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I’m not sure your second paragraph sounds that bad, it’s the filibuster that obscures it. if from here on, Congress was straight majority rule, that seems fine, and if a party gets majority in all three (exec, house, senate) they should be able to implement big or whatever changes. The issue is institutional rules have been changed last decade. So a party 8 years with a president was allowed virtually no judges for 6 of them, then two years in the new party overturns all of those restrictions and puts in hundreds, that’s not something I just shrug at. I want to balance that, as aggressively. But is Congress worse off without filibuster and without hastert rule applied by each speaker? I have hard time seeing that it is moving forward. Seems stronger. edit: said three branches, meant house/sen/prez

The alternative is "hard right SCOTUS majority for decades to come." I'm not pretending it's not an extreme measure. The last time it was legitimately threatened, by FDR in the 30's, was also a time that called for extreme measures in response to a reactionary court. I was fine with tanking the 60 vote majority to appoint because Republicans were refusing to let Obama appoint anyone to numerous open judicial spots and to various executive functions. I'm fine with it being removed by Republicans for SCOTUS. It hasn't "backfired," because the idea that Republicans would at some point have the Presidency and the WH wasn't some unforeseeable future. Democrats could have put up with two extra years of McConnell blocking nearly every appointment, and we'd still be exactly where we are at now. Republicans would have blown up the judicial fillibuster early on in Trump's Presidency, and there would be that many more spots open on the courts. So if anything, we'd actually be worse off. McConnell raised the stakes significantly when he refused to even hold hearings on Obama's appointment. If one side is constantly trying to be the "reasonable" ones adhering to dead traditions, they're going to get stomped. Yes, it's possible that a future Republican majority/President would then escalate even farther, but the alternative is to lay down and do nothing and watch a SCOTUS gut much of 20th century progressive reforms and block all 21st century progressive reforms on a wide variety of issues. What would you have the Democrats or progressives do instead if not work to reform anti-democratic (small-d there) institutions?

For sure. Do we know that Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora are hits though? Tim Anderson isn't great but a 3 WAR SS with the 17th pick in the draft is a scouting win. The jury is out on Burger/Collins for sure. They have to hit on Madrigal and whoever goes #3 in 2019 though for sure. The Cubs won a World Series so it's tough to criticize but their drafts as a whole have been kind of rough honestly. In 2012, Almora and now David Bote are only real contributors. 2013 brought Kris Bryant and nothing else. In 2014, they took Kyle Schwarber and took Dylan Cease. In 2015 they took Happ.

Got out of the hospital yesterday. Have lost 25 pounds but am starting to feel better at least. Should be able to resume my broadcasting duties soon.

Probably in minority but I'd rather every bears game be at noon on sunday.

Why do people bag on Joe? He's won everywhere he's gone. When was the last time the White Sox won 95 games? Come on man.

Two teams who have never ever faced each other in the postseason square off. Some dude named Chris stats for Boston tonight.

There is a good article at the Athletic on the Yankees transformation to a heavy analytic based organization. It was an interesting read. They had a table indicating the size of each teams departments, which they admitted was hard to do as some teams don't release that info or account for people differently. (They claimed two sources though on each team). From other articles I have seen thru the year about players getting and adopting analytics, I thought the Sox were doing well in embracing the changes/technology. The Yankees have a staff of twenty tying the Dodgers for the most in baseball. The White Sox were dead last with two. I understand quantity doesn't equal quality etc but I found this concerning. Any staff or posters with more knowledge or the ability to ask questions of Hahn etc? I do not want to jump to the traditional Sox being cheap answer. The role of analytics is changing the game dramatically and you can either lead or be left behind. At a time of rebuilding and as a lower overall spending team, I would hate to not take advantage of everything out there.

What difference would one more win make? Would 99 losses really be any better than 100? Dont be fooled by arbitrary cutoff points as milestones. Whatever problems you have with the team, they wouldn’t be any different with 97 losses or 105 losses.

I don't think the democrats have treated Trump judge choices any differently the only difference is the Republicans control the senate and I suspect they'll do the same thing should the Republicans lose control of the senate. They've already attempted to delay when they can despite being in the minority. I think blaming brinkmanship on either side is dangerous the only way out is for both sides to admit they are wrong and try to tamp down on the all out warfare but part of that has to do with voters as well. We elected Trump. Look at the front runners in your party right now. Warren. Booker. Harris. Maxine Waters. Those aren't exactly centrists.

Traditions weren't followed. Not sure there's a rule that was actually changed.

All suddenly problems that need to be fixed because your "side" doesn't benefit.

He is also seems to lie a lot, so even if he did say that. Would not surprise me if he was lying.

That's kinda my plan too, going solar at some point for the house. Not going to go in now, but in a few years it will be cycle time for new shingles anyway, so that will be when I look into it. I've been making changes to go more electric anyway, like the PHEV car(s), and a new instant-on electric hot water heater (which has been great), so that I get as much out of that as possible. The PHEV and HWH are money-savers in their own right anyway. But I'll do some payback period math on a solar roof/cells/shingles when it comes time, and as long as that payback period is within the time we are likely to stay in that house, I'll be in.

I don't know what the stats say about Anderson's defense, but I will say that any stat that says it's bad, or even average, is a stupid stat.

You guys make me laugh. "The Bulls suck....time to change the rules of basketball!"

