June 2025

There were 1,837 posts published in June 2025 (this is page 40 of 184).

Fernando Tatis Jr. suing Big League Advance over ‘predatory’ deal he signed as minor leaguer

Fernando Tatis Jr. is taking legal action to try to void the future earnings contract he agreed to as a minor leaguer while in his native Dominican Republic in 2017.

The now-26-year-old San Diego Padres star filed a lawsuit Monday against investment company Big League Advance (BLA), which Tatis could owe approximately $34 million of the 14-year, $340 million deal he signed with the Padres in February 2021.

BLA invests in up-and-coming players by offering minor leaguers one-time payments. In return, those players must agree to give the company a cut of their future MLB earnings.

As reported by The Associated Press, Tatis’ attorney, Robert Hertzberg, said Tatis received $2 million from BLA in exchange for 10% of his MLB pay. That means that in addition to the $34 million from Tatis’ 2021 contract with the Padres, he’s responsible for paying BLA a 10% cut of any subsequent MLB deal he inks. 

That is, unless the BLA deal is voided.

Tatis’ lawsuit accuses BLA of using predatory tactics to get him to sign an illegal loan that masqueraded as an “investment deal,” according to the AP. The suit alleges, per the AP, that BLA misrepresented itself to Tatis and violated California consumer protection laws by hiding its unlicensed status and pushing Tatis into banned loan terms.

The suit, filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, seeks public injunctive relief to protect young athletes from dealing with this same issue, Hertzberg said, according to the AP, which reported Monday that BLA declined to comment.

“I’m fighting this battle not just for myself but for everyone still chasing their dream and hoping to provide a better life for their family,” Tatis said in a statement.

“I want to help protect those young players who don’t yet know how to protect themselves from these predatory lenders and illegal financial schemes — kids’ focus should be on their passion for baseball, not dodging shady business deals.”

Tatis initially expressed different feelings about his agreement with BLA. 

According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Tatis said after signing with BLA that his payment would go toward transforming his minor-league training regimen in the U.S. as well as his offseason plan in the Dominican Republic. That included aspirations of hiring a personal trainer and upgrading his diet and living situation as an MLB prospect.

It’s important to note that the pay scale for Class A players in 2017 was $1,300 per month, and that was only in-season. Not even a top-five organizational prospect such as Tatis was exempt from that incredibly low salary.

“If I’m a successful player and make big money, I’m not going to care about giving that money away,” Tatis told The Athletic in 2018, when discussing his BLA agreement. “That will be nothing if I make all that big money.”

Tatis is the son of former third baseman Fernando Tatis Sr., who played 11 MLB seasons from 1997 to 2010. Since debuting for the Padres at shortstop in 2019, the younger Tatis has made two All-Star appearances, once in 2021 and again in 2024. In 2023, he moved to right field, where he immediately won a Gold Glove.

Injuries and an 80-game PED suspension have limited Tatis’ stardom so far. But he remains a household name in MLB. That’s a big reason the lawsuit he filed against BLA is so compelling.

“California lawmakers have put in place serious, straightforward protections against predatory financial activity, but BLA has still disregarded our laws to pursue a business model built on prohibited, deceptive and abusive practices,” Hertzberg said, via the AP.

My Eight Favorite New Features and Changes in iOS 26’s Second Beta

On Monday, Apple released its second developer beta for iOS 26. While the update is mostly here to fix bugs and glitches found in the first beta, Apple did take the opportunity to include some new features and changes that weren’t ready for beta 1—at least eight, in fact.

To be clear, iOS 26 is currently in beta testing, and is not generally available to the public yet. What’s more, this is the developer beta, which is meant for software developers to test their apps within Apple’s new OS. While anyone can install the beta on their iPhones, I do not recommend it, as it’s still too unstable. You may find your iPhone unusable or lose data if you uninstall the beta without a proper backup.

Whether you’re running the beta or you’re just curious about what’s new, here are eight of my favorite features and changes I’ve seen reported from Apple’s second iOS 26 beta.

Control Center’s Liquid Glass effect

The first thing you’ll probably notice when you install iOS 26 on your iPhone (or any of Apple’s upcoming updates, really) is the new Liquid Glass design. It’s hard to miss: All of the UI elements—including menu bars, windows, and buttons—now take on a “glassy” effect that shows the elements behind them, albeit blurred and distorted.

While there are plenty of opinions about this redesign, I think it’s pretty cool, and it’s refreshing to see Apple mix up its design in a major way for the first time in over a decade. That said, the initial design that rolled out with the first iOS 26 beta wasn’t perfect. Control Center, in particular, was a bit of a mess: As usual, it features a grid of tiles, only now they’re made of “glass,” letting in too much of the background. It’s difficult to see; it’s messy; it’s just not very Apple.

