MLB Trade Deadline Notes

Postscript: Thu 01 Aug 2019 01:16 PM EDT

The only blockbusters of this year’s MLB Trade Deadline were the Zack Greinke & Jake Bauer deals. Both were for controllable, elite starting pitchers, which is what wins the World Series. Houston won this Deadline as a buyer, by getting Greinke for 2+ years which means 3 play-off runs. Jake Bauer is only signed through 2020, and the Reds aren’t a play-off team, so they lose. The San Diego Padres won that 3-way deal, by acquiring the best prospect dealt this trade season, while only giving up a young, cost-controlled slugger– of which they had a surplus. Taylor Trammell is in AA, and has star make-up & tools in CF.

Besides me, only AJ Cassavell, the beat writer for the Padres on MLB.com has reported these facts & goings-on accurately. Only prospect guru Keith Law correctly called this as a big win for the Padres. As outlined below, most ESPN & MLB head writers are too biased to provide any objectivity or clarity on what occurred. They represent fake news in sports.

Once again, San Diego Padres GM AJ Preller pulled off the biggest deal of the MLB Trade Deadline. Cleveland’s RHP Jake Bauer was the best value pitcher who moved this trade season, and San Diego landing center-fielder Taylor Trammell from Cincinnati was the best prospect. That’s the name of the game when you are a seller– get the best prospect(s).

AJ Preller did it again, as the Padres receive lefty-hitting CF prospect (#30 MLB pipeline) Taylor Trammell (below) from Cincinnati. The Reds get Trevor Bauer from Cleveland. The Indians get OF Yasiel Puig & LHP Scott Moss from Cincinnati; OF Franmil Reyes, LHP Logan Allen & A-level 3B prospect Victor Nova from San Diego.

It only cost the Padres slugger Franmil Reyes, who slots better as a DH in the AL. Padres have depth in the corner outfield with Hunter Renfroe having a similar profile and being better defensively. Wil Myers has been benched due to poor performance, with a near-40% strikeout rate. He will now get more starts again, which is needed, but Myers is an expensive problem. The San Diego Padres will have to eat contract to move him, and I imagine he was brought up in proposed trade discussions by Preller. The Padres are again stuck with Wil Myers, and expect him to perform better, otherwise he’ll be benched again. They still have CF’s Franchy Cordero & Travis Jankowski as in-house outfield options.

At this point, I will admit that I was wrong about the famous Wil Myers–Steven Souza Jr–Trea Turner deal. AJ Preller gave up the best player, but it was justifiable. He was looking for a franchise player, and Wil Myers had that potential as a former minor league player-of-the-year. Turner has a more limited upside and is an injury risk due to his style. Trea Turner was the best Padres prospect Preller inherited when he took over as GM in August 2014. The Padres farm system was ranked dead last in MLB. Five years later it is #1, by far. This is one of his few mistakes, but it wasn’t too costly.

Trea Turner currently has 11.0 WAR to Wil Myers 9.7 according the baseball reference, so it wasn’t a huge loss, but still the Padres would be better with SS/2B Trea Turner than OF/1B Will Myers. Turner is two years younger. It’s a gamble AJ Preller lost, and that will happen when you have to turn everything over as the new GM of a sad-sack franchise that has never won anything.

General managers in MLB are judged by their colleagues not in terms of straight “wins & losses” on each deal, but in the aggregate. Actions need to coordinate with overall objectives that improve the organization’s chances of winning a World Series– either this year or in the near future. In these terms with the Padres it’s always the future, but now the future is closer than ever. Each year that AJ Preller can continue to acquire the best prospects, the longer and more open the Padres “window of contention” becomes.

AJ Preller played this deadline beautifully– AGAIN. By that I mean for the 4th year running. Since his legendary performance in 2016, when he acquired SS Fernando Tatis, Jr & RHP Chris Paddack for stale beans to the White Sox & Marlins, AJ Preller has been the leading GM in MLB. He locks up the trade market these days, because he has what every other team covets– top prospects in numbers at all levels.

AJ Preller has that blend of “scout’s eye” for baseball, along with analytic understanding of what it takes to win. He has an owner with deep pockets, who will spend on whatever AJ Preller needs. Every trade deadline, or hot stove season now seems to begin with, “Who can make a deal with AJ Preller for some of his top prospects?” But it never happens. Preller and Padres beat writer AJ Cassavell played this Trade Deadline beautifully, by downplaying & stringing the Mets along on Noah Syndergaard (below) trade rumors, all of which came straight from New York.

For the record, the Padres have acknowledged they would love to add Noah Syndergaard to their rotation, but not at the price the Mets ask. Keep in mind it’s the Mets & the east coast media who have been pushing a Thor deal to the Padres for at least 18 months now. Last year I recall it was SS Fernando Tatis, Jr and a few pitching prospects, Chris Paddack, Cal Quantrill, etc. for the mighty Mets hurler. That was the Mets proposal, or something like that…

Unfortunately Thor contracted Hand Foot & Mouth disease around the 2018 deadline, which killed any idea of that deal. The Mets & company tried again this past winter, but Preller decided to go with his young arms, until it’s time to get a real ace. A good GM goes into that acquisition mode when his team is a threat to win the World Series, which the Padres aren’t in 2019.

