Daily Archives: July 21, 2021

It was one of those articles featuring a title that outran the actual claim presented, which showed up in paragraph five. In the digital Philadelphia Inquirer on July 18, the headline writer adorned writer Bob Brookovers piece with the title The Phillies center-field job is still up for grabs and Travis Jankowski is now the frontrunner.

In fact, what Brookover wrote was that, considering the current situation (including an injury to one center fielder), the Phillies are in no hurry to bring back [former All-Star, Odubel] Herrera. The writer named no source for that conclusion. No one was quoted to that effect.

However, thats not criticism. Its merely noting that frontrunner carries the connotation about a lead in a race thats a little more than a foot or two. At the moment, Travis Jankowski can be said to be leading the seemingly eternal battle for the Phillies number-eight position on your scorecard.

But that lead doesnt even put Jankowski in center every day at this point, or for the whole game when he starts. Luke Williams, one of the Phillies younger utilitymen, for example, has been in center field for at least parts of six games in July, four of which he shared with Jankowski. Williams started three of the games he appeared in.

It is undeniable that Jankowski has been very useful in the Phillies resurgence in July. For the month through play July 18, he has hit .385 with four RBI, eight runs scored, and a .907 OPS. Most recently, he contributed a pinch-hit single, run scored, and three innings in center in the series-winning defeat of Miami that pushed the Phillies to within two games of first-place New York.

However, he is, like Williams, a utilityman. Both are speedy and quite decent outfielders. Both can steal bases. However, Jankowski is several years older and has always been a utility player with the arguable exception of one or two years.

In 2016 and 18 he played enough to get nearly 400 at-bats for the Padres in both campaigns. However, Jankowski is, despite his current torrid streak, a lifetime .245 hitter. Its true that, at age 30, he seems to play younger than he actually is, and part of that may be an enthusiasm about playing for the Phillies, the team he followed as a youngster in Lancaster (PA) County.

It will make a very nice story if Philadelphia continues to give Jankowski a majority of the available time for the rest of this season in center field. It would be an even better story if he continues to be hot, and the team posts a winning record or wins their division.

The bottom line, though, is that Travis Jankowski is likely to remain a role player in the long-term, and the Phillies search for a high-level, everyday performer in center field will continue. However, it would be great to be wrong about that.

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Could the Phillies really turn CF over to Travis Jankowski? - Call to the Pen

A CF-18 demo jet flies over Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on Sunday, July 18. (Greg Sakaki/News Bulletin)

Snowbirds slated for flyover on Monday, July 19

A fighter jet flew over hospitals on Vancouver Island this afternoon to salute some of the people who fought the pandemic on the front lines.

Operation Inspiration arrived on the Island on Sunday, July 18, with a CF-18 demo jet flying over Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and circling over other areas of Vancouver Island before flying over Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals.

Operation Inspiration will also include a flyover by the CF Snowbirds on Monday, July 19.

Our air demonstration teams are an important face of our Air Force and their role in connecting us to Canadians was clear last year through the success of Operation Inspiration. This year we couldnt think of a better way to continue that momentum than through formally recognizing Operation Inspiration as an enduring mission that will be carried forward by these two teams, said Maj.-Gen. Eric Kenny, commander of the 1 Canadian Air Division, in a press release.

For updates on the Snowbirds schedule, follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

RELATED: Snowbirds returning to the Island for Op Inspiration

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CF-18 flies over Island hospitals as part of Operation Inspiration Saanich News - Saanich News

The Giants are a key team to watch as the Marlins market center fielder Starling Marte in the coming weeks, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Miami and Marte recently halted extension talks, and Mish now adds that the team balked at guaranteeing the 32-year-old Marte a fourth year on the contract.

Giants center fielders, buoyed by Steven Duggars recent hot streak, are hitting .262/.337/.420 on the season, but Duggars .398 average on balls in play and 31.8% strikeout rate point to some likely regression on the horizon. Left field has actually been a bigger issue, as the Giants have put together a collective .219/.295/.394 batting line from that position. Those struggles have come in large part due to Alex Dickerson, who could stand to lose some playing time in the event of an acquisition of Marte or another outfielder.

Marte, a free agent at seasons end, is earning $12.5M this season and is still owed about $5M of that sum through seasons end ($4.37M from the point of the deadline). Hes hitting .288/.389/.447 with a career-best 11.8% walk rate, seven homers and 19 stolen bases through 245 plate appearances so far in 2021. He missed about five weeks with a fractured rib earlier in the season but has looked healthy and productive since returning at the end of May.

From a payroll vantage point, the Giants neednt have any concerns acquiring Marte or nearly any other player. San Francisco has about $151M on the books for 2021 and only about $158M worth of luxury-tax obligations, leaving them miles from the $210M barrier. This is also an ownership group that has, in the past, given the green light to payrolls in excess of $200M, so theres ample room to take on salary in any deal.