A leading Holocaust historian just seriously compared the US to Nazi Germany “If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.” I’ve observed this kind of modern authoritarianism firsthand in Hungary. In my dispatch after visiting there, I warned of the same thing as Browning does here: The threat to the United States isn’t so much Trump alone as it is the breakdown in the practice of American democracy, and the Republican Party’s commitment to extreme tactics in pursuit of its policy goals in particular. We are living through a period of serious threat to American democracy. And Browning’s essay, a serious piece by a serious scholar, shows that it’s not at all alarmist to say so.

Albert Almora was a 1 WAR player last year. He doesn't walk and had a wRC+ of 89. He was horrible in the 2nd half. I don't believe the White Sox with unearth a Kris Bryant but I think they've drafted players in recent years that will at least match the production of Schwarber/Almora/Happ. The Cubs needed to spend $$ to get over the top and the White Sox will need to do the same.

Well we know Schwarber made a significant contribution to the Cubs World Series win so that's plenty good if you hit in that situation. Almora is a very solid fielder and also not bad with the bat. I'd take him in a heartbeat right now in CF. Sox need some draftees and Robert to step up because at this time they all seem 3 years away except for a few like Jimenez , Zavala and Cease and what we get from that trio is unknown right now.

And of course Curtis Granderson. Isn't he from Chicago? I wonder if Phil Rogers knows the answer.

I'll make the argument that be it analytics or scouting they aren't doing it effectively. There's no way in hell the Sox get the same success from our 1st round draft picks that the Astros and Cubs got. When you hear things from Hostetler about they would've taken Collins 1 -1 it makes you really wonder. The Cubs got so much talent they could afford the loss of Jimenez, Cease and Gleyber Torres . But can anyone here realistically see the Sox system producing a Correa, Bregman, Altuve, Springer, Keuchel , McCullers, Bryant , Baez, Schwarber ,Almora, Happ ,Contreras . These are all home grown, none of them from trades.

The dynasty crap is overblown, but the Cubs are doing what every team should try to do: compete perennially. That's the goal.

Soria gets the win Aj in the booth Big Hurt on the post game. Sox are in the playoffs.

I'd reply, but it would probably get deleted.

I could give a fuck about where Moncada plays, IF he can fucking strike out less than ~30% of his PAs next year. Regrettably, I don't know who will "coach him up," given the incompetence and enabling of this coaching staff and FO, respectively.

Yeah, it isn't so much that an 80-something year old owner has no appetite for spending on analytics, so much as the [snicker] high school graduate team president simply can't understand analytics. He just isn't smart enough to figure this sort of thing out, IMO.

The Sox never get an experienced manager. It's often former players. Fans get duped into thinking this is the right thing to do. Omar Visquel will probably be the next manager. As for the Cubs the experienced ones like Baker and Pinella didn't pan out.

I am perfectly ok with Benetti and Stone together. I actually love them together. Stone is great at his job and I don't mind the smart ass comments, he really knows his baseball.

It won't matter because the Cubs are gonna sign Harper and overshadow our rebuild anyway. The good news is we will be good enough for ESPN to remember we exist.

This is a great point, and the big tell is the lack of baseball systems engineers. For context, here is the milwaukee brewers: Senior Analyst, Baseball Research and Development Andrew Fox Analyst - Baseball Research and Development Ethan Bein Analyst - Sports Science Baseball Research and Development Inga Milo Analyst - Baseball Operations August f**erstrom Analytics Developer - Baseball Research and Development Josh Schaffer Data Architect Matt Culhane Architect - Baseball Systems Will Hudgins Developer - Baseball Systems Chaning Ogden Developer - Baseball Systems Dan Yang Now we have examples of coaches such as zaleski pushing hard based on data to change the arsenals of our players. But when you hear ex scouts from progressive orgs come out they stress just how much better the info they all have is over what is available to public. Then they have their proprietary systems on top of that.

Even where he supports positions I hold, I can't support the guy. He isn't the party I grew up with, which is why I walked away from the party. I have to be able to live with myself, not my party. Even where I disagree with people, I can respect them. I don't respect Trump at all for a second.

How many games did the Rays go with relievers for 6+ innings this year, including starting relievers? What did the A’s try to do tonight against the Yankees? Since the White Sox only have two starters right now, and Rodon’s health down the stretch was questionable, at best...what do they have to lose, exactly? See current AL Wild Card thread (at the end) if you still need further clarification.

NLCS, world series champ, NLCS, 95 wins and lose wild card How far back do you have to go to get as many playoff appearances for the Sox?

I would do whatever it took if Joe Maddon was shown the door on the north side to get him to be skipper on 35th and Shields. You should probably feel that way as well. Dude has had an insane run with Chicago and Tampa Bay.

I think he is really good when he doesn’t think he is on stage at Zanies and every line needs to be gold. When he does the games and lets the one liners come naturally, it’s a better broadcast.

That last sentence you said was my whole point. We are just not discovering enough talent be it trades or the draft so far But we seem to be very good at hanging onto our wonderful ML talent to evaluate them.

2 key takeaways from this article: 1: That people who were found out were eventually given higher positions. 2: MLB teams were getting Latin American kids on steroids and the like, making it clear that the much ballyhooed MLB getting tough on steroid use is just a sham.