The company clearly went back to the drawing board for beta 2, because Control Center now looks way different. Apple significantly reduced the transparency effect, to the point where I wouldn’t blame you for thinking nothing had changed from iOS 18 at all.

It’s objectively easier to see the tiles now, but I do wonder if Apple could strike a better balance here. I appreciate the need for visibility and simplicity, but I do like the new glassy look, and it’d be a shame if that design was compromised by the need to reduce the effect too often. It’s still early yet, so we’ll see where Liquid Glass ends up at the end of beta testing.

The transparency can be reduced even more

Before Apple toned down Control Center’s Liquid Glass effect in beta 2, beta testers were looking for ways to reduce the effect on their own. As it happens, “Reduce Transparency,” an existing accessibility feature, gets the job done, cutting down on the transparent effects throughout iOS.

With the latest beta, Apple has boosted Reduce Transparency’s effects even more. It seems like this is going to be the official workaround for limiting Apple’s new design, at least at this point.

A new ringtone

Apple last updated its ringtone selection with iOS 17 back in 2023. Before that, its tones had stayed the same since iOS 7, save for “Reflection,” the ringtone Apple shipped with the iPhone X in 2017.

Reflection is now the default ringtone on all iPhones, and while you can change it to any of Apple’s other tones (or even one of your own), the company would prefer you have another version of Reflection to work with. With beta 2, Apple added Alt 1 as an option under Reflection, with the original ringtone now labeled as “Default.” As it happens, the new ringtone was spotted in the IPSW file of the first beta, but Apple only added it to the ringtone settings with this latest update.

You can hear the new ringtone below. I think it’s pretty great, though I’m not sure why Apple was dead-set on calling this an alternate version of Reflection. It sounds different enough to me that it could have been its own ringtone.

A new “Live Radio” widget

Apple Music has a new Home Screen widget: Live Radio. If you frequently listen to Apple Music’s various radio stations, you can add this widget to your iPhone’s Home Screen to select a station without needing to open Apple Music first.

Safari’s tab options are back

With the first iOS 26 beta, Apple’s redesigned Safari also moved the placement of the tab buttons. If you’re using an iPhone with iOS 18, you’re likely used to these options being on the bottom of the screen. That’s not the case with iOS 26, as Apple moved them to the top.

Perhaps Apple received one too many complaints from beta testers whose muscle memories failed them while browsing the web, because these buttons are now back on the bottom.

We now know what Low Power Mode really does

You might use Low Power Mode to eke out as much time as possible when your iPhone’s battery starts to die—but do you really know what the feature is doing?

We’ve only been able to speculate up until this point, as the current description in iOS 18 says: “Low Power Mode temporarily reduces background activity like downloads and mail fetch until you can fully charge your iPhone.” But it clearly does more than this, as anyone with a high-refresh rate iPhone can attest that Low Power Mode cuts the refresh rate of 120Hz to 60Hz.

iOS 26 beta 2 gives us much more detail, per MacRumors. The description now reads: “iPhone will temporarily reduce some background activities, processing speed, display refresh rate and brightness, and limit certain features such as 5G, iCloud syncing, mail fetch, and more.”

While this still might not cover all bases, Apple is now confirming that Low Power Mode not only stops apps from running in the background, but also does things like reduce processing speed and limit demanding cellular connections.

Order tracking in Apple Wallet is now live

Apple originally announced the ability to track your orders in Apple Wallet during WWDC, but as of beta 2, the feature is now live. When you update, you’ll see an option to scan the Mail app for orders from companies, which will then appear in Wallet. You can see which orders have been placed, which have shipped, and which are out for delivery.

Apple confirms you can restore your iPhone without a Mac or PC

As MacRumors reports, the initial iOS 26 beta contained the ability to restore your iPhone without a separate computer—a first for Apple. But with beta 2, Apple confirmed the change in its release notes, saying: “Recovery Assistant is a new way to recover your device if it doesn’t start up normally. It can look for problems and attempt to resolve them if found.”

MLB Power Rankings: Dodgers, Phillies, Tigers atop the list with the All-Star Game just weeks away

July is just around the corner, which means it’s prime time for MLB clubs to campaign for their top players to be selected as All-Stars. With the Midsummer Classic only three weeks away, MLB announced an All-Star voting , and he’s going to be the annual leading contender to start the Midsummer Classic for the foreseeable future. We are all witnesses.

There aren’t a ton of statistical standouts to choose from on this ultra-young Miami squad, but the two leading contenders to be the Marlins’ lone All-Star representative are outfielder Kyle Stowers and right-hander Edward Cabrera. Stowers has blossomed into an every-day bat this season after struggling in his initial stint with the club following his trade from Baltimore. Cabrera’s explosive stuff has tantalized for years, and now he’s finally finding some consistency: After a rough April (7.23 ERA), he has posted a 2.23 ERA over his past eight starts.