Nevertheless, the Mets went hard after the Padres farm system again this Trade Deadline, demanding MLB players & prospects this time around for their superhero pitcher with an 2019 ERA over 4.00. Top hitting prospect 2B Luis Urias & CF Manny Margot were floated in the NY/ESPN media, but there was no way AJ Preller was dealing either of them for 2+ years of Syndergaard. How about ace pitching prospects Mackenzie Gore or Luis Patino? These wishful speculations reflecting extreme east coast bias hooked the NY sports media. Preller & his media team fed them enough to remain hopeful, in order to keep them occupied, while he consummated his three-team deal with Cleveland & Cincinnati.

The Amazin’ Mess

So what are the Mets doing? Acquiring RHP Marcus Stroman from the Blue Jays for their top pitching prospects three days earlier was a head-scratcher. Was it to flip him? Why did the Mets keep Stroman from the NY media until after the trade deadline? How can the Mets expect to flip a pitcher they just acquired, for more than they paid, with only three days with which to do it? Doesn’t make any sense, but these are the Mets, so anything is possible.

Of course the industry responded by collectively sitting on their hands, while the clock expired on the Mets. So much for that idea. Stroman now can’t be traded until after the season, making him less valuable. The people running this Amazin’ Mess, behave similarly to those at the Federal Reserve who believe they can will things to happen– through hype & fiat.

The Mets still have too many expensive starting pitchers, for a team that sits in 4th place in the lackluster (over-rated) NL East. Their bullpen is a disaster, offense inconsistent, and defense one of the worst in MLB. Being in the same division as the Miami Marlins keeps them out of last place, while inflating their deluded expectations. This team has no chance of winning in the post-season, yet they are trying to spin their inability to deal Noah Syndergaard (and the rest) for a boatload of top prospects, as a commitment to “winning in 2019.” And people wonder where fake news comes from, and why it exists.

After the Marcus Stroman acquisition, the Mets traded starter Jason Vargas to the Phillies for 26-yo AA catcher Austin Bossart, to compensate for dealing away their two best pitching prospects. I have no idea what the Mets are doing, but what ever it is, it’s going to fail badly. These deals have no chance of turning out well in the short term, or long term.

By mid-day Wednesday, July 31, 2019, the MLB “Trade Talk” headlines led with “Mets pull Thor off trade market (source).” Noah Syndergaard pitched 7 innings last night against the White Sox in Chicago giving up one run, unearned, in a no-decision the Mets won. Syndergaard in 2019: 7-5, 4.10 ERA in 134.0 IP. That’s not an ace, but his stuff is good enough to be priced as a #2 starter with two years of team-control remaining.

The problem is the Mets publicly value Thor as an ace, when in 5 years he’s never pitched 200 innings in a season. Noah Syndergaard is a huge injury risk, and the Mets have a reputation for mishandling pitching. You can not get the NY media/Mets management to admit to any of these facts, nor rationally discuss what they mean.

An analogy that personifies Mets management in this situation is the high school boy who boasts he will only take the prettiest girl to prom. He arrogantly claims he is the stud on the market, and any girl should be honored to be his date. Of course, it’s human nature to reject such chutzpah. So when prom day arrives, and our self-acclaimed Don Juan still has no date, he proclaims to take himself off the market, because he didn’t receive an acceptable offer. All his loser buddies (ESPN, etc) prop him up, as group-think rules in this crowd.

The Mets think they are stockpiling pitching, for when it becomes a “seller’s market.” The problem is that markets move on, and the Mets are stuck with devaluing assets they don’t need, can’t afford, and can’t get return value in trade– due to their own incompetence & intransigence.

Trade Deadline Conclusions

The second Wild Card has changed the MLB Trade Deadline significantly, to the point where 1) there is just one deadline, July 31; and 2) the fact that so many teams remain in contention that it’s hard to determine who is (and who should be) buying or selling. The San Francisco Giants were out of contention a month ago, but have become hot since. Therefore they aren’t trading their ace LHP Madison Bumgarner. The second wild card is within reach.

It’s the right move to hold on, because the Giants wouldn’t get fair value for him anyways. The ace pitching market values prospects above rentals. Expect the Giants to offer Bumgarner a qualifying offer (QO) in November, and it will be interesting to see if he accepts. It will be ~$18M for one year. If MadBum declines, he could end up like Astros LHP Dallas Keuchel, who had to wait until the following June amateur draft for the draft pick compensation to expire for him to sign a fair “free agent” deal.

I haven’t published on MLB since relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel & starter Dallas Keuchel signed with the Cubs & Braves in June. Here’s the bottom line. Kimbrel is toast, and the Red Sox knew it. Kimbrel still got a 3/$43 from the Cubs, which is another disaster free agent overpay for the northsiders. So far in 2019 Kimbrel is: 0-2, 6.75 ERA in 10.2 IP.

LHP Dallas Keuchel signed with the Braves on June 7 for 1/$13, and is 3-4, 3.86 ERA in 49 IP so far. As you can see, the Braves did better here, but still Dallas Keuchel isn’t anything that moves the needle significantly towards them winning a World Series. That’s why teams didn’t want to give up the draft pick to sign either of these pitchers. That’s the risk a free agent takes these days when he declines a QO. The rule is: you need to be worth MUCH more than that pick to decline, otherwise accept, and become a unrestricted free agent next year. Otherwise the QO-tagged player will get squeezed in free agency. A player can only be made a QO once.

RHP Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers is an example of someone who understood this situation correctly and is now set for his payday, because he was patient and willing to play one more year at $18 million, in order to become a true free agent next year. Ryu didn’t have to wait out suitors that weren’t calling this past winter like Keuchel, Kimbrel and so many others. Maybe that’s why Hyun-Jin Ryu is having a career year, just when he needs one. It’s like he planned it.

