by Elena’s concern.

“I have to go every few weeks. How else will she get her supplies?”

Bonnie also looked apprehensive, making her own attempts at persuasion.

“Several of the hunters came back wounded this time. Please, Caroline, we worry about you.”

Her eyes softened, though she still refused. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m sorry I have to go. Besides the hunters managed to kill their attacker. The poor wolf was just desperate, and alone so there shouldn’t be a pack.”

The girls didn’t look particularly convinced, but there was nothing they could do to stop her.

In an effort to ease her friends worry, Caroline did move a bit more rapidly. When she came upon the clearing, she decided not to stop this time.

A crack of snapping wood was loud in the muted forest. Caroline narrowed her eyes, even as she kept moving. It was lucky that her basket was far lighter today, only one parcel of meat and some herbs.

Despite staying alert nothing emerged from the woods, and the rest of her journey was silent.

Her next trip started with silence, and her skin buzzed with awareness of watching eyes. Yet still nothing attacked her.

As she neared the clearing, the smell alerted her before she saw the body.

Just beside the trail of packed dirt laid a dead doe, her throat torn open, but otherwise untouched. Flies buzzed around her sightless eyes and the pool of blood beneath her ravaged flesh was already browned and clotted. Yet no scavengers had come to pick at the meal.

Caroline frowned, the motion shifting her whole face in its severity. Still, there was nothing she could do, and she carried on. Not stupid enough to try to harvest such a blatant taunt.

Whatever hunted her was no mere animal, but she refused to be prey.

Elena had vanished a few days ago.

The forest was louder than ever.

Caroline walked steadily through the woods, now used to the far quieter trip, where the only sounds were the shifting of dirt and stone beneath her feet and the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind.

Some instinct told her that this time she wouldn’t remain unmolested by whatever creature now lurked in her forest.

She was correct.

“Pardon me, miss, but could you tell me the direction of the nearest village?”

Caroline turned as a blond man emerged from between some trees up ahead, his appearance slightly disheveled with dirt and small tears in his clothing.

Shifting again, Caroline pivoted, giving her side to the man and gesturing behind her.

“If you continue on your way, you will reach Falls. May I ask what happened, stranger?”

The man stepped closer, a sheepish expression on his face.

“Ah, it’s a bit embarrassing, love.” He ruffled his curls, still moving a bit nearer. “Truth be told, Some brigands made off with my horse. And well, my attempts at giving chase were, perhaps, not the most well thought out.”

Caroline gasped at the tale, lowering her arm, muscles lose.

“That’s awful!” She cried. “It’s a marvel that you weren’t more injured.”

“Yes, I was quite fortunate.” By this time he was just a foot or so away, and Caroline was able to take in the deep blue of his eyes.

“Very fortunate,” was whispered in her ear. The man having vanished to a place behind her, his arms like stone around her torso.

Caroline just scoffed, not the expected reaction judging by the way she felt his body twitch against her.

“Do you think I don’t know what you are, demon?”

“Oh? And what good does that do you now, sweetheart?” The voice was dripping with condescending amusement, a sound that was not at all appreciated.

With no warning, Caroline slipped a blade from her basket, her arms uncaught by his grip, and slammed it back and into his thigh.

The surprised jerk was enough for her to pull away, backing up a few steps as she whirled to face her attacker.

Blue eyes now glowing gold, the blond yanked the knife out with a scowl. His flesh rapidly stitching itself back together. With black veins crawling across his face and descended fangs he didn’t look the part of a human anymore.

“Vervain,” he hissed. “Clever girl, but hardly enough.”

He lunged forward in a blur of speed, but the coated knife was far from her only trick.

When Klaus had caught wind that a doppelganger had been spotted, near his birthplace no less, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t delighted. Playing with the pretty blonde he spotted walking by her lonesome was just a bonus as he hunted for a werewolf to sacrifice.

He had expected fear or at least disgust when she came upon his little present. Instead he saw apathy which lit a little spark of intrigue. Alas, he didn’t have time to play more, one of his minions was closing in on a wolf. But by the next full moon he would be a Hybrid, and have all the time in the world.

It was a happy accident that he stumbled upon the blonde on one of her treks through the woods. The last month he had been reveling in the return of his wolf, spending hours and even days in his other form. The thrill of the hunt magnified tenfold with a second predator beneath his skin.

Shifting back, Klaus blurred through the trees, returning with his stashed clothes, fully prepared to take advantage of their lightly rumpled state.

He played at being human, part of him a bit disappointed by her conventional reactions. Still, her scent was delightful, and with her secured in his arms at least her blood would hardly be a waste.

A scoff sounded, and Klaus felt his eyebrows raise, wondering where this apparent bravery was coming from.

“Do you think I don’t know what you are, demon?”

Was that what she thought he was? Did she think she would be able to ward him off with crosses or holy water?

Amused, he shifted a bit closer whispering a taunt in her ear.

“Oh? And what good does that do you now, sweetheart?”

The searing burn of a knife soaked in Vervain was a shock. He would admit he hadn’t expected the pretty blonde to indeed know the truth of his nature, or at least a part of it. And it was a bit vexing that she managed to catch him off guard, even managing to slip away from him.

He sensed the way his eyes shifted to wolf-gold, the rest of his monster emerging as he pulled the blade out. His leg healed in an instant, and if vervain was her only defense this wouldn’t last long. He told her such and lunged forward, prepared to end this farce.

Nearly upon her, his vision was suddenly obscured by the red cloak she whipped in his face, and he batted it away with a scowl.

His eyes involuntarily widened when he found himself confronted not with a girl, but a giant wolf.

A massive and glorious creature. She snarled at him with a ferocity that shook the earth. But his admiration was cut short as her jaw, lined with razor sharp teeth, moved to crush his skull.

He blurred away still stunned and wondering what she could be. She wasn’t a werewolf. Even the largest wolf (his own form included to his chagrin) standing beside her would only reach her belly. And regardless of size, the full moon was still a few days away.

Plus, with the cloak now parted from her body he could sense the intricate magic woven into each of its strands. The same magic emanating from the wolf.

“What are you, sweetheart?”

AN: How could I resist a spin on Little Red Riding Hood? I mean really now lol. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. In which Klaus is still the Original Hybrid (newly curse free, thanks Elena!) and Caroline is a pretty blonde. With a little extra ;) Who’s the big bad wolf, again?

[ilosttrackofthings]

Jemma Simmons and Caroline Forbes!

send me a character and I will tell you…

Jemma

First impression: I … did not like Jemma much at first. I mean, I thought the q-tip thing was ship worthy immediately, but I wasn’t really a fan of the whole fitzs!mmons thing (not the shippy aspect of it. Them as a ~unit never appealed to me and I assumed it meant one of them would die by the end of the first season so I tried for a long time not to get too attached). 

Impression now: This is a two part answer because, if I’m honest, I hate the Jemma we saw at the end of s5. But that’s nothing special, everyone on the show went suddenly morally bankrupt there. Buuuut s5 was just SO BAD that I just cannot accept it as canon most days. Like how we all ignore that Mummy movie where they tried to replace Rachel Weisz. That said, I love her lots and she is my precious bb.

Favorite moment: that time she faked food poisoning to get out of Will’s cage

Idea for a story: Jemma gets to actually mourn the people she’s lost and process her own feelings without outside pressure to move on already. No, that’s just crazy talk. 

Unpopular opinion: I’m so mad about the spare Fitz in space because it means that ONCE AGAIN Jemma doesn’t get to grieve. And Fitz is the one person you’d think the show would give her the time to mourn healthily but nope.

Favorite relationship: May. I think the two of them have a lot of great parallels in their histories - but sadly the show doesn’t give them any real time to connect.

Favorite headcanon: If I’m writing a soulmates ‘verse where Jemma’s soulmate is Grant or Hive or anyone who is not Will, I’ve almost always gotta mentally write Will out of existence because it’s just not possible for him to exist in the universe and not be Jemma’s soulmate.

(bonus) song that reminds me of them: so I’ve been playing “waiting for superman” a lot lately, thinking about Jemma in the first half of s3 hoping for Will’s return

Caroline

First impression: Precious. Adorable. Protect her at all costs.

Impression now: Never mind, she can handle herself. But feel free to watch in awe while she destroys her enemies.

Favorite moment: that time she came back from the dead and her first priority was knocking Damon on his ass

Idea for a story: Caroline gets in some sort of trouble pre-s1 and is sent off to live with some relative who has zero connection to vampires. She lives her life free of all the bs supernatural drama, becomes a semi-famous news reporter, settles down, starts a family, and lives a long (but not too long) and happy life before dying of natural causes in her bed.

Unpopular opinion: I haven’t been in this fandom for ages so probably just that the show should’ve ended about five years ago, which isn’t really Caroline specific aside from her obviously transferring over to The Originals afterward.

Favorite relationship: Elena and Bonnie. I miss their friendship.

Favorite headcanon: At least once a century Caroline returns to Mystic Falls with a new look and a new name to take back the Miss Mystic Falls crown.

(bonus) song that reminds me of them: Infinity by Niykee Heaton

[northbndtrain]

Okay, so the other day I said I was thinking about adding a new show to the blog, but I wanted to get caught up on all of the episodes before I made my decision. I finished binging all three seasons last night, so here it is...12 Monkeys.

For everyone here who hasn't watched the show before, some answers to your questions...

WHAT'S THE PLOT: Dr. Cassandra Railly is minding her own business when this strange man named James Cole suddenly appears out of thin air, kidnaps her, and tells her he's a time traveler sent back to our present to stop a viral outbreak that will kill almost everyone on Earth. People in the future know that Cassie plays a role in what's about to happen, but no one knows yet exactly what her role is. Things spiral from there.

SO IF YOU'RE ADDING IT THERE HAS TO BE ROMANCE: Yessssss there isssss. The show's primary (lol) relationship is between Cassie and Cole.

They’re one of the slowest slow-burn couples, but it is really delicious watching their relationship deepen as they deal with both internal and external conflicts that threaten to tear them apart.

WAIT WHY DOES SHE LOOK FAMILIAR: Oh, I DON'T KNOW...

WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE SCI-FI: I don’t tend to seek out science-fiction television shows myself, but this show works for me. I came for the romance and stayed not just for that but for the humor (the humor REALLY kicks up in S2 and S3) and the (sometimes stomach-churning) plot twists.

WHAT IF I HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE: That's okay -- I haven't seen it yet either. You don't need to see the movie to appreciate the tv show because they're only really related in that they work off the same basic premise. (Though from what I've read there are some easter eggs on the tv show that will be appreciated by people who have seen the film. Speaking of...)

WAIT, WHY AM I GETTING REVENGE VIBES: Madeline Stowe (Victoria Grayson) starred in the original film and has an awesome cameo appearance in Season 2. It was so great to have her on my tv screen again that when I recognized her voice (she speaks before you see her) I wanted to stand up and cheer. (And, hair-wise and fierce-need-to-protect-each-other-wise-which-sometimes-means-pushing-each-other-away-wise, there's some superficial similarities between Cole/Cassie and Jack/Emily.)

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU TELL ME WITHOUT GIVING AWAY MASSIVE SPOILERS: Jennifer Goines. JENNIFER GOINES. Believe the hype. After I watched the first episode, I took a tiny peek at the 12 Monkeys tag and saw everyone worshiping Jennifer, and I didn't get it. I GET IT NOW.

I'M STILL ON THE FENCE or I WATCHED A FEW EPISODES BUT I’M NOT FEELING IT YET: While I was intrigued by the concept, it took awhile for me to actually get hooked on the show, so if you aren’t sold by the first few episodes, I encourage you to stick with it to see what surprises are still to come. I was actually accidentally spoiled for a couple of major plot twists, but the WAY they unfolded still surprised me.

And the show is also great at mixing up dynamics between the characters and figuring out reasons to, say, send two or three characters who rarely interact off on a mission where they are FORCED to interact. As a result, three seasons in, each of the main characters has his or her own distinct relationship with each of the other main characters, and those relationships inform what happens later on down the line.