Rule 5 pick and surprise rotation standout Shane Smith has scuffled lately, so his All-Star bid might be in jeopardy, but it’s not like there are a ton of other options to choose from on this roster. Among the hitters, Miguel Vargas clearly has the best case; he has hit .279/.351/.522 with 10 homers over his past 54 games after initially looking like a complete bust of an acquisition since coming over from the Dodgers in a deadline trade last summer.

It’s practically tradition for the worst team to send one anonymous reliever as their lone All-Star rep, and Jake Bird (2.06 ERA in 43 ⅔ IP with 56 strikeouts) would absolutely fit the bill for this historically terrible Colorado club. But keep an eye on Hunter Goodman, who has been one of the best offensive catchers in baseball this season and is a ton of fun to watch swing the bat. And before you scream “COORS!”, note that he has remarkably been much better on the road (.925 OPS) than at home (.750), including hitting 11 of his 14 homers away from Coors.

The Celtics trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis is just the beginning. What’s Boston’s next move?

The NBA’s second apron is, essentially, a hard salary cap of $207,825,000.

The restrictions, which impact a team’s ability to operate in the draft, free-agency and trade markets, are so punitive from a roster-building standpoint that it makes little sense to spend above the limit. It is even worse if a team spends into the second apron in consecutive years, as luxury-tax penalties only increase.

Which brings us to the Boston Celtics, whose player salaries exceeded the second apron this past season, as they pursued a repeat championship. That quest fell short in the second round of the playoffs, as their superstar, Jayson Tatum, ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon. That combination of events, which also affects their ability to contend next season as Tatum recovers, signaled several cost-cutting measures.

Between salary and luxury taxes, the Celtics were on pace to spend almost $500 million in payroll for next season. That was untenable, especially for a team that no longer feels like a legit title contender. Boston’s new owner, Bill Chisholm, does not want to lose money on the team he just bought for $6 billion.

So, on Monday night, the Celtics traded two-time All-Star and two-time champion Jrue Holiday — an invaluable member of their 2024 title team — for Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks.

And, on Tuesday night, Boston dealt Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade that returned Massachusetts native Georges Niang. Some second-round picks were swapped in the process.

Simons is entering the final season of the four-year, $100 million contract he signed in the summer of 2022, which will pay him $27.7 million next season. While that is only $4.7 million less than the $32.4 million Holiday is owed for the 2025-26 campaign, it will save Boston roughly another $35 million in luxury taxes. The Celtics are also off the hook for the $72 million Holiday is owed in 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Likewise, Niang is entering the last season of a three-year, $25 million deal. He is slated to make $8.2 million next season, $22.5 million less than the $30.7 million expiring deal Porziņģis is on next season. More importantly, Boston will save almost $150 million in additional luxury taxes.

The Celtics will save $27.2 million in salary and roughly $180 million in luxury taxes — or more than $200 million. Now you begin to see why the Celtics are cutting costs. Every dollar cut is exponential savings.

It is no coincidence that Boston is now $4.5 million under the second apron. That was the plan all along.

So, is Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens’ work done? Far from it. Big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet are free agents, and re-signing them would take Boston back above the second apron.

Do not be surprised if Sam Hauser’s four-year, $45 million contract extension is moved; do not be surprised if Simons and/or Niang never play a game in a Celtics uniform; do not be surprised if anyone but Tatum is mentioned in trade rumors. This is not what the Celtics’ roster will look like in October.

Which begs the question: Would the Celtics really trade Jaylen Brown or Derrick White, who, along with Tatum, form the foundation of a serious championship contender for the 2026-27 season? After all, the combination of Tatum and Brown has translated to a handful of Eastern Conference finals appearances.

It would take a monumental offer — one that also better positions the Celtics to contend in 2027 — to persuade the Celtics to part with either Brown or White, and that return package is not easy to attain. 

More likely, as we saw with the acquisition of Simons, Boston will peel off ancillary parts while trying to maintain a competitive roster. Simons has averaged 20 points (on 44/38/90 shooting splits), 4.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds over the past four seasons, though he is not the defensive stalwart Holiday is.

Niang, well, he is a serviceable stretch forward who has shot 40% from 3-point range for his career.

But it is hard to talk about what exactly the Holiday and Porziņģis trades will mean on the court for the Celtics, as not even Simons is guaranteed to stay. Just know this week’s moves were the first of many this summer for the Celtics, who will spend the entire offseason reconfiguring a more affordable payroll.