Frontline starters Robbie Ray, Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Zach Wheeler, etc were all rumored to be available, and they all stayed put. The fact is all these pitchers have more value to their teams than what they would net in trade return, due to their contracts and/or 2019 performance.

In a last-minute Trade Deadline blockbuster, the Astros acquired Diamondbacks ace RHP Zack Greinke for 1B/OF Seth Beer (Astros’ No. 3 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), right-hander J.B. Bukauskas (No. 4), righty Corbin Martin (No. 5) and infielder Josh Rojas (No. 22). Houston receives $24 million as part of the deal. Greinke has two more years at $35M/year on his contract. The Houston Astros are a smart organization trying to win it again, and this is how you do it. Notice that they held on to their top prospect OF Kyle Tucker. The best GM’s are the ones who can declare certain players & prospects untouchable, and still make deals.

Outside of Stroman, Bauer & Greinke it was the likes of innings-eaters such as Tanner Roark, Daniel Hudson Aaron Sanchez & Drew Pomeranz that led the list of pitchers moved at the deadline. The market had already been set by the Jake Bauer-Taylor Trammell trade, and few teams were willing to or capable of making that kind of deal. That’s why movement in the trade market was so limited.

The truth is that the Mets & Reds had no business obtaining these starters, for what they gave up. These are two 4th-place teams, giving up valuable prospects for one-year pitcher rentals. The Mets decided to make a splash & crapped out, while the Indians & Padres needed a third team to take on Jake Bauer to make their deal. The Reds were there, and they’ll probably be in 4th place next July, shopping Jake Bauer before he leaves as a free agent. That isn’t planning, it’s impulsive buying.

Relievers were also capped by AJ Preller in the form of Kirby Yates (above), the best closer available. For the past two seasons it was Brad Hand. This time, no one made an acceptable offer, so there was no deal for the Padres ace closer. The market followed by going after lower-end relievers at the finish. Lots of middle relievers, bench players, PTBNL & international slot money was exchanged, but few impact players or pitchers. That was the story of this MLB trade season.

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Cocaine Cartels & Immigration

The JP Morgan-owned cargo ship MSC Gayane, which left port in Peru with stops in Panama & the Bahamas, was boarded on June 17, 2019 by U.S. Justice Department agents after it arrived at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia. Approximately 20 tons of cocaine were found on board, with an estimated street value of $1.3 billion. The cocaine was hidden in shipping containers carrying legitimate goods, such as wine, Chilean dried nuts, and scrap metal from the United Arab Emirates.

The J.P. Morgan Asset Management vessel Gayane was being operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which is Switzerland-based, and flew under the flag of Liberia. The Mediterranean Shipping Company is the second-largest container shipping line in the world in terms of vessel capacity, just behind global leader AP Møller Maersk. The Mediterranean Shipping Company is owned by one of the world’s richest couples, Gianluigi & Rafaela Aponte. This is what “respectable” or “high-class” drug dealers look like.

Clearly, both JP Morgan & the Mediterranean Shipping Company are partners in a global drug smuggling cartel. JPM provides finance capital & assets such as container ships, which it leases to the middleman in transportation– the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which blew this drug run– bigtime.

The grand design by JP Morgan & MSC is for the Colombian cocaine kingpins to have a protected route to market for their illicit goods, which they distribute & consume. So certainly this sting hurts JPM interests & their image, which U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain said in a statement was the largest bust & vessel seizure in the agency’s 230-year history.

But this will probably be the limit for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Twenty tons of coke seized is a HUGE hit for JP Morgan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already made a murky deal to get it back. Over $1.3B is a lot of money, which make the world go round.

Here’s more confirmation of that line. The MSC Gayane was released on July 12, after being seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on July 4. The message: JP Morgan’s assets are inviolable, no matter what crimes they are involved in. The release of JP Morgan’s drug-running vessel was only reported in the media yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal.

Several crew members on the ship have been charged with knowingly & intentionally conspiring to possess cocaine. Of course, a federal criminal investigation is ongoing, but it appears neither JP Morgan, nor MSC will be a target. The U.S. cocaine market, fueled by the addictions of Washington, Wall Street, Silicon Valley & Hollywood, would never tolerate breaking up these drug cartels, much less attacking one of their own.

Cocaine in the Western hemisphere comes from South America, high up in the Andes, which range from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego. It is at these altitudes in the spine of South America that the coca leaf is grown. Therefore there has to be a secure transportation route near the coca source, to meet the never-ending demand of the U.S. cocaine market.

The 21st century “War on Drugs” has been called Plan Colombia, which was conceived in 1999 as a recycled name for a U.S. foreign aid, military and CIA initiative aimed at partnering with the corrupt Colombian government & drug cartels to eradicate left-wing insurgent & worker groups in Colombia.

As an aside, a slice of the cocaine money is siphoned off by U.S. intelligence services for black ops, untraceable pay-offs, bribes, etc.  Plan Colombia’s official objectives to the American public were to end the Colombian civil war by increasing funding & training of its military & para-military forces, while creating an anti-cocaine strategy to eradicate coca cultivation.

Coca eradication is a mainstay U.S. government strategy in the never-ending “War on Drugs,” in place of education & rehabilitation campaigns. This mirrors harsh prison sentencing for illicit drug possession in the US.

With Monsanto, the U.S. military-intelligence complex has a reliable corporate partner in its multibillion-dollar aerial coca eradication campaign, dumping unknown tons of glyphosate throughout the Andes. Glyphosate, known commercially as the weed-killer Roundup, is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide, crop desiccant & carcinogen.