This may not seem like a novel concept, but too many shows don’t make the most of their ensembles. 12 Monkeys does.

Anyway, here are some recent reviews (well, the Vox one is from the start of S2) -- don’t click on the links unless you want to be spoiled, but the headlines speak for themselves. 

IGN Review: Season 3 rated 9.5, “Amazing” and “Editor’s Choice”

Vox: “Why you should watch SyFy’s unlikely time travel movie remake”

Forbes Review: Season 3 “The Best Sci-Fi Show on Television”

The Workprint Review: Season 3 “A Triumph in Time-Travel Storytelling”

Nerdist Review Season 3 “Brilliant, Beautiful, Bonkers”

WHERE CAN I WATCH IT: Currently, only three seasons have been released. All three are available for purchase on the usual suspects: Amazon, iTunes, etc. Seasons 1 and 2 are available to on Hulu and on DVD/BluRay. (Apparently there are currently no plans for a Season 3 DVD release, which is a shame because I bought the S1 and S2 DVDs and they have a lot of great bonus material.)

The fourth and final season recently wrapped production and will air this summer on SyFy, and you can bet I will be blogging about it here.

Thanks for reading. :)

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Seven

-Finally, after three years of watching mostly one episode a week, I have finished my re-watch of all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (season seven trailer)! I am thrilled to present my final entry here chronicling my adventures with the crew of the Enterprise! For the final season I was able to slightly bump up my viewing habits and mostly stuck to watching two episodes a week, and thus I was able to make faster progress on this final season! Somehow, my horrendously outdated Samsung Galaxy S7 phone has managed to barely limp along this entire journey with me, and the gloriously awful pics featured throughout this article are courtesy of that wonderful device. -Season six wrapped with an enticing cliffhanger to “Descent” where Lore managed to work some sinister sorcery to recruit a squadron of Borg and hack into the code banks of Data (Brent Spiner) in order to recruit him to join his cause. Season seven had a great kickoff to resolve this new threat, and had a satisfying conclusion at putting an end to Lore once and for all. I would rank “Descent” on the higher end of TNG two-part arcs, as the Lore/Borg/Data combination proved to be an intriguing antagonist to see how they would be dealt with.

Picard is ready for combat on the left, while falling ill on the Enterprise leads to crew members tripping with some wild illusions on the right! -I was a little bummed to see a complete lack of appearances from Whoopi Goldberg in her role as Guinan in the final season. I am presuming it must have been scheduling conflicts as she has always been in high demand, especially around this time just a couple years after her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost. Whoopi would return as Guinan in two of the four Star Trek movies based on TNG cast.

-A pair of recurring characters that did return for their final episodes this season are Michelle Forbes as Ensign Lt. Ro Lauren and Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher. Ro is fresh off tactical training for an important undercover mission that conclusively decides her fate with Starfleet as she would never appear in another Star Trek series or film again after this. According to my research I was surprised to learn it took a last minute agreement with Forbes within a week before filming to get her to reprise her role as she was starting to distance herself from the brand after initial plans to make her a mainstay on Deep Space Nine fizzled. Wesley Crusher’s final appearance had a better payoff in “Journey’s End” where during a vision quest he finally is deemed ready by a previous guest character, The Traveler (Eric Menyuk), to join him on a mystical journey to see Wesley fulfill his supernatural potential. I had no idea they were going to payoff these vague promises The Traveler alluded to in Wesley way back in season two, so big props to the cast and crew making that happen! -Other past recurring characters returned, but only to see them casted in middling-to-disappointing episodes. This is the case for Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) in the head-scratching “Genesis” episode that has the Enterprise staff fall victim to a virus that de-evolves them into various primates. The love-or-hate mother of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Lwaxana (Majel Barrett), has a major sendoff in her final episode where we learn all about her tragic backstory.

-Speaking of mediocre episodes, season seven has a bit more than previous seasons. A two-parter sees Riker and Picard go undercover to form a fake mutiny to sniff out a Vulcan double agent, and while it is not terrible by any means, the whole arc seems bloated and the second episode feels unnecessary. “Phantasms” is as bizarre as the dreams Data (Brent Spiner) has in the episode, but Data later has a redeeming character episode in “Inheritance” where he meets his mother…..then later hits another stumble in “Thine Own Self” where his radioactive experiments causes a planet’s population to become seriously ill. I will give season seven the benefit of the doubt for the noticeable bump up in lackluster episodes because several of the bonus interviews own up to this and attribute it to the cast and crew being spread thin with the final season of TNG, the second season of Deep Space Nine and being in pre-production of the first season of Voyager and the upcoming movie with the TNG crew, Generations. -The holodeck’s sendoff in TNG, “Emergence” is a decent affair that sees the crew go aboard the Orient Express to solve the mystery of how the holodeck becomes self-aware. The episode had a few promising moments, but could have been better. While I enjoyed the quality of holodeck episodes overall in TNG, from what I understand the holodeck episodes greatly suffer going forward and falls victim to holodeck malfunctions and sexual fantasy tropes.

Worf once again has a strong set of character-focused episodes this season. You have not lived until witnessing Worf adopt a cat for an episode, and experience a birthday party time-loop. -Worf (Michael Dorn) has one of the strongest slate of character episodes this season. Seeing Worf being a curmudgeon at his birthday party was pulled off to perfection! “Homeward” is a feel-good family episode where Worf resolves his rocky relationship with his foster brother, Nikolai (Paul Sorvino). The best Worf-centered episode is saved for last where he trains Alexander (James Sloyan) in the arts of becoming a Klingon warrior with the help of a mysterious Klingon friend.

-A couple other episodes that made strong impressions on me this season are “The Pegasus” and “Lower Decks.” In the former, Terry O’ Quinn of Lost fame, appears here as a higher-up from Starfleet to track down the lost USS Pegasus, but Picard (Patrick Stewart) eventually discovers a grand cover-up that has an enticing way of finding the truth of what Quinn’s character is hiding. “Lower Decks” is entirely focused on the background Ensigns and ancillary characters like Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake). The last couple years saw the streaming service, Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) launch a Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series with the very same premise, and if you are a fan of the cartoon, you owe it to yourself to track down this episode as its source material. “Interface” and “Bloodlines” are both strong episodes dealing with long forgotten family members. The former has Geordi (LeVar Burton) risking his life with prototype tech to save his mother (Madge Sinclair), and the latter deals with Picard’s surprise of finding out he had a son (Ken Olandt) from a decades-prior relationship.

-Now to the moment of truth, it is time to cover the final two-part episode, “All Good Things…” The series finale naturally focuses on Jean-Luc as he finds himself constantly time-warping between three different time periods to solve a new challenge bestowed onto him by none other than Q (John de Lancie). I loved how they brought it back full-circle with one of the time periods emanating from the same setting as the original pilot episode of TNG where Q puts the then-newly assembled Enterprise crew on trial. The cast and crew hold nothing back for the final episode with an enthralling narrative as Picard pieces together Q’s final challenge, and has an emotional final scene where after seven seasons, Picard finally joins his crew for a round of poker. -Here is the paragraph with my obligatory kudos to the countless hours spent remastering TNG in HD for the BluRay set. I am not a video-phile and cannot immaculately explain with the proper tech verbiage on how they did it. All I can say is the staff painstakingly made it look like they shot it today, and it does not have any of the old fuzzy standard definition effects that would happen when forcing an SD resolution onto an HD set. Just watch this indicative video that overlays the remastered HD transfer over the SD version to see for yourself. I will also give yearly props to the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation which chronicles every individual episode of TNG and has served as the best supplementary listening material to get the most out of every episode for me. The podcast took a hiatus during the pandemic, and only recently picked up again and are only a couple episodes into season seven as of this writing, so I will pat myself on the back at catching up to them when I was nearly a season and a half behind them when I started from the beginning of TNG.

-You guys know I love covering the bonus features, and season seven of the BluRay is absolutely jacked with them with previous bonus interviews and specials, and all new HD extras. According to my notes, it all added up for just over five hours of bonus materials, and that is not including a handful of commentary tracks on selected episodes. Going over each and every piece of bonus content will kill me, so instead I will highlight the handful that I got the most out of: -----Captain’s Tribute (16 min) – Stewart gives loving testimonials to the cast and crew. A lesson he learned from a dialog with Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton was a key takeaway here. -----In Conversation: Lensing ST: TNG (42 min) - This one is a new HD extra aimed at special effects enthusiasts where a roundtable discussion with camera operators and directors of photography reunite to talk shop of the many highs and lows of on the set production. While a fair amount of trade vernacular went right over my head, they provided ample context and their enthusiasm for their craft is irresistible!

I know it is asking a lot to dive into the many hours of bonus interviews, but nearly most of it is incredibly insightful and well worth your time! -----Starfleet Moments & Memories (30 min) – Awesome feature showcasing the camaraderie and humor between takes that indicates a true sense of friendship among the cast and crew. -----Closed Set: Tour of Real Enterprise (11 min) – The Okundas give a private, narrated, tour of the Enterprise filled with fun facts like how the set for sickbay gained a reputation among cast and crew as “nap-bay.” Every person should have their own nap-bay! -----Journeys End: The Saga of TNG (45 min) – Original 1994 TV special hosted by Jonathan Frakes celebrating the end of an era. ----Sky’s the Limit: Eclipse of TNG (89 min) – Three part special with part one primarily focused on the cast and crew having a lot of projects on their plate the final year and lovingly throwing shade at Picket Fences for stealing their Emmy award! Part two interviews various directors of episodes about their process, and Seth McFarlane shares a special moment he had with a fan on how the show saved their life. The third part interviews a lot of the cast on how they felt the show wrapped, with a couple highlights being Sirtis not being fond of the Worf/Deanna courtship, and Patrick Stewart remarking when asked about future projects that he would consider them, but thought they would ultimately be unnecessary. This was obviously recorded several years before Stewart would return as Picard in the current Paramount+ series, Picard.

-Suffice it to say, the extra features do not disappoint! As I foreshadowed above, there is an apparent dip in quality this season overall compared to the high bar set from seasons three through six, but I will cut the cast and crew some slack since they were seriously overworked during the 1993-94 season. There are still many excellent episodes though as I dissected above, and a terrific series finale that puts the best damn bow they possibly could on the TV series. Thank you so much for joining me on this ride over the past three years and bearing with me on my never-ending entries covering the series. If you missed out on previous entries, click here to see all my previous season recaps of The Next Generation, or click here to continue my journey with TNG crew with my reviews of all the Star Trek motion pictures.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap 2018-19 TV Season Recap 2019-20 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2 Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld - Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

[nanaswhispers]

Wandering Souls, part 2

Hey! Sorry for the long delay and for this long absence on Tumblr, life happened unfortunately! 

This was supposed to just be a far-off continuation of the first drabble when I originally planned for it during KAUWEEK, but it took a life of its own, so there will be at least one more part to end the story!

I don’t usually like posting trigger warnings since it’s kind of a sort of spoilers but in this chapter there are mentions of rape and quite graphic violence, so be warned!

Hope you enjoy reading it!

PART 1 - PART 3

The arrival at Fort William was not without pain. The deep anguish of knowing they were all dead. Him too. The sorrow of imagining their blood dripping like the usual rain of the Highlands on the blades of grass and soil they fought to their deaths for.

Caroline had been shoved violently on a plow that had been used until then to produce wheat in the yards of the castle, and feed the people that lived in it. People that were no longer.

Her injury made her head delirious just as it left her body a broken and heaving mass.

The journey to the prison was a haze where cries, lamentations, foul odors and an endless gray sky meshed together in her mind.

She woke up an indeterminable amount of time later, still woozy and with pain in every single atom making her.

She allowed herself a few moments (or maybe more than just a few) to take in what just happened, at least on a rational level, and cry tears she hid from the other bodies overcrowding the prison cell they have been shoved in.

Some of them were just sitting there with foggy eyes and heavy limbs, numb from shock and pain.

Some were heaving dry, bellies already emptied on the ground, trying to expel the emotional agony out through physical pain.