The Giants have a solid farm system, though when were talking about one rental player, a deep stock of minor-league prospects isnt required anyhow. Mish suggests that top outfield prospect Heliot Ramos, in particular, is of interest to the Marlins but thatd be a rather steep price to pay for a Marte rental. The Marlins have some relievers who could pique the Giants interest, though; Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi is no doubt quite familiar with former Dodgers Yimi Garcia and Dylan Floro from his days in the Los Angeles front office, for instance.

Miami is also deep in young starting pitching. For a Giants club that could see nearly all of its rotation reach free agency this winter Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Johnny Cueto and Aaron Sanchez are all free agents the Marlins and their impressive crop of young starting pitching seem like a strong trade partner.

Because of the lack of center fielders on the market, the Giants will have plenty of competition for Marte. Hes already been connected to the Yankees, the Phillies and the Astros, and there are several other contenders who could look for help in center field or just the outfield in general. Marte is certainly a capable defender in center, but hed fit nicely in a corner for a team looking to more generally upgrade its lineup. The Padres are reportedly looking into some upgrades in right field. The Mets have been linked to center field help throughout the season, and the White Sox have been hit hard with outfield injuries, too. The Giants are as strong a fit as anyone, but the competition will be significant.

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Giants reportedly interested in one-time All-Star CF Starling Marte - Yardbarker

New York City FC will be trying to snap their two-game losing streak when they face CF Montreal on Wednesday night. New York City is coming off a 2-1 loss to Columbus. CF Montreal is coming off a 5-4 win over FC Cincinnati.

New York City FC is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games against CF Montreal.

New York City Going For Third Consecutive Home Win

New York City didnt fare well on their road trip, losing both games. Despite the losses, they are still in seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and will try to move into sixth place with a win over Montreal, which will give them their third straight home win.

New York is one of the better offensive teams in the league with 20 goals in 12 games. They scored one goal in their last game with seven of their 21 shots on target.

Jess Medina scored the lone goal for New York, giving him a team-leading six goals for the year.

New York has also played well defensively, giving up 15 goals in 12 games. They gave up two goals in their last game and will need to play better if they want to win this game.

Montreal Going For Fourth Consecutive Win

CF Montreal is playing well at the moment and the team comes into this game on a three-game winning streak. They will try to keep the momentum going with a win over New York, which will give them their fourth win in a row and a sweep of the season series.

Montreal has played well offensively, scoring 19 goals in 13 games. They scored five goals in their last game with 10 of their 17 shots on target.

Mason Toye and Ahmed Nabeel tallied a brace for Montreal, while Joaqun Torres added another goal for the team.

Montreal has also done well on the defensive end, giving up 15 goals in 13 games. They gave up four goal in their last game and will need to play much better if they want to get the win.

Side: CF Montreal +650

New York has lost three of their last five games and they havent found the back of the net as easily as they did earlier in the season, scoring seven goals in their last five games. They are facing a very good defensive team that gave up three goals in their previous five games before giving up four goals in their last game, so expect Montreal to bounce back with a better defensive effort and pick up the win.

Total: Under 3

New York is averaging 1.66 goals per game and their average goes up to two goals per game at home. They averaged two goals per game in their last three games against Montreal. With Montreal giving up one goal per game on the road, New York will be held under their average in this game. Montreal is averaging 1.46 goals per game and one goal per game on the road. They averaged one goal per game in their last three games against New York. With New York giving up 1.33 goals per game at home, Montreal wont score enough goals to push the score over the total.

Author Profile Bosun Akinpelu

Bosun is very passionate about sports and he feels bad to get paid for doing this, but we here at Winners and Whiners are glad to have him as a part of the team. As someone who minored in Mathematics, Bosun has a lot of faith in numbers and will make his picks based on stats and not emotions. He has been successfully picking winners for quite some time, so if you want to get paid, then stick with Bosun.

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NYCFC vs. CF Montreal Prediction, Preview, and Odds - 7/21/21 - Winners and Whiners

Courtesy of Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis (Facebook)

Accompanied by 50 boats and cheered on by even more well-wishers, 150 stand-up paddleboarders (including a wakeboarder) set out on a long-distance endurance challenge paddle event from Bimini, Bahamas to Florida. The was the charitys fifth crossing and biggest ever as participants stepped onto the ocean aboard stand-up paddleboards (SUP).

Group teams and single paddleboarders traveled to Bimini where they spent a couple of days exploring and participating in beach cleanups, water quality workshops, and other environmental and charitable activities.

The paddlers then left Bimini at midnight and traveled to Lake Worth Beach, Florida (about 80 miles). Depending on each persons agility level, and water and weather conditions, the event can take between 13 and 18 hours.

This years event included Scott Johnson, the first-ever CF warrior and double-lung transplant paddler. Casey Keirnan of Palm Beach Gardens was declared the overall champion.

The 2021 Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis took place on Sunday, June 27. More than $630,000 was raised for Pipers Angels, a nonprofit designed to raise money and awareness for this lung disease. The namesake is Piper Suit, a 13-year-old who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age four.