Herbicidal eradication is being pursued in all the coca-growing regions of the Andes mountain range, where its environmental, health & socioeconomic impact remain mostly unreported in official US news outlets. It should also be noted that coca production for traditional use is legal in Peru, Bolivia & Chile, which makes chemical spraying an act of war against its inhabitants.

This never-ending, US-sponsored violence is the root cause of America’s immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border, where Latin Americans fleeing poverty & violence are being rounded-up by an American Gestapo (ICE), and held in concentration camps like POW’s. For some unexplained reason, this Republican-led march towards fascism is never objected to by leading Democrats, or in the mainstream “liberal” media.

Today, herbicidal-resistant varieties of coca have been developed, either in Monsanto’s labs or by coca farmer ingenuity– or in collaboration. Boliviana negra, also known as supercoca or la millionaria, is a relatively new form of coca that is resistant to glyphosate.

In 1996, Monsanto marketed a patented glyphosate-resistant soybean, making the agribusiness behemoth the most-likely culprit for any glyphosate resistance in coca. So now when a CIA drone sprays glyphosate on a crop of Boliviana negra, it poisons the competitors (everything else) to help the genetically-modified coca grow faster. This gets really messed up when you think it through.

Back to JP Morgan, and their fleet of drug-smuggling vessels, these babies run over $100 million apiece, and the MSC Gayane was built in 2018. JPM & MSC put up $50 million in cash & bond to have it released from US Customs. It should be noted that of the $50M “release fee,” only $10M was in cash, with the rest in bonds.

Forty million dollars is what JP Morgan claims those bonds are worth, and the U.S. government bought it, but it was never proven to the public. Does anyone actually know what those bonds are worth? Does this sound like another scheme to bailout the rich? Until someone proves the worth of those junk bonds, JP Morgan got its $100M ship back for $10M in cash.

That tidy sum bought JPM & MSC a three-days jump before the most conservative of U.S. newspaper’s reported the vessel had been released and was at sea. Just a month earlier the MSC Gayane was busted with 20 tons of cocaine in Philadelphia’s port. and now it was last reported to be steaming across the Atlantic Ocean towards the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

This is where the money goes, and what it is used for. Billionaire capitalists are free to move about at will, with no consequences, while the rest of us are to be restrained & kept to cages. This is a snapshot of the fake economy of the super-rich: wasteful, criminal, and in complete conflict with itself & everything else.

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Wimbledon 2019 Notes

The men’s final just completed between Novak Djokovic & Roger Federer was the greatest tennis match ever. Djokovic defeated Federer 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3); in a match that was impossible to determine who was going to win until the very end.

This match was broadcast exclusively on ESPN, meaning many US households that cut-the-cable/satellite-cord a long time ago, didn’t get to see this live. Perhaps this is why America hasn’t produced a homegrown men’s Grand Slam winner since Sampras, Agassi, etc?

The point is that the Wimbledon finals (men’s & women’s) needs to be broadcast on a major network. Wimbledon finals is the Super Bowl of tennis, so you want as many viewers as possible for advertisers. That’s the traditional theory of television advertising which everyone understands.

People in the US are interested in great sporting events, even if they don’t involve Americans. The USWNT in soccer just proved quality women’s competition garners serious interest on all sides in winning World Cup 2019.

With Wimbledon, ESPN and the major networks pandered to crude interests by not broadcasting the Federer-Nadal semifinal match, and both the men’s & women’s finals on a major network– meaning ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox. The games of tennis needs that exposure, and Disney, which owns ESPN & ABC made the conscious decision to stunt the growth of the game by keeping both finals on ESPN. In Sanford-Orlando, FL it was infomercials from car dealers on ABC during this instant classic, a ratings-loser move for sure.

On the women’s side, 7-seed Simona Halep defeated 11-seed Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in the finals to win her 1st Wimbledon title and second Grand Slam. Bitch factor was kept mostly under control this time around.

Taking a closer look at Serena Williams’ 2019 Wimbledon run reveals (once again) that she played no top-quality opponents until the finals. She defeated 18-seed Julia Goerges in the 3rd Round, and 30-seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the 4th. Everyone else was unseeded, until Halep (pictured above) thrashed her in the finals.

The draws in the WTA majors are obviously constructed to keep Serena Williams in it as long as possible. Since Serena Williams’ “comeback” at the 2018 French Open, she has magically avoided playing Halep, Kerber, Muguruza, Osaka, Stephens, Sharapova, etc in her section of the draw in every major. How & why does that happen? Every time Williams has lost to one of these named above opponents, it has been in straight sets, which means it isn’t a fluke. You don’t see that deliberate favorable seeding of a top player in the ATP.

What I’ve noticed is that the women players have adapted. Simona Halep defeated unseeded Victoria Azarenka (always a tough opponent) in the 3rd round. Halep had to beat 8-seed Elina Svitolina in the semis. All her other opponents before the finals were unseeded. A bunch of big women names went down early again, and Halep’s path to the Wimbledon finals was also cleared. At this point, as long as Simona Halep is rested & healthy, she will beat Serena Williams. Halep is age 27, and Williams is 37. It appears the women are working together, taking turns denying Serena Williams another major. This is under-the-radar bitch factor at work, FYI.

The Serena Williams era in women’s tennis is at its end, as far as winning majors goes. Wimbledon is always her best shot with her dominant serve, and again she couldn’t come close to winning a set in the finals. This happened last year against Angelique Kerber, and then against Naomi Osaka at the US Open.