Some were quivering messes, overtaken by gut wrenching, harrowing sobs.

Some were having panic attacks, the shortage of oxygen, the lack of rational thoughts and the uncontrolled movements were all clear signs if you knew how to read them, and her own unfortunate experience with them made her an unwilling expert.

Still, she forced herself to gather her wit back. Now wasn’t the time to succumb. When she got out, she told herself, and she will, for she had sworn a death, but not now. Now she couldn’t focus on anything else but getting out. (If she kills him in the meantime, only bonus points!)

The pain in her back and side enticed her to examine the extend of the injuries she suffered.

Her head felt heavy and not as clear as usual. So, concussion most probably. (That bastard!)

Her knees were bruised, certainly caused by the loving care of the soldier she did not kill.

What worried her the most was the deep slice that extended from just under her shoulder blade to her ribs. It was still bleeding even if the edges were starting to scab (how much time did she spend unconscious exactly?), and judging by not only the depth but also the width of the cut, it would probably keep on oozing for quite the time. At this point healing was more of a utopia than a plausible outcome.

Plus the sanitary condition certainly wouldn’t help her heal: people were pressed together, there was a shortage of fresh air, body fluids and excrements could be seen every few feet, and rats were using them as a playground.

Caroline gagged. Uggggh, she missed the 21st century really bad right now.

The blood loss would soon make her weak and sleepy, and with her concussion, sleep could mean death.

Fuck! If she didn’t hurry to get the fuck out of there, she will either die from blood loss of infection. She was so not excited by those prospects.

She needed to get out. Pronto. For that, she needed information: how long they’ve been here and how much time it took to travel, the guards rotations if there had been any since their arrival, etc…

A quick perusal of the room didn’t give her much hope that she’ll get the intel she needed, but, still, she needed to try. So, she turned her head a little to the side, saw one of the young servant girls that from time to time came to assist her at Castle Leoch, her weak blonde hair, usually tied tightly on the back of her neck and hidden by her white hat thingy, was disheveled and some bald patches could be seen.

Her neck was bruised, the shape of a hand distinctly purple and blue on her white throat.

Her clothes were torn and in shambles.

Her legs bent and supporting her entire (trembling) body because she couldn’t sit.

Caroline would have cried for her had she been able to at the moment. Her general state clearly indicated rape, even centuries apart all the signs were the same. Usually, she would have been assaulted already with images and sounds drawn from her memory of the loving care Damon put her through, but she not only was preoccupied by more pressing matters, she also forced herself to numb her emotions down, remain clinical until she got out of this fucking place.

She forced herself to remember the poor girl’s name, and after an embarrassingly long moment she recalled it.

“Fiona?”

Hadn’t the lass been already out of her mind by fear and trauma, and had it been different circumstances, Caroline would have been gentler, maybe she would have even hugged her (if she herself had been able to move of course).  As it is, the arms already around herself tightening their grip as if it would save her from further harm, the tears coursing down her cheeks and the frantic movements of her frightened eyes made Caroline feel guilty for startling her and jostling her after what she went through. She knew what that felt like: the loss of power, the vulnerability, the pain, and worse of all the shame. She didn’t want to scare her, nor demand anything of her, Fiona already suffered enough. But, she didn’t have a choice. Not if she wanted her revenge, not if she wanted to live.

So, after what she hoped was a soft and reassuring smile she couldn’t guarantee the poor girl even registered, she addressed her.

“Fiona, may I ask if you know how much time we have spent at the prison?”

Her answer was a choked sob and pained whine that tore a little bit more into Caroline’s already beaten heart. Still, she gathered her resolved and persisted in the endeavor.

“Fiona, please.”

But it was useless, the young woman was barely cognizant, who knew if she even was aware of what was happening around her and who was there.

As she was just about to reiterate her attempt, even if it would prove to be unsuccessful and she had to switch to another prisoner, the door of the corridor leading to the common cell rattled with the sound of keys. A few moments after, three guards, wearing the red coats symbolic of the Majesty’s garrisons, approached the iron door that contained them.

“Move you Scottish shites!” one of them shouted at the same time he shoved the elderly amassed just behind the door when he swung it open forcefully.

One of his companions passed before him, clearing the passage by pushing and kicking away the already squished prisoners. He made his way towards the section where she was and she understood at that moment Lockwood had summoned her for one of his games he loved to play. Physical or emotional, the method didn’t matter to him, only his personal joy at toying with his victims. As long as they suffered, she guessed.

“Miss Forbes. Stand.” the soldier-guard leered disdainfully at her, the way one would look at the lowest of the low.

She did. But it was hard. Her bruised kneecaps protested the strain, dizziness took hold and she could feel how her movements tore up even more her wound.

He grabbed her just as she found a semblance of equilibrium. Her feet almost dragged behind her because of the pace he took.

The steps of the stone staircase were the worst. She had summoned every bit of dignity she had to not appear as weak and rattled as she was, but the damp, slippery and too high steps made it a hard task. Her feet kept sliding as if she was on an ice rink, her already painful knees were hitting the edge of the next step and that fucking guard just continued on his merry way while at the same time stretching the skin of her injured back by pulling on her arm.

Unwillingly, a small, pain filled moan escaped her tightly shut mouth.

Nonetheless, Caroline took notice of the path they took. Every corner, every corridor, every window. She had to situate herself in order to have a plan that would have the slightest chance to work.

Right at that instant, she could have kissed Enzo for bringing her at the prison to visit, even if she had pouted and argued against it for three full days. In the future, the walls and windows weren’t in the state they were in right now (although it was still just as cold and creepy as it seemed in the 21st century…) but still, the layout hadn’t changed through the decades that went past. The walls hadn’t moved and the passages hadn’t disappeared. Caroline could pinpoint approximately where she was in the giant building.

The satisfaction her knowledge brought her helped stand proud even when the other soldiers they passed on their way leered at her, insulted her and mimicked sexual acts they would like to do to her. (Men were pigs in every age it seemed!)

Finally, after quite the long trek, and she strongly suspected they didn’t take the shortest route for whatever reason, they arrived to a shut door. It was just as bare and heavy as every other one she saw on the way. The only detail that signified the room’s importance on it was a small knocker. She guessed there wasn’t really any need for that in the rest of the prison.

The guard that held her since they took her from the common cell knocked on the wood and Caroline took a deep breath, one that hurt her in the state her body was in, but she needed it to ground herself as much as she could before entering the “Wolf’s den” (apparently that was the origin for the entire family’s obsession with the animals since, you know, they had a cool, rich, powerful ancestor that took it as his nickname…Caroline rolled her eyes internally).

The sight that greeted her after the guard shoved her through the passage was one eerily similar to the last time she had been alone in a room with Theodore Lockwood.

Him playing “distractedly” with his letter opener, that seemed way too sharp considering it’s aimed purpose, his filthy boots on the sturdy wood of his polished and gleaming desk, and his eyes sliding up to her that revealed the true emotions he harbored. What a great showman.

Suddenly the image of Tyler doing almost the same thing in his office superposed itself onto the present one. How he insulted her in a passive way while he had onlookers he felt insecure of. How he always did those little productions, just as his ancestor apparently, whenever something didn’t go as he planned or he felt even the slightest bit threatened.

So, when Theodore expected her to cower and instead Caroline threw at him a disdainful smirk Klaus would have been utterly proud of, it wouldn’t be enough to say his previous aura of playfulness disappeared and left the place to open scorn and hate. She was fine with that. At least she knew what she was walking into.

“I had hoped your state of being and the time, however brief, spent in the prison’s most “visited” cell would have made you realize how to behave in front of people far superior to you. It was my mistake, indeed, to expect of a bug to have a brain.”

Caroline truly, truly couldn’t help it, she laughed.

And she was thankful for it, no matter the reasons or consequences of it. It was cathartic. Everything that happened before that had led her to a spiral of pain and sadness hadn’t gone away, per se, but, suddenly it seemed a little bit more bearable. And it had been piling up for so long she couldn’t quite remember the last time she felt so light.

The brief bout of joy it brought her helped her clear her head. And it made her laugh even more because Lockwood was unaware that by insulting her he only strengthened her and the resolve she had to bring him to his end.

She was so enraptured in what would have looked like a bout of insanity to any onlookers, that she didn’t even register him standing up from his chair and quickly coming up to her. Well, she did when he grabbed her arm and almost tore it out of its socket, succeeding in pulling on the wound that sliced her open.

Just as she let out a grunt of pain, he slammed her on the wooden desk. The papers and sparse decorations he harbored on it flew like flies while she trashed around, trying to lessen the strength of his grip on her. She felt panic creep up on her even if she vehemently fought against it.

Her efforts tripled when she felt one of his hands that previously smashed her left hand against the furniture slide down, and once it reached her ankle, went without permission under her garments.

His nails scratched her everywhere, his fingers pressed hard on her tender flesh, so hard it would leave innumerable bruises on her pale skin. He tried to open her legs not only with the hand under her dress but also with one of thighs incessantly pining one of hers down.

Caroline was frantic. She used every little ounce of strength she had left in her mauled body to try to push him off her.

Her hands pushed. Her knees hit flanks. Her boot clad feet kicked. Her head butted. Her teeth bit.

While she was trying to fight him off, wishing that any kind of help would miraculously come to her, she was bombarded with hazy images of Damon raping her after he drugged her at Bonnie’s birthday party. How roughly his hands grabbed her body. How his lips and fingertips left her bruised for weeks. How she bled when he shoved himself into her dry, unprepared, unaroused vagina.

She resisted the tears, even if her eyes begged her to release them, not wanting to appear weak in front of such a joke of a man. A coward that couldn’t bear the slightest bit of resistance. A weakling pushing his authority and throwing tantrums when it didn’t go his way. A wimp taking advantage of her weakened state to take her against her will.

Her anger and rage took hold of her even more like a powerful wave of divine fury crashing into its impertinent subjects.

She raised herself as much as she could and with her teeth, sharp and strong, she tore off his ear, or at least a significant part of it.

Caroline had never known until then how much blood went through those floppy things attached to their heads. It was like a small geyser of red raining on her.

Lockwood cried out and lost his hold of her hand when his went by reflex to what should have been still attached to him. (How much she wished at that moment she could have separated his dick instead of his ear from his body!)

That brief moment was his downfall.

She grabbed the sharp and thin blade that was his letter opener, the one he had played with only seconds ago really, trying to intimidate her with it. And, with a force she wasn’t aware she still had in her, pushed the pointy end into his jugular.

The skin gave easily, she hadn’t expected it. She felt how smoothly it slid into the artery, how it even went further, right into one of the bones of his upper spinal cord.

His eyes slid up to hers, shocked. Aghast with the realization a weak woman killed him. That he failed in asserting his dominance over her.

She could see the knowledge it was the end for him creep into his rapidly fading gaze.

A choked gurgle of a mouth filled with blood escaped him, a last and unnecessary protest at the face of fate.

Caroline had never thought of herself before as a bloodthirsty or even cruel person. But at that moment the only thing she could feel was triumph. Her face was split by a victorious smile, one that would be the last thing Theodore Lockwood would ever see. One that would accompany him into the abysses of Death.

His now soulless carcass was still hunched over her, and with the leg that had been trapped under his she pushed him to the ground like the piece of trash he had been in life.

She took a small moment to breathe, and revel in her accomplishment, no matter how vile and heinous one would think it was, she was proud. And grateful. To her mother, the bad-ass woman that taught her basic anatomy even as she was more enraptured by romantic novels, the one that forced her to learn how to grip anything that could help her in order to have maximum effect.

“Thanks, Mom.” her quiet voice addressed her, hoping that in some bizarre way she was able to see her, a small tear of mourning escaping her eye just as a soft small smile reached her lips. Gone too soon but not without an impact.

It was precisely the thoughts of her mother, and the lessons she had taught her, that pulled her back in the situation she was in. Lockwood had sent away the guards, true, but her small window of opportunity would soon close in on her if she didn’t get the fuck out of the room quickly.