A chronic disease, CF affects the lungs and digestive system of about 70,000 people worldwide. It can also affect the pancreas. There are nearly 30,000people in the U.S. with CF. Saltwater can sometimes act as a natural healing method, giving some relief to CF patients, which was likely an inspiration point for this type of event.

The Pipers Angels Foundation was created to support and improve the lives of CF families in the community while raising awareness through education, activities, financial support, and funding. They partner with other organizations to provide additional support, financial assistance, and coastal and waterways cleanups as well as offer ocean-based activities for people with CF.

Organization founder, and Pipers dad, Travis Suit told WPTV, "I realized the only way to makes sense of all this was to see it as a gift. I was going to have to work really hard to do that because that was going to have to be what got us through.

Paddle teams and event sponsors included 4Ocean, Celsius Energy Drink, Yacht Sales International, Dune Jewelry, Margaritaville, Blueline Surf, and Paddle Co., Garmin, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and many more.

Plans will soon be underway for the 2022 event. If youre interested in signing up, stay tuned to CrossingForCysticFibrosis.com for event details. Visit the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis Instagram page for photos of the event and to donate to Pipers Angels.

Have you everparticipated in a long-distance endurance challenge? Any plans to join the 2022 Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event? Let us know in the comments.

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Stand-Up Paddleboarders Cross the Atlantic for Cystic Fibrosis More than $630000 was raised at the - ourcommunitynow.com

The number of FINRA regulated funding portals has plateaued in the past few months. Periodically Crowdfund Insider reviews the roster of funding portals, a new type of financial entity created by the JOBS Act of 2012. Under the Act, approved platforms may raise capital under Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding). In practice, many platforms also raise capital under Reg D as well as Reg A+. Reg D is a securities exemption that only accepts accredited investors. Reg A+ is a highly regulated securities offering where an issuer must submit an offering circular that must be qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a time-consuming and somewhat expensive process. Under Reg D, an issuer may raise an unlimited amount of money. Under Reg A+, an issuer may raise up to $75 million.

As was previously reported this past March Reg CFs funding cap was raised from $1.07 million to $5 million. Most industry insiders considered the old funding work challenging as seed rounds can frequently be for many millions of dollars. The increased cap makes the exemption far more practical.

Since the Reg CF funding cap increase, Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA) reports that the second quarter showed impressive gains over the prior year. CCA states that more issuers, more capital, more jobs, more revenue-generating companies [are] seeking capital, steady valuations, greater investment in certain industries (due to COVID), and average raises increasing as the new $5M cap implemented by the SEC in March went into effect.

CCA reports that the number of million-dollar offerings during Q2 increased by 33% over Q1. Additionally, 14.3% of offerings that exceeded $1 million raised the maximum of $5 million.

So while one quarter does not make a year, issuers are raising more money under the new and improved Reg CF securities exemption.

Last March, around the time the funding cap increase became actionable, CI reported there were 65 FINRA regulated funding portals. Today, that number remains the same with a few new platforms and a few exits for various reasons.

First, SeedInvests name was removed from FINRAs list of funding portals as it is a broker-dealer and does not need to operate as a funding portal. This is similar to what NextSeed and MicroVentures previously decided. A regulated broker-dealer may offer securities under Reg CF so maintaining the status as a funding portal is not really necessary.

Three new funding portals have joined since our report in March.

First, there is Chonky. The domain resolves to FatKat Club. The website describes itself as A place where fans invest in cool projects and get a share of the potential profits. Chonky appears to be a revenue share platform explaining:

Faster returns than equity investment Before you can cash out of an equity investment you need to wait for a liquidity event to occur (acquisition etc.). When you invest in projects, you start making cash if the project starts making sales.

Currently, there are no listed securities offerings.

Next is SV Portal LLC or Spaced Ventures. Based in Florida, yes, this site allows you to own shares of actual space startups. It seems the race to space has a retail element now as Spaced Ventures wants to allow smaller investors the ability to back space-focused firms. Still in Beta, the site is expected to launch soon.

Finally, there is Tycooninvest Portal LLC. This platform is a more traditional platform looking to provide access to capital for early-stage ventures. Currently, there are multiple issuers that are testing the waters on Tycooninvest.

Other changes to the list include Stampede Securities, Inc., or Bumper Collective. It is no longer on the FINRA regulated list but the domain resolves to a Katipult (white label crowdfunding provider) holding page.

SeriesOne LLC joins the suspended list which means they have not paid their FINRA dues nor have they filed the document to withdraw its funding portal designation. Gridshares and Fundpaas have long been former platforms that join this type of regulatory limbo.

Today, there are 16 former funding portals that have either decided to exit the space, operate as broker-dealer, or were strongly encouraged to exit crowdfunding by regulators.

While the Reg CF sector has been dominated by a handful of platforms since 2016, there is still room for new platforms to operate and provide access to capital for early-stage ventures. The key to success for all of these platforms is the ability to not only raise capital issuers need but also show solid returns for investors in these companies. Also, they must turn a profit at some point in the future.

More to follow.

Excerpt from:

Reg CF: The Number of FINRA Regulated Funding Portals Plateaus - Crowdfund Insider