After her third straight Grand Slam final defeat, Serena Williams was inanely asked in her postmatch news conference whether she should focus on tennis over being a celebrity or fighting for equality. “The day I stop fighting for equality and for people that look like you and me [black] will be the day I’m in my grave,” Williams responded.

This was a shot across the bow of lesbian WTA legend Billie Jean King, who stated to the BBC mid-Wimbledon, “Quite frankly, if I were Serena, I would give up being a celebrity for a year and a half if she wants to win titles, if she wants to beat records, that’s the question. I don’t know what she wants.” King later tweeted to clarify her views after Serena Williams’ retort, saying she supported the work Serena Williams did to push for equality.

I find it interesting that Serena Williams who is worth over $180 million feels that she is fighting for equality, and so does Billie Jean King. Serena Williams is in the top 0.1% in terms of wealth, in the most unequal society in the world. Billie Jean King is obviously blinded by the politics here, but correct in that Serena Williams is living in a fantasy world, and that won’t win any more majors.

Sensationally [!] Serena Williams made a public apology to Naomi Osaka as the tournament began. Notably, her apology didn’t to extend to chair umpire Carlos Ramos, who was most abused by Serena Williams’ vile outburst at the 2018 US Open. Serena Williams only felt the need to apologize to a black woman, which says everything about her politics. Reactionary feminism & racialism to the core. That’s what pays today.

Does anyone else notice how well-coordinated all of Serena Williams’ media campaigns are? She got the cover of Harper’s Bazaar (above) as a platform for her apology to Naomi Osaka. That’s when the “time was right” for this super-connected & spoiled female athlete to burnish her image. What about the refused drug test at her home last June? What about TUE’s? What about the $10,000 fine for practice court abuse at Wimbledon a few days ago? How come no one in the corporate media asks these questions?

The Celebrity-Fan Zone:

Here is celebrity equality in action at Wimbledon. Actor Woody Harrelson was in attendance watching Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah win a four-and-three-quarter-hour epic in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final. But Woody Harrelson stole the show by being treated like an average fan by the Wimbledon security attendant, who wouldn’t let him back to his seat until the game was over.

Players don’t like fans moving about during a game, and therefore patrons must wait to move in or out of the stadium. Woody Harrelson acknowledged that, and sipped his drink in the tunnel while he waited. Lots of celebrities would flip out, instead of respecting the etiquette. Harrelson would tell you, it’s HARD WORK looking that goofy. HARD WORK!!

Theoretical tennis question for men: How good is Serena Williams?

Most men would lose 6-0, 6-0 to her, unless they are a really good player. If she double faults or hits one wide, you didn’t “win” that point, she gave it to you– so respect that difference. A “good player” is defined at minimum as: 1) an upper-tier D1 NCAA player, or 2) a top recreational player who bagels everybody he plays.

A quality male competitor with his serve should be able to win a few games against the greatest women’s player ever. But respect the fact that Serena Williams is an experienced professional, so consistency with her overall game bagels 99+% of males who ever picked up a tennis racket.

Conclusions:

The ATP is in its most glorious era ever, with the three greatest players ever winning every major in site. Federer still has 20 majors, Nadal 18, and Djokovic 16. I predict that when it’s all over, they’ll all be tied. How’s that for objectivity? Nadal (age 33) is still unbeatable on clay, and Djokovic (age 32) is barely the best on grass, while clearly the best on the hardcourts. Roger Federer turns age 38 on August 8, and for him to be a part of the latest “greatest match in tennis history,” says so much about his greatness.

The women’s game is in turnover, and there remain serious questions about the integrity of the seedings & draws in the WTA majors. With Serena Williams leaving the game, PED’s need to become an open discussion, as I believe the vast majority of women players favor strict bans on all usage.

The ubiquitous desire to be alpha-dominant on the men’s side, doesn’t exist so much with women in sports. Women generally favor comfort & safety over athletic glory. That’s why a hardened & overwhelming competitor like Serena Williams can come along and wipe everybody out for an era. It was amazing to watch, but the excesses & ethics of doping need to be considered in total. Is it worth it?

Her situation will eventually be viewed the same as Barry Bonds & Lance Armstrong. This means Serena Williams was clearly better than her competition, but still felt disrespected, slighted, provoked, or whatever into pushing the PED envelope. The truth is none of them needed it. Even if their numbers suffered a bit, they would still eventually be recognized as the best ever. But when you cheat, and deny it; the public has no tolerance for that. When this gives the best player an unfair edge, Serena Williams’ claims of fighting for equality come off as hypocritical nonsense.

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USWNT Wins 2019 World Cup

The USWNT won their 4th women’s World Cup beating the Netherlands 2-0 in the finals in Lyon, France today. Megan Rapinoe (PK) and Rose Lavelle scored in the mid second half, eight minutes apart to settle the match.

Rapinoe who plays professionally for the Seattle Reign FC won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer & the Golden Ball as its top player. Alex Morgan (below) of the Orlando Pride won the Silver Boot.

There have now been 8 women’s World Cup events since its inception in 1991. The US has won four times (1991, 1999, 2015 & 2019), Germany twice (2003 & 2007), Norway (1995) & Japan (2011) once.

There were many new trends in this tournament worth discussing from a sporting & social perspective. First, was former women’s players being allowed to dominate the broadcasts, lead discussion of rules disputes, and provide needed commentary where required. Most of it was spot-on, and much better than the hysterics & apologetics we get regularly in men’s FIFA. A pleasant eye-opener.