Quickly, she glanced at the entire room and the corpse that previously inhabited it. She saw a platter of food; she grabbed the bannock and hard cheese and put it in the pocket of her dress while munching on the few greens that were there (she needed the vitamins!) and drank all the wine.

Then, she saw the weapon that saved her life, put it in her boot. She also took the pistol with the belt accompanying it that had previously been hanging on the side of the chair.

Finally, she took the blanket that was thrown haphazardly over the hanging rack, probably there for the cold Highlands nights, and she covered her shoulders with it, tying it on her back after crisscrossing it over her chest.

In another life, another time, Caroline Forbes, however practical she was, would most certainly have been grossed out by the idea of taking a man’s, a man she killed, personal belongings and food, but life in this time and the circumstances she was in, taught her that to survive she couldn’t bother herself with such frivolities. So she didn’t.

Just as she was about to get out of this cursed room, she saw a flask peeking from one of his red coat’s pocket, and impulsively, she took it.

She breathed in and out, remembering the mantra (“It’s okay, you can do it, you’re Caroline fucking Forbes, don’t be a wuss!”) she used before every exam, every major hurdle in her life, she even used it before entering the morgue to identify her mother’s corpse, so this was nothing. She steeled herself and took hold of the door’s handle.

Now, let’s get the fuck out.

[misssophiachase]

I Want You to Want Me

So this was something Angie @thetourguidebarbie suggested as a prompt a few weeks back and I was feeling inspired. How would the scene in the TVD graduation episode have gone with Klaus discovering all of Caroline’s missed calls and voicemails upon arriving in Mystic Falls? Hopefully a little something like this and with a slightly different ending....

Klaus ran his thumb slowly over the graduation announcement card and in particular her name written in perfect, black cursive. The paper was beginning to wear given just how many times he’d read it. There was no denying he’d missed Caroline since being in New Orleans but had resigned himself not to see her for a while, well until however long it takes he’d told himself. 

It had been a particularly uneventful day, except for his usual plotting to bring down Marcel and regain the throne, when Elijah had thrown a stack of mail on the coffee table in the lounge room. The crisp, white envelope on top with the neat handwriting had immediately caught his attention. 

He leaned across and picked it up, tracing the address and then inhaling the floral perfumed scent emanating from the stationery like the wolf he was. His crimson lips curved into a knowing smile. It was from her. 

He checked that the room was clear from his eldest brother’s prying eyes before ripping it open excitedly and wondering what Caroline wanted. The card inside seemed elegant and unassuming but on closer inspection her intentions were clear and to the point. He smiled thinking just how Caroline Forbes that was. 

Yes, she probably wanted a monetary gift but the fact she’d sent it all the way to New Orleans meant she’d been thinking about him. It was then he made the arrangements to charter an airplane and fly directly to Mystic Falls so he wouldn’t miss her big day.  

Elijah had immediately questioned his movements and why he’d changed suits five times. Klaus had merely growled in his direction before making his way to the airport. The last thing he needed was his family teasing him unnecessarily. 

The plane wheels impacted with the runway breaking Klaus from his trance. He was finally back in Mystic Falls. He wasn’t quite sure how his reappearance would be received but figured some cash and his other begrudging gift would be welcomed. 

He rummaged in his pocket for his cell, figuring it was safe to turn it on now they were taxiing along the small airstrip. What he wasn’t expecting was the multiple beeps that rang out. He consulted the screen noting nineteen missed calls and thirteen voice mails.  Had something happened in the quarter in his short absence? 

He navigated through the screens finding his missed call register.  Every call belonged to Caroline and he felt the nerves swirl around his stomach. If anything had happened to her, Klaus would torture whomever was responsible. 

The front door opened and Klaus stalked down the stairs purposefully feeling the cool air hit his flushed face. His hands shook angrily as he consulted his voicemails and pressed the button to hear what she’d left him. 

[Thursday 16 May, 2013 - 10:47am] “Klaus, we need your help. Damon’s been bitten by a werewolf. Call me back.”

He checked his watch, noticing that she’d left that message five hours earlier. Klaus didn’t care for the eldest Salvatore or for saving his life but Caroline had a way of making him do exactly what he didn’t want to do. He’d be upset if he didn’t love her and that bossy nature so much.   

He jumped into the waiting car, barking instructions to the Salvatore Boarding House. Yet again he would save a life but only for her. It was always just for her. He held his phone to his ear again oblivious to the passing scenery, listening for the next message in anticipation.

[Thursday 16 May, 2013 - 11:09am] “So much for a call back. If you’re somewhere eating beignets or drinking someone’s blood while I’m in full on crisis mode, I’m going to be pretty disappointed, Mikaelson.”

Klaus chuckled aloud, earning a curious glance from his chauffeur in the rearview mirror. He really needed to learn to control those emotional urges but Caroline brought it out in him. 

[Thursday 16 May, 2013 - 11:23am] “I get the whole Mikaelson family creepy vibe (complete with carting them around in coffins) but come on. A call back wouldn’t be so difficult given my predicament.”

Klaus would have been offended if it wasn’t Caroline saying those words, especially in that gorgeous but slightly panicked tone. 

[Thursday 16 May, 2013 - 11:27am] “I get it, this is what you want. Me begging for you to come to town and you pretending to play hard to get. Just so you know playing hard to get is so last year according to Cosmopolitan and that doesn’t change the current state of emergency.” 

Klaus figured the drive would be boring but he was enjoying himself immensely listening to her cute voice. In fact he could do this all day. 

[Thursday 16 May, 2013 - 11:35am] “Klaus now is not the time to decide that you are over me. I’m going to call you every ten minutes until you get your ass here to save Damon’s life.”

His ears pricked up at that last message. She didn’t want him to be over her? He played it back just to be sure that’s what she’d uttered. Yeah, sure there was an emergency but even Klaus knew that Caroline Forbes never said anything she didn’t mean. Hell, Klaus figured a truth serum would be pointless given her unabashed and refreshing honesty.

It was at that point he was tempted to call her and relieve her fears, but he saw the Boarding House looming in the distance.  The one thing Klaus knew was that as soon he was finished there he was going to seek out the beautiful blonde for an explanation. 

[Thursday May 16th, 2013 - 11:45am] “I bet you thought I was lying about those ten minute intervals,” she growled. “You know I’m just going to say it. I thought after a thousand years you would have learnt some decorum. Obviously I was wrong.”

They pulled up at their destination and Klaus stepped out of the car, his phone still stuck to his ear intently. 

[Thursday May 16th - 11:55am] “Have you been reading He’s Not that into You’? Because just so you know those circumstances don’t apply in crises.” 

Klaus made a mental note to read that upon returning to New Orleans before knocking on their front door. Once he’d finished here Klaus had every intention of finding Caroline and following up on some of those messages. 

75 minutes later  

“How’d you get here so fast?”

“I was already on my way,” he smiled knowingly. “I received your graduation announcement. I assume you’re expecting cash?” He asked pulling the card from his pocket and hoping she didn’t notice how worn it looked. 

“That or a mini fridge,” she grinned. It was difficult being this close and after all her frantic messages not to kiss those beautiful, pink lips. 

He shook his head slightly attempting to regain his composure. He’d planned exactly what was going to say and what gift he was going to selflessly give but all of those messages stuck in his head, even the six he hadn’t heard yet.  

“I am sorry I missed your calls, your messages...”

“You listened to my messages,” she squeaked. 

“I assumed that was the point of voicemail, love.” 

“I was under a lot of stress,” she argued. “I don’t usually go around just saying...”

“Saying what?”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you, Mikaelson?” Klaus had to control his dimples knowing that they wouldn’t be too well received right now. 

“I was happy to help,” he offered diplomatically. “Those messages were just an added bonus. I think the last few will be a nice distraction on my way home.”

“You haven’t listened to them all?”

“Well, not yet.”

“I’ll do anything if you just don’t listen to them,” she rambled, her hands running distractedly through those golden waves he loved so much. Obviously someone had admitted more than he’d ever expected.  “Whatever you want.” Klaus had to ignore the lust coursing through his body at that particular suggestion. 

“How about a drink? It’s the least you deserve for graduating.” She regarded him solemnly before nodding in agreement. “And a promise.” He murmured, threading his arm through hers as they walked away in the darkness.

“A promise?” She asked curiously.

“How about we talk about that later, I figure you and I both have however long it takes to discuss that.” 

On FF HERE

[junker-town]

MLB’s Astros punishment was extraordinary, and still not harsh enough

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Let’s make sense of the fallout from the Astros cheating scandal.

Major League Baseball levied one of the most significant punishments in the history of the sport on the Houston Astros for cheating during their championship season in 2017. Executive Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season, while the team was stripped of four draft picks and fined $5 million.

This Astros discipline somehow achieved the opposing feats of being unprecedented in scope yet also not punitive enough.

What hurts

The loss of draft picks is huge, and will probably do the most long-term damage of any of the penalties laid out by Major League Baseball. Given where the Astros will likely pick in the 2020 and 2021 drafts (late in the first round; this is still a very talented team coming off three consecutive 100-win years), using FanGraphs’ valuation tool has those picks — first- and second-rounders in the next two drafts — worth roughly $25-30 million in net present value.

Houston’s roster is filled with homegrown talent, including Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and George Springer, who were drafted very early in the first round back when the Astros were tanking on purpose. But later first-round picks, closer to where the Astros will probably pick in the next two drafts, were used to get Justin Verlander (Daz Cameron) and Zack Greinke (J.B. Bukauskas, Seth Beer) in trades. Losing those four picks not only removes four potential prospects, but also limits the total pool of bonus money the team is allowed to spend. This is a significant developmental loss.

Managers and general managers don’t grow on trees

Luhnow and Hinch took the biggest hits, as they were not only suspended without pay for a season by MLB on Monday but subsequently fired by Astros owner Jim Crane as well. Both signed contract extensions during the 2018 season, a year after the team won the World Series in seven games. Luhnow was signed through 2023, and Hinch through 2022. Now, they need to be replaced, after every other team has filled its vacancies in those two spots this offseason.

Hinch is only the third manager in the last 100 years to be suspended for at least one season, joining Leo Durocher (1947) and Pete Rose (1989), per Jayson Stark.

For the Braves’ international and amateur scouting transgressions in 2017, general manager John Coppolella was banned for life and the team lost one first-round draft pick and saw their spending limited in two international signing periods. The combination and volume of draft pick loss plus the suspension of not only the Astros GM and manager make Houston’s punishment the most severe in baseball since the Black Sox scandal in 1919.

Hinch was found by MLB to not have participated in the trash-can-banging scheme in 2017 nor the Astros’ usage of the video replay room to relay signals to the dugout in 2018. Hinch, per MLB, even went so far as to “signal his disapproval of the scheme by physically damaging the monitor on two occasions, necessitating its replacement.” But his culpability came in knowing about both plans and doing nothing to stop it.

In addition to the integrity-damaging proof through this investigation that the Astros cheated during the postseason that ended with their championship, the timing of this is key. During the 2017 season, the Yankees complained to the commissioner’s office that the Red Sox were illegally using electronic equipment to relay signs from their video replay room to the dugout. The league released a memo on Sept. 15 that year confirming the Red Sox violation, which came with an undisclosed fine, and the warning that “all 30 Clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”

The Astros, who by this point already implemented their own sign-stealing scheme against baseball’s rules, continued to use the system in the playoffs. It was a direct violation after MLB already warned that they would turn this car around right now if any of you kids keep this up.

Luhnow was not implicated in the sign-stealing scheme, but was found through MLB’s investigation to have knowledge of it, and his failure to try to stop it was his undoing. Commissioner Rob Manfred also made note of Luhnow’s “problematic” baseball operations department:

But while no one can dispute that Luhnow’s baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics, it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other Clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic. At least in my view, the baseball operations department’s insular culture – one that valued and rewarded results over other considerations, combined with a staff of individuals who often lacked direction or sufficient oversight, led, at least in part, to the Brandon Taubman incident, the Club’s admittedly inappropriate and inaccurate response to that incident, and finally, to an environment that allowed the conduct described in this report to have occurred.

Taubman, an assistant general manager under Luhnow, aggressively taunted a group of female reporters in the Astros clubhouse regarding closer Roberto Osuna — who was acquired as a distressed asset by Houston in 2018 while he served a 75-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy — all while celebrating the club’s ALCS win over the Yankees in October 2019.

The Astros bungled the response to the incident, including accusing Sports Illustrated reporter Stephanie Apstein of fabricating the story. An apology from Luhnow didn’t come until five days later, and on Monday he continued that trend with a statement bereft of remorse.

Here is Jeff Luhnow's full statement, his first response to today's news. pic.twitter.com/9AbDFEtkbP

— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) January 13, 2020

Luhnow’s statement began with “I accept responsibility,” then proceeded to list the ways in which he was not responsible. He was sure to note the video decoding of signs “was executed by lower-level employees working with the bench coach,” which brings us to who could perhaps face the biggest penalty of all.

Alex Cora was the bench coach for the Astros in 2017, and was found through MLB’s investigation to have arranged a video monitor just outside the Astros dugout, showing the center field camera feed. The explanation further notes the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme was player-driven, with Cora the only member of the coaching staff involved in the plan (along with some team employees in the video room).

“Cora participated in both schemes, and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players’ conduct,” Manfred wrote.

As if the direct culpability in the Astros’ schemes weren’t enough, Cora is also the subject of MLB’s current investigation into whether the 2018 Red Sox engaged in impermissible electronic sign stealing. Cora won the World Series as Boston’s manager that year.

MLB hasn’t yet determined Cora’s penalty, with an investigation ongoing, but he figures to get punished at least as much as Hinch and Luhnow just for his Astros’ involvement alone. Cora is signed with the Red Sox through 2021, with a club option for 2022.

What about the players?

You might be wondering if what the Astros did was against baseball rules, and if their sign-stealing scheme was player driven, why weren’t any players suspended or even fined for their transgressions?

Manfred for one correctly noted that it’s the responsibility of the general manager and field manager to make sure players know and follow the rules, and that’s why Luhnow and Hinch took the fall. Also, though unsaid, suspending players would be met with pushback from the players union, and with a looming labor battle and a collective bargaining agreement that expires after the 2021 season that’s probably an extra fight MLB wants little part of.

It’s also a logistical nightmare.

“It is difficult because virtually all of the Astros’ players had some involvement or knowledge of the scheme, and I am not in a position based on the investigative record to determine with any degree of certainty every player who should be held accountable, or their relative degree of culpability,” Manfred wrote. “It is impractical given the large number of players involved, and the fact that many of those players now play for other Clubs.”

Keep in mind that this was a thorough investigation, in which 68 people were interviewed and “tens of thousands of emails, Slack communications, text messages, video clips, and photographs” were reviewed. 23 of those interviewed were current or former Astros players. It’s unclear if any sort of immunity was promised by MLB to get these players to talk, but that so many cooperated certainly helped the investigation.

Everything is fine

The final Astros punishment was a fine of $5 million, which is the largest allowed by the Major League constitution. It’s also a drop in the bucket for a franchise valued (by Forbes) at $1.775 billion in 2019, a 161-percent increase from Crane’s $680 million purchase price in 2011.

Even if the fine was $50 million, the Astros made much more than that by virtue of their three extended postseason runs the last three years (they also made the World Series in 2019, but won none of their four home games).

There is no going back in time and stripping the Astros of their World Series title. The games happened, the memories exist, and changing the past doesn’t really do anything. The best MLB can hope for is to prevent this type of scandal from happening again, and the way to do that is to make an owner piss their pants when they see a cost that is actually prohibitive.

Because if the cost for electronically stealing signs is $5 million, four draft picks, and one-year suspensions of the manager and general manager, I’m not sure that’s steep enough to outweigh all the benefits that come with winning a World Series.

[chessgroup69-blog]

MLB Transaction Watch: 76 players including Bryce Harper and Manny Machado remain unsigned

For the second straight year MLB’s hot stove season has ground to a halt. You can call it a lukewarm stove, you can call it an ice cold stove, you can call it a periodically almost hot stove, but whatever you call it, the following things are all true:

The economics of MLB free agency have some serious problems and it’s about to get compounded for the free agent class of 2020, who now have to compete not only with each other, but also with the players who only signed one-year deals this year.

There are any number of theories about why the free agent market has gone cold including: analytics driving teams to shy away from larger contracts, greedy agents demanding too much money for their players, a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that incentivizes teams staying below the luxury tax, and teams deliberately tanking to try to replicate the success of rebuilds like the Cubs and the Astros. The answer is probably some combination of the above, and maybe a few other things I’ll be exploring in the coming weeks. For this post I wanted to establish that there is a structural problem in the free agent market because it has resulted in players expecting a set of contracts that is not aligned with what owners are willing to pay. I also want to establish that it’s persistent across player talent levels, this isn’t just owners being gun shy about 10-year deals.

There is enough money

Before I jump too far into laying out this problem I want to be really clear that MLB teams have the money to pay your favorite players. Regardless of how you look at revenue and salaries, the money to pay players exists.

Since January Maury Brown has published a trio of pieces in Forbes that show three things. First, MLB revenue is at an all-time high. The league topped $10.3 billion in profits in 2018. This increase happened despite flagging attendance. Second, a smaller percentage of that revenue is being spent on player salaries as you can see below:

Player salaries as a percentage of revenue

Forbes Research

Now, when these numbers emerged, there were two main questions about them. The first is that clearly there are fluctuations in the data on a yearly basis. This could be just a natural fluctuation. The second was that these numbers weren’t entirely accurate because MLB and the MLBPA have slight differences in how they account for revenue and salaries (of course they do). So on February 11, Brown updated his research to account for those variations. Which leads me to his third point: No matter how you look at revenue and players’ salaries the percentage is declining. Before I post the two charts that tell this story better than I could, here is how the two sides differ in calculating revenues and player compensation according to Brown:

The owners see total player compensation differently than the MLBPA and its players. MLB pays not only for the players in the big leagues but for those in the minor leagues, as well as the bonus money paid to amateurs in the draft. For the owners, player compensation looks like this:

Major League Player Compensation + Benefit Plan Costs + Postseason Share Payments + Minor League Signing Bonuses (not including associated tax) + Minor League Salaries And Benefits

The MLBPA is focused just on this:

Major League Player Compensation + Benefit Plan Costs + Postseason Share Payments

But honestly, it doesn’t matter how you tally these numbers, the results look pretty similar. First, MLB’s numbers:

MLB & Minor League Player Salaries and Revenue - Total Dollars

Forbes Research

And here are the MLBPA calculations (basically the above, without the minor leagues):

MLB Player Salaries and Revenue - Total Dollars

Forbes Research

In both instances the trend line for player compensation is flatter than the trend line for revenue. In other words, the money is there and growing, but less of it is going to players.

One final point from Brown’s research before I move on to player signings and contracts. As we saw in earlier MLB data, it’s possible for the percentage of money going to salaries to dip one year and rebound in another, sort of like 2012 to 2013. Luckily for us, Brown has a handy chart that looks at this with a 2019 projection, and well...it’s not great for players.

Player salaries as a percentage of revenue - plus 2019 projection

Forbes Research

If that projection holds, 2019 will be the first year in a decade with depressed salaries as a percentage of revenue for back to back years. So if the revenue exists, and the players aren’t getting it, what exactly is going on?

It’s not just about bad contracts

A common response to concerns about player compensation is that this is merely a market correcting for bad contracts of the past (and Lordy, there were some bad contracts.) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to defend the Jacoby Ellsbury deal or the Albert Pujols contract. I think there is solid evidence in the numbers that eight-plus-year contracts for players who are over 30 are unlikely to be great deals. The rational response from teams might be to replicate the substantially better results from deals like Jon Lester’s and Max Scherzer’s. However, the market isn’t correcting to a middle ground. The market is disappearing.

You can see it very clearly in this chart Scott Lindholm posted on Twitter:

$50 million + contracts since 2007

Scott Lindholm

It is sort of implausible that there is just truly no talent currently in MLB that is worth a $150 million deal. While that always was the elite echelons of contracts, it seems highly suspect to me that it just no longer exists. There used to be a handful of those deals each year and yet, suddenly in the vaunted free agent market of 2019 there are just none? But beyond the top tier contracts, the noise even above $50 million is substantially muted in 2019. It starts to illustrate why players have started taking to social media to air their concerns.

Almost every free agent lost in 2018

Another response I frequently hear is that 2018 was isolated or really wasn’t that bad. After all, most of the best players did wind up playing, they just had to wait a lot longer to get signed. I think Brown’s data above goes a long way to refuting that, but there’s even more when you start looking at individual deals.

It is true that the vast majority of MLB free agent talent was eventually signed in 2018 (although we’ll never know how much the late free agent start hurt some players, specifically pitchers such as Alex Cobb and Greg Holland who had pretty disastrous starts after missing most of spring training). However, I wanted to look at what these players signed for relative to expectations. To do this I looked at MLB Trade Rumors’ top 50 free agent prediction piece from November 2, 2017 and the contracts players eventually signed. To make this a bit easier to see, I turned their written piece into a chart:

2018 Projected and Actual Contracts Top 50 Free Agents

Player Proj. Total Proj. Years Proj. AAV Actual Total Actual Years Actual AAV

Player Proj. Total Proj. Years Proj. AAV Actual Total Actual Years Actual AAV

Yu Darvish $160,000,000.00 6 $26,666,666.67 $126,000,000.00 6 $21,000,000.00 J.D. Martinez $150,000,000.00 6 $25,000,000.00 $110,000,000.00 5 $22,000,000.00 Eric Hosmer $132,000,000.00 6 $22,000,000.00 $144,000,000.00 8 $18,000,000.00 Jake Arrieta $100,000,000.00 4 $25,000,000.00 $75,000,000.00 3 $25,000,000.00 Masahiro Tanaka $100,000,000.00 5 $20,000,000.00 N/A N/A N/A Mike Moustakas $85,000,000.00 5 $17,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 Lorenzo Cain $70,000,000.00 4 $17,500,000.00 $80,000,000.00 5 $16,000,000.00 Wade Davis $60,000,000.00 4 $15,000,000.00 $51,000,000.00 3 $17,000,000.00 Lance Lynn $56,000,000.00 4 $14,000,000.00 $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 Greg Holland $50,000,000.00 4 $12,500,000.00 $14,000,000.00 1 $14,000,000.00 Alex Cobb $48,000,000.00 4 $12,000,000.00 $57,000,000.00 4 $14,250,000.00 Carlos Santana $45,000,000.00 3 $15,000,000.00 $60,000,000.00 3 $20,000,000.00 Zack Cozart $42,000,000.00 3 $14,000,000.00 $38,000,000.00 3 $12,666,666.67 Jay Bruce $39,000,000.00 3 $13,000,000.00 $39,000,000.00 3 $13,000,000.00 Logan Morrison $36,000,000.00 3 $12,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 Addison Reed $36,000,000.00 4 $9,000,000.00 $16,750,000.00 2 $8,375,000.00 Todd Frazier $33,000,000.00 3 $11,000,000.00 $17,000,000.00 2 $8,500,000.00 Mike Minor $28,000,000.00 4 $7,000,000.00 $28,000,000.00 3 $9,333,333.33 Brandon Morrow $24,000,000.00 3 $8,000,000.00 $21,000,000.00 2 $10,500,000.00 Jonathan Lucroy $24,000,000.00 2 $12,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 CC Sabathia $24,000,000.00 2 $12,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 Yonder Alonso $22,000,000.00 2 $11,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Carlos Gomez $22,000,000.00 2 $11,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 1 $4,000,000.00 Juan Nicasio $21,000,000.00 3 $7,000,000.00 $17,000,000.00 2 $8,500,000.00 Bryan Shaw $21,000,000.00 3 $7,000,000.00 $27,000,000.00 3 $9,000,000.00 Michael Brantley $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 Andrew Cashner $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Neil Walker $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 1 $4,000,000.00 Tyler Chatwood $20,000,000.00 3 $6,666,666.67 $38,000,000.00 3 $12,666,666.67 Jake McGee $18,000,000.00 3 $6,000,000.00 $27,000,000.00 3 $9,000,000.00 Jaime Garcia $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 Alex Avila $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 $8,500,000.00 2 $4,250,000.00 Jhoulys Chacin $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $15,500,000.00 2 $7,750,000.00 Welington Castillo $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $15,000,000.00 2 $7,500,000.00 Eduardo Nunez $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $8,000,000.00 2 $4,000,000.00 Anthony Swarzak $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 Steve Cishek $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $13,000,000.00 2 $6,500,000.00 Brandon Kintzler $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 Jon Jay $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $3,000,000.00 1 $3,000,000.00 Carlos Gonzalez $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 $5,000,000.00 1 $5,000,000.00 Tommy Hunter $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $18,000,000.00 2 $9,000,000.00 Jarrod Dyson $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $7,500,000.00 2 $3,750,000.00 Pat Neshek $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $16,250,000.00 2 $8,125,000.00 Tony Watson $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $9,000,000.00 3 $3,000,000.00 Howie Kendrick $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $7,000,000.00 2 $3,500,000.00 Jason Vargas $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Chris Tillman $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 $3,000,000.00 1 $3,000,000.00 Lucas Duda $6,000,000.00 1 $6,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 1 $3,500,000.00 Michael Pineda $6,000,000.00 2 $3,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 Miles Mikolas $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 $15,500,000.00 2 $7,750,000.00