The women’s WC 2019 was also another advance for sports science, in that Video Assisted Replay (VAR) was given a chance, competently managed, and used effectively. There were issues early-on, for sure, but the women stuck with it and learned from their mistakes. They needed to, because there were a lot of blown calls by officials & lines-women in WC 2019.

The stat at the beginning of the Fox broadcast was 32 VAR’s as a tournament total before the finals, with 28 resulting overturned calls, and only 4 confirmed. As we can see, VAR certainly helped make up for really bad officiating, which is endemic in the women’s game, because it’s so much newer than men’s competition. To their credit, it takes courage to stand in the middle of the pitch, with headphones tuned-in to a replay booth and being overturned repeatedly, but that’s what it took for this tournament to be legitimate.

In the end, the best team won on their merits, and there is no controversy about a blown call costing a team a critical match. When the officials get overturned over & over, they review those mistakes, and learn from them. That’s what I saw in the end. As the final match began, there were a few seconds when a second ball was in the field-of-play, and the official & lines-woman didn’t blow their whistles– until it got embarrassing.

It was in the midfield, and it didn’t affect the match, but it’s worth noting the competence level of even the best women’s officials. There’s definitely room for improvement, and VAR can be helpful as a training & accountability tool. It always helps to get the call right, and that’s what VAR can do, so there are no more “Hand of God” goals ever again. That is the main takeaway in the women’s World Cup 2019 for men’s fútbol.

In the US_Netherlands finals, the woman official was excellent. There was a hard foul early-to-mid first half, which was immediately whistled and correctly yellow-carded. Making that correct call, at the correct, time gave the referee control of the match from there on. The players respect that call, and from there on she’s essentially coaching both sides equally to play the game fairly & competitively.

Lots of flops weren’t whistled, leaving wanna-be’s & fakers on the turf looking foolish, as they should. It was under control on both sides, which is the point of officiating. VAR got them there, with a steep learning curve. You have to respect that.

Here’s another one. The 23 players on the USWNT consider themselves to be a family, and stick up for each other. Their motivation was to win back-to-back World Cups– the right way. This isn’t a brutal hacking or flopping USWNT team. They probably take more than the give but they have to, being the overwhelming favorites going in, that’s what you have to deal with.

By the end, the USWNT was clearly the best, but with the caveat that the world has very much caught up. The US-England semi-final was a 2-1 squeaker without their captain & playmaker Megan Rapinoe. Only a blown penalty kick prevented that from being 2-2, and likely OT. With that said, championship teams need to be able to handle injuries & adversity, and they did it without coming off arrogant in the end. They respected their opponents & the game.

The USWNT did a fantastic job of pulling themselves back, especially after their perceived over-exuberance in their 13-0 thrashing of Thailand in their opening match. They apparently learned that winning is important, only if you do it in a way that lets people like you when it’s over. No one likes loudmouth showboats, no matter how good they are.

No one like cowards either, so when Donald Trump tried to inject himself into the narrative and grab himself some glory he doesn’t deserve, Megan Rapinoe spoke for the USWNT and took the media heat without backing down. She didn’t sing a word of the US national anthem as it was played before the finals, and she wasn’t alone on the US team. I respect that. The USWNT will not be visiting the White House for a ceremony, photo-ops & congratulations from the US President.

Rapinoe who is lesbian, has already said she will visit House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. My thoughts on that? When people back up their confident talk, then you have to give them their stage & let them speak, even if you don’t like what they’re going to say. The US has a president who doesn’t acknowledge that it is his sworn duty to defend the Constitution, whose First Amendment is free speech. The USWNT winning the 2019 World Cup the way they did, is a blow to Trump’s brand of fascism.

Standing cheers here for the USWNT!!!!

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Bitcoin drops to $26

Bitcoin busts & booms– again!!

Tue 02 Jul 2019 11:59 AM EDT

Bitcoin just collapsed this morning at ~10:00 AM EDT, falling to ~$26 from over $13,000 just a few days ago. By 11:00 AM it had re-inflated itself to above $10,000. This leads to three important questions: 1) What just happened?, 2) How did it happen?, and 3) Who are the people responsible?

What just happened with Bitcoin was a total collapse– meaning bankruptcy. It almost instantly lost 99+% of its value. So why didn’t it go under? What kept Bitcoin from busting for good is so much big money invested in the cryptocurrency market. This priceless screenshot above shows the $26 mark to be a trough, meaning there was a built-in “failsafe” to keep Bitcoin from going to $0. This algorithm is what gave them time to “recover.”

Bitcoin has to be kept afloat, because it’s the industry leader. And it is bankrupt, like every other capitalist institution that is existing on endless free money from above. Fake economics 101.

Hedge funds investors, stock & bond markets, big tech, and the deep state all have a huge stake in crypto-currency, which means Bitcoin is now “too big to fail.” They just got bailed out by someone, and those deep inside the industry know who, but they won’t be telling the public what happened or who is responsible.

Edit ~1:00 PM EDT: To illustrate this point on fake media, below is a screenshot of a recent Google search for “Bitcoin drops to $26,” and nothing current shows up. The powers-that-be want this story ignored, as it exposes their corruption, duplicity & bankruptcy. Therefore, it is the duty of every concerned global citizen to discover the facts and report them honestly.

Crypto-currency is fake money with no lasting value, because there is nothing of worth behind it. The financial meltdown in crypto-currency that just happened this morning is more evidence which proves this thesis. Only the policymakers & beneficiaries of such an extremely manipulative monetary policy would count this electronic garbage as an asset.