MLB Trade Rumors

Of the top 50 free agents, 37 wound up taking a deal that was below MLBTR’s projection for them heading into the 2018 offseason. Four players received offers that were almost exactly what they were projected to receive and only nine players exceeded expectations. I almost feel like there should be an asterisk on the thirteen contracts that met or exceeded expectations, though, because ten of them happened before the freeze set in last January when it kind of looked like regular baseball teams were going to offer regular baseball deals to players. Only Alex Cobb, Eric Hosmer and Jay Bruce actually signed deals for at/above market value after fears of collusion were first voiced by Jeff Passan. In other words, the best contracts of 2018 almost all happened early, before front offices had adapted to the new reality of below market short-term deals.

The problem continues in 2019

In 2018 fans were told to wait until 2019 for the banner crop of free agents including Harper and Machado. Well, we’re here now, and it looks like the same problems persist. When pitchers and catchers began to report in 2018 there were close to 100 unsigned free agents according to the Washington Post, including J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Jake Arrieta and Mike Moustakas. The Cubs deal with Yu Darvish barely made the cutoff, he signed mere days before pitchers and catchers began to report last year. As of this writing in 2019, 76 free agents have yet to sign as camps open, including Harper, Machado, Kimbrel and Gonzalez.

The sheer number of one-year deals is stunning - I count 143 one-year deals as of Brett Anderson signing on Monday. It’s also worth noting that 74 of those deals are one-year minor league deals. Including minor league deals for some players with substantial major league service time like Hunter Pence, Rajai Davis Jason Hammel and Curtis Granderson. You can see a list of players taking one-year minor league deals below (this data is pulled from MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Tracker and reformatted to only show minor league deals):

2019 Minor League Deals by Team

Player Position Team Years Deal

Player Position Team Years Deal

Peter Bourjos CF / LF / RF Angels 1 Minor Daniel Hudson RP Angels 1 Minor Jerry Blevins RP Athletics 1 Minor Javy Guerra RP Blue Jays 1 Minor Eric Sogard 2B / SS Blue Jays 1 Minor Rafael Ortega CF / LF / RF Braves 1 Minor Josh Tomlin SP Brewers 1 Minor Francisco Pena C Cardinals 1 Minor Christian Bergman RP Cubs 1 Minor George Kontos RP Cubs 1 Minor Junichi Tazawa RP Cubs 1 Minor Kelby Tomlinson 2B Diamondbacks 1 Minor Ricky Nolasco SP Diamondbacks 1 Minor Matt Szczur CF / LF / RF Diamondbacks 1 Minor Marc Rzepczynski RP Diamondbacks 1 Minor Paulo Orlando LF / RF Dodgers 1 Minor Rene Rivera C Giants 1 Minor Alex Wilson RP Indians 1 Minor Matt Joyce LF / RF Indians 1 Minor Tommy Milone SP Mariners 1 Minor Jose Lobaton C Mariners 1 Minor Zac Rosscup RP Mariners 1 Unknown Ichiro Suzuki LF / RF Mariners 1 Minor Dixon Machado 2B / SS Marlins 1 Minor Curtis Granderson LF / RF Marlins 1 Minor Pedro Alvarez DH / 1B Marlins 1 Minor Hector Santiago RP / SP Mets 1 Minor Luis Avilan RP Mets 1 Minor Gregor Blanco CF / LF / RF Mets 1 Minor Rajai Davis CF / LF Mets 1 Minor Devin Mesoraco C Mets 1 Minor Jesus Sucre C Orioles 1 Minor Jace Peterson LF / RF / 2B / 3B Orioles 1 Minor Gregory Infante RP Orioles 1 Minor Carlos Perez C Orioles 1 Minor Chris Stewart C Padres 1 Minor Andrew Romine LF / RF / 2B / SS / 3B Phillies 1 Minor Drew Butera C Phillies 1 Minor Sean Rodriguez LF / 2B / SS Phillies 1 Minor Shane Robinson LF / RF Phillies 1 Minor Gregorio Petit 2B / SS Phillies 1 Minor Tyler Lyons RP Pirates 1 Minor Brandon Maurer RP Pirates 1 Minor J.B. Shuck CF / LF / RF Pirates 1 Minor Francisco Liriano RP / SP Pirates 1 Minor Melky Cabrera LF / RF Pirates 1 Minor Nick Franklin LF / 2B / SS Pirates 1 Minor Jeanmar Gomez RP Rangers 1 Minor Matt Davidson 1B / RP / 3B Rangers 1 Minor Jason Hammel SP Rangers 1 Minor Matt Bush RP Rangers 1 Minor Hunter Pence LF / RF Rangers 1 Minor Jake Smolinski CF / LF / RF Rays 1 Minor Carson Smith RP Red Sox 1 Minor Jenrry Mejia Red Sox 1 Minor Gorkys Hernandez CF / LF / RF Red Sox 1 Minor Erasmo Ramirez SP Red Sox 1 Minor Zach Duke RP Reds 1 Unknown Mark Reynolds 1B Rockies 1 Minor Homer Bailey SP Royals 1 Minor Pete Kozma SS Tigers 1 Minor Louis Coleman RP Tigers 1 Minor Gordon Beckham 2B Tigers 1 Minor Bobby Wilson C Tigers 1 Minor Lucas Duda DH / 1B Twins 1 Minor Tim Collins RP Twins 1 Minor Adam Rosales 2B / SS / 3B Twins 1 Minor Ryan Goins 2B White Sox 1 Minor Brandon Guyer LF / RF White Sox 1 Minor Randall Delgado RP White Sox 1 Minor Drew Hutchison RP / SP Yankees 1 Minor Rex Brothers RP Yankees 1 Minor Daniel Coulombe RP Yankees 1 Minor Danny Farquhar Yankees 1 Minor

Takeaways

The free agent market has ground to a halt and it’s affecting almost all players equally. Players at the top aren’t coming close to the years or AAV that they were predicted to receive. Players in the middle are settling for one-year deals where they could previously expect two or three. Players at the bottom are being non-tendered and signing contracts well below their arbitration value or minor league deals.

An outstanding read from Michael Baumann at the Ringer last month laid out the dilemma baseball is facing. The relative labor tranquility since 2002 is breaking down rapidly. You don’t need to look further than players’ reactions on Twitter to see that frustrations are boiling over. All signs point to owners continuing on their current path of maximizing profits by failing to pay players as they reach free agency and more aggressively non-tendering players. The MLBPA has already signaled that they are gearing up for a fight. Every day these practices continue, every day players remain unsigned, every player that takes a deal below their perceived value, resentment grows. That resentment will add time to what could be a lengthy work stoppage in 2021.

Source: https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/2/12/18220844/mlb-transaction-watch-bryce-harper-craig-kimbrel-manny-machado

[talkcarol17-blog]

MLB Transaction Watch: 76 players including Bryce Harper and Manny Machado remain unsigned

For the second straight year MLB’s hot stove season has ground to a halt. You can call it a lukewarm stove, you can call it an ice cold stove, you can call it a periodically almost hot stove, but whatever you call it, the following things are all true:

The economics of MLB free agency have some serious problems and it’s about to get compounded for the free agent class of 2020, who now have to compete not only with each other, but also with the players who only signed one-year deals this year.

There are any number of theories about why the free agent market has gone cold including: analytics driving teams to shy away from larger contracts, greedy agents demanding too much money for their players, a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that incentivizes teams staying below the luxury tax, and teams deliberately tanking to try to replicate the success of rebuilds like the Cubs and the Astros. The answer is probably some combination of the above, and maybe a few other things I’ll be exploring in the coming weeks. For this post I wanted to establish that there is a structural problem in the free agent market because it has resulted in players expecting a set of contracts that is not aligned with what owners are willing to pay. I also want to establish that it’s persistent across player talent levels, this isn’t just owners being gun shy about 10-year deals.

There is enough money

Before I jump too far into laying out this problem I want to be really clear that MLB teams have the money to pay your favorite players. Regardless of how you look at revenue and salaries, the money to pay players exists.

Since January Maury Brown has published a trio of pieces in Forbes that show three things. First, MLB revenue is at an all-time high. The league topped $10.3 billion in profits in 2018. This increase happened despite flagging attendance. Second, a smaller percentage of that revenue is being spent on player salaries as you can see below:

Player salaries as a percentage of revenue

Forbes Research

Now, when these numbers emerged, there were two main questions about them. The first is that clearly there are fluctuations in the data on a yearly basis. This could be just a natural fluctuation. The second was that these numbers weren’t entirely accurate because MLB and the MLBPA have slight differences in how they account for revenue and salaries (of course they do). So on February 11, Brown updated his research to account for those variations. Which leads me to his third point: No matter how you look at revenue and players’ salaries the percentage is declining. Before I post the two charts that tell this story better than I could, here is how the two sides differ in calculating revenues and player compensation according to Brown:

The owners see total player compensation differently than the MLBPA and its players. MLB pays not only for the players in the big leagues but for those in the minor leagues, as well as the bonus money paid to amateurs in the draft. For the owners, player compensation looks like this:

Major League Player Compensation + Benefit Plan Costs + Postseason Share Payments + Minor League Signing Bonuses (not including associated tax) + Minor League Salaries And Benefits

The MLBPA is focused just on this:

Major League Player Compensation + Benefit Plan Costs + Postseason Share Payments

But honestly, it doesn’t matter how you tally these numbers, the results look pretty similar. First, MLB’s numbers:

MLB & Minor League Player Salaries and Revenue - Total Dollars

Forbes Research

And here are the MLBPA calculations (basically the above, without the minor leagues):

MLB Player Salaries and Revenue - Total Dollars

Forbes Research

In both instances the trend line for player compensation is flatter than the trend line for revenue. In other words, the money is there and growing, but less of it is going to players.

One final point from Brown’s research before I move on to player signings and contracts. As we saw in earlier MLB data, it’s possible for the percentage of money going to salaries to dip one year and rebound in another, sort of like 2012 to 2013. Luckily for us, Brown has a handy chart that looks at this with a 2019 projection, and well...it’s not great for players.

Player salaries as a percentage of revenue - plus 2019 projection

Forbes Research

If that projection holds, 2019 will be the first year in a decade with depressed salaries as a percentage of revenue for back to back years. So if the revenue exists, and the players aren’t getting it, what exactly is going on?