Tue 02 Jul 2019 2:30 PM EDT

Afternoon Edit: This piece was reported & published in real time, and may be a watershed moment in the coming global financial crash. I just happened to check the Bitcoin index, which I do every day I’m online– and there it was. I immediately started taking screenshots. This piece was re-titled in editing, and any other edits are noted in italics.

Please note that all the screenshots are raw file coded, and those are very hard to fake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiSCSafHxM

Tue 02 Jul 2019 05:30 PM EDT

I’m adding this final screenshot below to give the reader a scale of how fast all this happened, just a few hours ago. At 9:53 AM EDT, bitcoin plunged through the $10,000 barrier– valuing at $9.937.95. Seven minutes later at 10:00 AM EDT, bitcoin was at $26.40– as shown in an earlier screenshot. All this has been erased & electroned over by the financial manipulators who run this cryptocurrency scam. That’s why these screenshots matter.

Tue 02 Jul 2019 8:26 PM EDT

Here’s a screenshot just taken of Coindesk valuing bitcoin at $9,925.48 at 10:00 AM EDT this morning. Call it “fake blockchain accounting.” Also notice how the 24-hour low is now $9,676.56 instead of $26.30. This is ~10 hours after the event. This Bitcoin event data was erased in the early afternoon by Coindesk. Only these screenshots survive as proof.

Wed 03 Jul 2019 11:33 AM EDT

Summary, the day after: Yesterday, on the morning of July 2, 2019 at 10:00 AM EDT, Bitcoin fell to $26.40 according to Coindesk, the official online tracker of cryptocurrency, and was dead in the water. Less than an hour later BTC was resuscitated by a massive injection of fake money, and was pushed back above $10,000 again.

These screenshots provided above are irrefutable proof of this bankruptcy & malfeasance, which has been erased & covered-up by Bitcoin, Coindesk & their blockchain technology. This story of Bitcoin’s instant collapse & revival has been ignored & buried by the entire fake media, which indicates their complicity.

With this fortuitous piece of investigative journalism, I have busted Bitcoin & all crypto-currencies down to the lint in their pockets. Screenshots don’t lie. Searching for “Bitcoin drops to $26” still produces nothing in the search engines, only further proving the point of massive censorship by high tech & the US intelligence deep state. If you are current on this chimera known as crypto-currency & Bitcoin, while also passionate about the truth, then please share this article as widely as possible to counter-attack this state-sponsored censorship & repression of inconvenient truths.

Thu 04 Jul 2019 01:52 PM EDT

Final Screenshots

Here are the last remaining screenshots that shed light on this momentous financial event, which has been covered up in all official media. I have the exclusive on this story, and have never been censored so harshly online. Everything I posted on Fakebook, particularly these screenshots, has been erased. The same everywhere else including Google and all other search engines.

This above screenshot taken at 11:27 AM shows the steep drop to near zero for Bitcoin on its official tracker Coindesk at 10:00 AM on July 2, 2019.

This above screenshot taken a few seconds later shows the one-week high for Bitcoin to be $13,844.77, on June 26 just before 4:00 PM EDT.

This final screenshot taken a minute later is a real beauty, showing Bitcoin to be at $26.41 at 10:01 AM EDT on July 2, 2019. Notice by scale that this is roughly the midpoint in the $26-trough, which means this event only lasted 2-3 minutes total. The point is: I was REALLY lucky to have seen this at all, despite the fact that my coverage of Bitcoin has been diligent. A few hours later, all this data was completely erased by Coindesk, with a normal curve pasted over this event.

Thu 04 Jul 2019 02:45 PM EDT

Final Timeline of Bitcoin’s Bankruptcy & Bailout

At 9:53 AM EDT on Tuesday July 2, 2019 Bitcoin plunged under $10,000, and within seven minutes was spinning idly at the $26-mark for 2-3 minutes. Its official low was $26.30. Then at 10:03-10:04 AM EDT, Bitcoin instantly shot up again to over $10,000 where it still stays as of this final update.

It was all over by 10:05 EDT. Within this twelve-minute time-frame, Bitcoin was apparently transmogrified not once, but twice. In the first seven minutes of this event, the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme industry leader collapsed and went bankrupt. Only a designed failsafe algorithm prevented Bitcoin from hitting $0.00. Bitcoin bankrupting in seven minutes was the first cataclysmic change.

The second transmogrification was in the last five minutes from 10:00 to 10:05 AM EDT, when Bitcoin was rescued by some unknown black hand. Unless anyone can refute this narrative by addressing the facts & screenshots presented above, this event happened. Therefore, Bitcoin has officially became another “too-big-to-jail” zombie built on fake money, like all the rest. The question is, “Where did the money come from, and how much?”

All this happened in twelve-minutes time, just two days ago. This is an exclusive story because I have the screenshots, I know the issues & history, and I was lucky to be on-the-spot when Bitcoin hit $26. This is one of the biggest financial scandals ever, and the truth is being ruthlessly suppressed by state & corporate power.

The bottom line is when Bitcoin loses 99.75% of $200B in market capitalization in less than 10 minutes– the Black Hand isn’t going to allow THAT to happen, even though I have screenshots which prove it did.

Please download these screenshots & share!!

Over & Out

Addendum: CoinDesk’s Validity

Headquartered in NYC, CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index was launched in September 2013. The Bitcoin Price Index is an average of Bitcoin prices across bitcoin exchanges, and began by using price data from Bitstamp, BTC-e and CampBX. The index also added Bitfinex price data in March 2014, after dumping Mt. Gox a month earlier. Publications which have referenced the Bitcoin Price Index data or price include: the BBC, WSJ, Reuters, NY Times, CNBC and Bloomberg.

Google “official bitcoin tracker,” and Coindesk comes up first. CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index is an industry standard measure for crypto-currency. Only those deeply vested in Bitcoin attempt to discredit the validity of the screenshots I’ve presented on my site, as being from an “unreliable index.” My point has always been that NOTHING connected to crypto-currency is reliable, and a screenshot of Bitcoin at $26.38 on July 2 2019 at 10:00 AM EDT at Coindesk is proof positive of that. My professional opinion of CoinDesk’s “reliability,” is they should remove the ‘i’ from their name.

The fact is that many Bitcoin owners who track its value in real-time, use CoinDesk. This is a democratic argument from the “Bitcoin community” against elitist naysayers who claim CoinDesk is less than industry standard. Officially in cryptocurrency, CoinDesk is considered the industry standard, and the premier Bitcoin composite-index tracker. The flipside here is that the entire cryptocurrency industry is fake, so defining “industry standard” gets vague & shifty in practice.

So here are my questions to all the naysayers with their heads in the sand and no hard evidence to counter. How did this event happen? Was it just a glitch, or an actual bankruptcy– and how do you know which? Since Bitcoin is nothing more than what’s on your computer screen, a “glitch” to $26 means bankruptcy, right? Was it a cyber-attack on CoinDesk? Why the cover-up by Coindesk? Can we really trust blockchain technology, after my screenshots show data being removed & altered after-the-fact? Why has there been such strict censorship in the media over this event?

These are very significant & troubling questions which the naysayers can’t answer. Thus, their attempts to cast dispersion and discredit my data & analysis.

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ESPN.com shuts down fan comments: One year later

This is the 1-year anniversary of ESPN.com shutting down all its comment boards due to my posts, and this serial is the proof. Before this event, there was never any indication to anyone that the ESPN forum boards for every sport, and all their articles would no longer display or allow reader comments. ESPN has never made a public explanation for this policy change.

The background here is that Wimbledon was obviously fixed on the Women’s side, so I blew up the ESPN/tennis comments section– and people got angry on all sides. I believe the Serena Williams camp forced ESPN to shut down all ESPN website comments because she was looking really bad in the discussions among tennis fans. I was leading those discussions, but very soon I didn’t have to. Serena Williams’ apologists were being shouted down with calm reason, objective facts & countless unanswered questions by many fans.

I mistakenly thought this censorship was a targeted ban (just me) at the time, but it was universal– to my great surprise. I shouldn’t have been, as I did the same thing to MLB.com during the “Shohei Ohtani Affair,” and the collapse of the free-agency market due to MLBPA ignorance & duplicity. The MLB online comments board which had existed for years have disappeared. They connected thousands of MLB fans with their favorite teams, and created many new friendships. All that is now gone, because of MLB censorship.

No “outsider” criticism of MLB or ESPN can be tolerated in online boards, by the powers that be. Who do these neo-fascist censors think maintains the game? Answer: it’s the interest of the fans that pays for everything. When MLB & ESPN cut fans off from each other due to politics, fans lose interest because the game has been stolen from them.

When this occurs, there is little interest for me to report its internal news anymore. Eventually others feel the same and the bottom-line suffers, which is bad business. The big issues here are clear & unambiguous. Is MLB to be run by a cartel of powerful east coast owners who dominate the commissioner & executive offices? If malfeasance is suspected and evidence shown against MLB (and/or its favored franchises), then what?

These questions cut to the heart of the game, deciding who gets the best players and who does not. When a team that is not a “traditional power” thinks & acts outside-the-box to gain a competitive edge, they are reined in with suspensions & the threat of sanctions by this MLB cartel.

This was the case with San Diego Padres GM AJ Preller, who was suspended for one dull month in August 2016 by MLB for “undisclosed anti-inflammatories” in the LHP Drew Pomeranz trade. The top-prospect the Padres received in return RHP Anderson Espinoza, has just undergone his 2nd Tommy John surgery, and will probably never reach the majors. Yet many in the Red Sox media still whine on this false narrative pushed by MLB.

The actual reason AJ Preller was suspended by MLB is because it was perceived the Padres won that trade by getting the Red Sox to overpay for a 4th-starter (Pomeranz), whom the Red Sox foolishly thought was a #2. Even though Preller lost the deal in the end, the Padres are still vilified because he made a big-wheel GM (Dave Dombrowski) look bad in his valuing of MLB talent. That is a contentious truth for Red Sox Nation, believe me.

AJ Preller was also targeted in winter 2017 when Buster Olney acted as Boston Red Sox hatchet-man using his ESPN media clout to threaten sanctions on the Padres if they didn’t give up their pursuit of prized Japanese free-agent pitcher & hitter Shohei Ohtani. That was a clear case of the Red Sox tampering to prevent a hated rival (Padres) from getting a free-agent prize. Preller had to kick Ohtani to his buddy Billy Eppler, Angels GM, to avoid the wrath of MLB.

No one at MLB.com or ESPN ever explained how Ohtani became an Angel, when it looked like the San Diego Padres had him for sure. Here was my real-time serial which is mostly wrong (in that Shohei Ohtani will not become a Padre), until it reveals a greater (& nastier) truth at the end, which is the MLB Black Hand in action.

Coincidentally, this is when MLB.com went black on it’s comment boards for a day or so, and then reset everybody anew with no old content available for viewing. A year later the comments were all gone everywhere on the MLB site, and remain so as of this publication.

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