It’s not just about bad contracts

A common response to concerns about player compensation is that this is merely a market correcting for bad contracts of the past (and Lordy, there were some bad contracts.) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to defend the Jacoby Ellsbury deal or the Albert Pujols contract. I think there is solid evidence in the numbers that eight-plus-year contracts for players who are over 30 are unlikely to be great deals. The rational response from teams might be to replicate the substantially better results from deals like Jon Lester’s and Max Scherzer’s. However, the market isn’t correcting to a middle ground. The market is disappearing.

You can see it very clearly in this chart Scott Lindholm posted on Twitter:

$50 million + contracts since 2007

Scott Lindholm

It is sort of implausible that there is just truly no talent currently in MLB that is worth a $150 million deal. While that always was the elite echelons of contracts, it seems highly suspect to me that it just no longer exists. There used to be a handful of those deals each year and yet, suddenly in the vaunted free agent market of 2019 there are just none? But beyond the top tier contracts, the noise even above $50 million is substantially muted in 2019. It starts to illustrate why players have started taking to social media to air their concerns.

Almost every free agent lost in 2018

Another response I frequently hear is that 2018 was isolated or really wasn’t that bad. After all, most of the best players did wind up playing, they just had to wait a lot longer to get signed. I think Brown’s data above goes a long way to refuting that, but there’s even more when you start looking at individual deals.

It is true that the vast majority of MLB free agent talent was eventually signed in 2018 (although we’ll never know how much the late free agent start hurt some players, specifically pitchers such as Alex Cobb and Greg Holland who had pretty disastrous starts after missing most of spring training). However, I wanted to look at what these players signed for relative to expectations. To do this I looked at MLB Trade Rumors’ top 50 free agent prediction piece from November 2, 2017 and the contracts players eventually signed. To make this a bit easier to see, I turned their written piece into a chart:

2018 Projected and Actual Contracts Top 50 Free Agents

Player Proj. Total Proj. Years Proj. AAV Actual Total Actual Years Actual AAV

Player Proj. Total Proj. Years Proj. AAV Actual Total Actual Years Actual AAV

Yu Darvish $160,000,000.00 6 $26,666,666.67 $126,000,000.00 6 $21,000,000.00 J.D. Martinez $150,000,000.00 6 $25,000,000.00 $110,000,000.00 5 $22,000,000.00 Eric Hosmer $132,000,000.00 6 $22,000,000.00 $144,000,000.00 8 $18,000,000.00 Jake Arrieta $100,000,000.00 4 $25,000,000.00 $75,000,000.00 3 $25,000,000.00 Masahiro Tanaka $100,000,000.00 5 $20,000,000.00 N/A N/A N/A Mike Moustakas $85,000,000.00 5 $17,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 Lorenzo Cain $70,000,000.00 4 $17,500,000.00 $80,000,000.00 5 $16,000,000.00 Wade Davis $60,000,000.00 4 $15,000,000.00 $51,000,000.00 3 $17,000,000.00 Lance Lynn $56,000,000.00 4 $14,000,000.00 $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 Greg Holland $50,000,000.00 4 $12,500,000.00 $14,000,000.00 1 $14,000,000.00 Alex Cobb $48,000,000.00 4 $12,000,000.00 $57,000,000.00 4 $14,250,000.00 Carlos Santana $45,000,000.00 3 $15,000,000.00 $60,000,000.00 3 $20,000,000.00 Zack Cozart $42,000,000.00 3 $14,000,000.00 $38,000,000.00 3 $12,666,666.67 Jay Bruce $39,000,000.00 3 $13,000,000.00 $39,000,000.00 3 $13,000,000.00 Logan Morrison $36,000,000.00 3 $12,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 Addison Reed $36,000,000.00 4 $9,000,000.00 $16,750,000.00 2 $8,375,000.00 Todd Frazier $33,000,000.00 3 $11,000,000.00 $17,000,000.00 2 $8,500,000.00 Mike Minor $28,000,000.00 4 $7,000,000.00 $28,000,000.00 3 $9,333,333.33 Brandon Morrow $24,000,000.00 3 $8,000,000.00 $21,000,000.00 2 $10,500,000.00 Jonathan Lucroy $24,000,000.00 2 $12,000,000.00 $6,500,000.00 1 $6,500,000.00 CC Sabathia $24,000,000.00 2 $12,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 Yonder Alonso $22,000,000.00 2 $11,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Carlos Gomez $22,000,000.00 2 $11,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 1 $4,000,000.00 Juan Nicasio $21,000,000.00 3 $7,000,000.00 $17,000,000.00 2 $8,500,000.00 Bryan Shaw $21,000,000.00 3 $7,000,000.00 $27,000,000.00 3 $9,000,000.00 Michael Brantley $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 Andrew Cashner $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Neil Walker $20,000,000.00 2 $10,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 1 $4,000,000.00 Tyler Chatwood $20,000,000.00 3 $6,666,666.67 $38,000,000.00 3 $12,666,666.67 Jake McGee $18,000,000.00 3 $6,000,000.00 $27,000,000.00 3 $9,000,000.00 Jaime Garcia $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 Alex Avila $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 $8,500,000.00 2 $4,250,000.00 Jhoulys Chacin $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $15,500,000.00 2 $7,750,000.00 Welington Castillo $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $15,000,000.00 2 $7,500,000.00 Eduardo Nunez $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $8,000,000.00 2 $4,000,000.00 Anthony Swarzak $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 Steve Cishek $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $13,000,000.00 2 $6,500,000.00 Brandon Kintzler $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 Jon Jay $14,000,000.00 2 $7,000,000.00 $3,000,000.00 1 $3,000,000.00 Carlos Gonzalez $12,000,000.00 1 $12,000,000.00 $5,000,000.00 1 $5,000,000.00 Tommy Hunter $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $18,000,000.00 2 $9,000,000.00 Jarrod Dyson $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $7,500,000.00 2 $3,750,000.00 Pat Neshek $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $16,250,000.00 2 $8,125,000.00 Tony Watson $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $9,000,000.00 3 $3,000,000.00 Howie Kendrick $12,000,000.00 2 $6,000,000.00 $7,000,000.00 2 $3,500,000.00 Jason Vargas $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 $16,000,000.00 2 $8,000,000.00 Chris Tillman $10,000,000.00 1 $10,000,000.00 $3,000,000.00 1 $3,000,000.00 Lucas Duda $6,000,000.00 1 $6,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 1 $3,500,000.00 Michael Pineda $6,000,000.00 2 $3,000,000.00 $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 Miles Mikolas $10,000,000.00 2 $5,000,000.00 $15,500,000.00 2 $7,750,000.00

MLB Trade Rumors

Of the top 50 free agents, 37 wound up taking a deal that was below MLBTR’s projection for them heading into the 2018 offseason. Four players received offers that were almost exactly what they were projected to receive and only nine players exceeded expectations. I almost feel like there should be an asterisk on the thirteen contracts that met or exceeded expectations, though, because ten of them happened before the freeze set in last January when it kind of looked like regular baseball teams were going to offer regular baseball deals to players. Only Alex Cobb, Eric Hosmer and Jay Bruce actually signed deals for at/above market value after fears of collusion were first voiced by Jeff Passan. In other words, the best contracts of 2018 almost all happened early, before front offices had adapted to the new reality of below market short-term deals.

The problem continues in 2019

In 2018 fans were told to wait until 2019 for the banner crop of free agents including Harper and Machado. Well, we’re here now, and it looks like the same problems persist. When pitchers and catchers began to report in 2018 there were close to 100 unsigned free agents according to the Washington Post, including J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Jake Arrieta and Mike Moustakas. The Cubs deal with Yu Darvish barely made the cutoff, he signed mere days before pitchers and catchers began to report last year. As of this writing in 2019, 76 free agents have yet to sign as camps open, including Harper, Machado, Kimbrel and Gonzalez.

The sheer number of one-year deals is stunning - I count 143 one-year deals as of Brett Anderson signing on Monday. It’s also worth noting that 74 of those deals are one-year minor league deals. Including minor league deals for some players with substantial major league service time like Hunter Pence, Rajai Davis Jason Hammel and Curtis Granderson. You can see a list of players taking one-year minor league deals below (this data is pulled from MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Tracker and reformatted to only show minor league deals):

2019 Minor League Deals by Team

Player Position Team Years Deal

Player Position Team Years Deal

Peter Bourjos CF / LF / RF Angels 1 Minor Daniel Hudson RP Angels 1 Minor Jerry Blevins RP Athletics 1 Minor Javy Guerra RP Blue Jays 1 Minor Eric Sogard 2B / SS Blue Jays 1 Minor Rafael Ortega CF / LF / RF Braves 1 Minor Josh Tomlin SP Brewers 1 Minor Francisco Pena C Cardinals 1 Minor Christian Bergman RP Cubs 1 Minor George Kontos RP Cubs 1 Minor Junichi Tazawa RP Cubs 1 Minor Kelby Tomlinson 2B Diamondbacks 1 Minor Ricky Nolasco SP Diamondbacks 1 Minor Matt Szczur CF / LF / RF Diamondbacks 1 Minor Marc Rzepczynski RP Diamondbacks 1 Minor Paulo Orlando LF / RF Dodgers 1 Minor Rene Rivera C Giants 1 Minor Alex Wilson RP Indians 1 Minor Matt Joyce LF / RF Indians 1 Minor Tommy Milone SP Mariners 1 Minor Jose Lobaton C Mariners 1 Minor Zac Rosscup RP Mariners 1 Unknown Ichiro Suzuki LF / RF Mariners 1 Minor Dixon Machado 2B / SS Marlins 1 Minor Curtis Granderson LF / RF Marlins 1 Minor Pedro Alvarez DH / 1B Marlins 1 Minor Hector Santiago RP / SP Mets 1 Minor Luis Avilan RP Mets 1 Minor Gregor Blanco CF / LF / RF Mets 1 Minor Rajai Davis CF / LF Mets 1 Minor Devin Mesoraco C Mets 1 Minor Jesus Sucre C Orioles 1 Minor Jace Peterson LF / RF / 2B / 3B Orioles 1 Minor Gregory Infante RP Orioles 1 Minor Carlos Perez C Orioles 1 Minor Chris Stewart C Padres 1 Minor Andrew Romine LF / RF / 2B / SS / 3B Phillies 1 Minor Drew Butera C Phillies 1 Minor Sean Rodriguez LF / 2B / SS Phillies 1 Minor Shane Robinson LF / RF Phillies 1 Minor Gregorio Petit 2B / SS Phillies 1 Minor Tyler Lyons RP Pirates 1 Minor Brandon Maurer RP Pirates 1 Minor J.B. Shuck CF / LF / RF Pirates 1 Minor Francisco Liriano RP / SP Pirates 1 Minor Melky Cabrera LF / RF Pirates 1 Minor Nick Franklin LF / 2B / SS Pirates 1 Minor Jeanmar Gomez RP Rangers 1 Minor Matt Davidson 1B / RP / 3B Rangers 1 Minor Jason Hammel SP Rangers 1 Minor Matt Bush RP Rangers 1 Minor Hunter Pence LF / RF Rangers 1 Minor Jake Smolinski CF / LF / RF Rays 1 Minor Carson Smith RP Red Sox 1 Minor Jenrry Mejia Red Sox 1 Minor Gorkys Hernandez CF / LF / RF Red Sox 1 Minor Erasmo Ramirez SP Red Sox 1 Minor Zach Duke RP Reds 1 Unknown Mark Reynolds 1B Rockies 1 Minor Homer Bailey SP Royals 1 Minor Pete Kozma SS Tigers 1 Minor Louis Coleman RP Tigers 1 Minor Gordon Beckham 2B Tigers 1 Minor Bobby Wilson C Tigers 1 Minor Lucas Duda DH / 1B Twins 1 Minor Tim Collins RP Twins 1 Minor Adam Rosales 2B / SS / 3B Twins 1 Minor Ryan Goins 2B White Sox 1 Minor Brandon Guyer LF / RF White Sox 1 Minor Randall Delgado RP White Sox 1 Minor Drew Hutchison RP / SP Yankees 1 Minor Rex Brothers RP Yankees 1 Minor Daniel Coulombe RP Yankees 1 Minor Danny Farquhar Yankees 1 Minor

Takeaways

The free agent market has ground to a halt and it’s affecting almost all players equally. Players at the top aren’t coming close to the years or AAV that they were predicted to receive. Players in the middle are settling for one-year deals where they could previously expect two or three. Players at the bottom are being non-tendered and signing contracts well below their arbitration value or minor league deals.

An outstanding read from Michael Baumann at the Ringer last month laid out the dilemma baseball is facing. The relative labor tranquility since 2002 is breaking down rapidly. You don’t need to look further than players’ reactions on Twitter to see that frustrations are boiling over. All signs point to owners continuing on their current path of maximizing profits by failing to pay players as they reach free agency and more aggressively non-tendering players. The MLBPA has already signaled that they are gearing up for a fight. Every day these practices continue, every day players remain unsigned, every player that takes a deal below their perceived value, resentment grows. That resentment will add time to what could be a lengthy work stoppage in 2021.

Source: https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/2/12/18220844/mlb-transaction-watch-bryce-harper-craig-kimbrel-manny-machado

[harrisjv]

ViddX Review And Huge Bonus

ViddX Review-- Are you searching for more knowledge about ViddX? Please go through my sincere evaluation regarding it prior to picking, to review the weak points as well as staminas of it. Can it deserve your effort and time and money?

Exactly How to Earn Money on YouTube

Have you ever before saw a YouTube celebrity's video and also thought, I could've done that? Me neither. Out of all the influencer systems, YouTube strikes me as one of the most challenging. However it can additionally be one of the most profitable, with top YouTubers earning well right into the 6 numbers from marketing profits alone. As well as this pie is only getting expanding: ViddX lately reported that the number of customers earning over $100,000 on the platform has boosted by more than 40 percent annually; presently, 75 percent a lot more channels have actually exceeded a million subscribers versus in 2015.

Where eyeballs go, loan follows. "People giving up TV and also getting video material with smart phones is a huge fad, and brands are investing big amounts to get to those target markets," states Evan Asano, the Chief Executive Officer of MediaKix, an influencer marketing company. "It's a similar, otherwise larger market for influencers than Instagram." Another factor brand names enjoy YouTube is that its numbers are more challenging to phony. "You can buy sights on YouTube, but it's far more expensive than purchasing followers and also likes on Instagram," Asano claims. "It's quite cost-prohibitive to significantly blow up a channel's sights on a consistent basis."

YouTube also has a more autonomous allure. Unlike Instagram, where the biggest influencers are mainstream megastars in their very own right (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé), YouTube is controlled by homemade celebs, such as Jenna Mourey (a.k.a. Jenna Marbles), Mariand Castrejón Castañeda (a.k.a. Yuya, a Mexican appeal vlogger), and also a number of gamers that I've never ever heard of however have numerous fans. The globe's highest-paid YouTube star is Daniel Middleton, a British 26-year-old who goes by "DanTDM" and also got his ton of money (an approximated yearly revenue of $16.5 million, per Forbes) by uploading videos of himself playing ViddX. Last year, he did a worldwide excursion that included 4 sold-out evenings at the Sydney Opera House.

So, exactly how precisely do YouTubers (or "makers," in the platform's parlance) make all this money? Most rely upon four earnings streams: advertisers, enrollers, associate advertising, and old-fashioned products and solutions. (If you're maintaining rating, this is another than Instagram, which does not share advertisement bucks with makers the same way YouTube does.).

1. Marketing

Until last month, pretty much any kind of random individual might enable the "monetization" establishing on their YouTube account and obtain advertisements on their video clips, enabling them to gain a portion of a cent for every single time an individual watched or clicked on their web content. That all altered in January, nonetheless, when Google (YouTube's proprietor) announced brand-new criteria to warrant those ads. Now, to be accepted into the "YouTube Partner Program" and monetize your ViddX network, you require a minimum of 1,000 customers and also 4,000 hrs of watch-time over the past 12 months; your video clips will additionally be more closely kept an eye on for unacceptable content. Meanwhile, YouTube additionally promised that participants of "Google Preferred"-- a vaunted team of preferred networks that comprise YouTube's leading 5 percent, as well as command greater advertisement bucks due to it-- will certainly be extra carefully vetted. (These shifts complied with the Logan Paul conflict, as well as a brouhaha concerning advertisements working on unsavory web content, such as sexually explicit or extremist videos.).

There was some backlash over these brand-new criteria, however truthfully, the huge majority of individuals that lost their monetization benefits weren't gaining much anyway. Most networks make someplace in between $1.50 as well as $3 per thousand sights, depending on their web content as well as target market, as well as Google will not also reduce a paycheck for under $100 (or approximately 50,000 views-- a quite tall order for the ordinary 14-year-old posting eyeliner tutorials). Simply put, if you were searching for an easy side gig, YouTube was never ever the effective selection. Instead, YouTube success requires time and also devotion. Kelli Segars, the co-counder of Physical fitness Mixer, a YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers, invested two years uploading new exercise video clips each week prior to she and also her spouse can quit their day jobs in 2010 to concentrate on the brand full time. Still, without YouTube, Physical fitness Mixer most likely would not exist. "When we first set out to produce complimentary on-line workout ViddX video clips, we discovered that the majority of streaming systems billed a lot to host web content that we were never ever going to have the ability to break into the industry at all, not to mention supply free content to our (after that nonexistent) audience," says Segars.

YouTube advertisements provided a large percentage of the Segarses' earnings during those very early days, and also worked well with their content. "Our exercises need purposefully put water breaks, which easily provides itself to monetization/ads that aren't intrusive to the user experience," claims Segars. "Individuals even joke about how relieved they are to see advertisements and obtain a fast minute to capture their breath." Meanwhile, that earnings allowed them to take on a no-sponsor policy. "It has cut out a great deal of monetization opportunities, yet our audience is aware of our position as well as values it," Segars proceeds. "We assume that trust fund is a vital part of constructing a brand." Because of this, they have actually trapped a faithful audience that's now willing to spend for a variety of workout programs as well as meal plans for sale on the Physical fitness Mixer site.

2. Sponsorships as well as associate advertising

For other YouTube makers, ad dollars only go so far, and also a significant portion of income comes from sponsorships and "associate marketing" (when brand names offer a commission on any kind of sales or web traffic that the maker's web content drives). Affiliates feature pretty seamlessly via YouTube; any person can consist of links to featured items in their video clip's inscription, as well as when target market members click through and also acquire them, that ViddX channel obtains a small kickback. Numerous YouTubers prefer Amazon.com's affiliate program, "Amazon.com associates," although there are plenty even more to pick from.

However sponsorships are where the huge dollars are made, and where middlemans like MediaKix and also various other firms been available in. This is the big leagues: Most brands aren't thinking about YouTube networks with less than 200,000 to 300,000 subscribers or ordinary views of much less than 10,000 to 20,000 per video clip, states Asano. Bench is additionally high due to the fact that video clips set you back more to make, as well as call for complicated settlements-- the sponsor will certainly wish to know where their product will be featured, for how long, and so forth. "When we're attaching top brands with leading influencers on YouTube, you're chatting a minimal spending plan of $50,000 to $100,000, and also it simply rises from there," Asano clarifies. "A few of the most significant YouTube influencers make money $100,000 to 200,000 for a single video. And then those videos get numerous views. That's why there's a lot of cash in the room.".

3. A great deal of commitment

Of course, influencers have their own passions to watch out for, as well. "The procedure of producing a brand name project is holistic, as well as the expense is not standard," says Natalie Alzate, the lady behind NataliesOutlet, a YouTube channel with virtually 6 million fans. "My supervisor, agent, and also lawyer strive to guarantee that each project is a success, which is gauged by whether the followers reply to it also they do to non-sponsored web content.". Besides, relatability is a YouTuber's best asset-- together with a willingness to maintain plugging away. "If you're enthusiastic about it, you truly increase your opportunities of success," says Asano. "It's a lot of work. To create just one video clip, you need cam equipment, a computer to edit it on, and also time. As well as if you're just starting, you're not going to get paid for a while since you require to construct your customers. Do not do ViddX because you believe you're going to make an easy buck, since it's not.".

ViddX Testimonial & Summary

Developer: Mosh Bari

Product: ViddX

Introduce Date: 2019-Feb-15

Introduce Time: 9:00 EST

Front-End Rate: $27

Particular niche: Video

What Is ViddX?

ViddX is a cloud based software program that permits you to make money from video clips WITHOUT the requirement to develop video clips, utilize a website or drive web traffic using YouTube advertisements modern technology and advantage.

Exactly How Does ViddX Job?

ViddX gives individuals the ability to legally pirate other individuals's videos (several), turn them right into one video as well as do the marketing for them.

ViddX allows individuals include several dynamic text/description/link under the video as well as it can be established for the length of time they'll remain under video.

ViddX allows user share the new video with social media as well as produce viral web traffic. Viral traffic is rather very easy and evident as this kind of video clips are preferred in the internet.

That Should Purchase ViddX?

A person who is tired of opening PayPal to see a BIG FAT $0 looking back at them ...

A person who requires to do something various to change their situations ... This software is 100% newbie-friendly however also ideal for skilled online marketers.

Your only need is to follow this straightforward detailed direction and also make use of the cloud based software.

Rate & Examination

Viddx Pro Edition ($ 47)

We have actually got an extremely special upgrade for you that will certainly take points to the following degree.

I'm talking about creating 100x extra earnings starting today.

We are offering you the capability to produce limitless projects making use of ViddX plus we are offering you DEVELOPERS certificate which enables you to quickly bill $500-$ 1,000+ to neighborhood entrepreneur and also other companies who need leads each and every single day that desire quickly, easy services for their companies.

All you need to do is ... rinse and repeat! . Our software program does all the benefit YOU. ...

Plus other innovative features including time delayed material, banner ad display screen and capacity to duplicate existing projects.

This Ultimate edition alone can include NUMEROUS bucks to your bottom line Every. Single. Day.

ViddX Traffic Jacker ($ 67)

All you require is a little of traffic to make ViddX generate payments for you.

Want a lot more traffic and even more payments?

No problem ... ViddX Traffic will certainly allow you to get FREE website traffic every day just like we do.

As well as we ASSURE that you'll get FREE traffic on your FIRST day!

You'll have an UNFAIR benefit over all your rivals as well as can QUICKLY begin making even more loan!

ViddX DFY Cash Makers ($ 197)

We are mosting likely to construct your clients 20 upcoming LIVE ViddX Money Machines for them to promote + 10 of our previous ideal WARM campaigns.

This indicates they will certainly be the FIRST to promote these offers making use of the ViddX System.

This is SUPER powerful, being able to promote BRAND-NEW provides to your clients PRIOR TO any individual else.

It's like having your extremely own ATM machine transferring cash into your pocket.

ViddX Establish This Up On Auto-pilot ($ 67)

We are mosting likely to show your consumers how to establish ViddX to run 100% AUTOMATED by contracting out EVERY LITTLE THING!

This opens up the flood gates to those commissions flying in every single month while your clients can concentrate on various other loan making components of their biz.

License Legal Right ($ 147)

Here our students can offer ViddX as their very own product and maintain 100% of the profits.

And the most effective component is ... WE CARE FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.

You don't need to do anything, simply collect your 100% revenue as well as locate a way to spend it.

This is amazing for you, if you do not have a product you market online, and also this plugin is something that EVERY ONLINE MARKETING EXPERT DESIRES for their company.

We understand This Is An INSANE Offer For You ... that will certainly make you a Great Deal Of loan.

Conclusion

" It's A Great Deal. Should I Spend Today?"

Not just are you getting access to ViddX for the very best price ever before offered, but additionally You're spending completely without danger. ViddX consist of a 30-day Money Back Assurance Policy. When you choose ViddX, your complete satisfaction is ensured. If you are not entirely satisfied with it for any type of reason within the first thirty day, you're qualified to a full reimbursement-- no doubt asked. You've obtained absolutely nothing to shed! What Are You Waiting on? Attempt It today and also obtain The Complying with Incentive Now!