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It would appear the multiple people discussing the format of a possible 2020 baseball season in this thread do.

I honestly prefer Robert to Franco straight up by a decent amount. Franco obviously is great but I am still baffled that he is a FULL GRADE above everyone else.. Robert has done it against better competition. Give me Robert.

That is an interesting question, and one I think requires more specifics. IF I AM THE 2020 WHITE SOX, no. Reason #1: We have a starting SS in Tim Anderson, a starting 3B in Yoan Moncada, and Nick Madrigal on the way. What do we have in CF? Adam Engel? Leury Garcia? The marginal gain of replacing a successful Franco versus Anderson or Moncada is WAY less, than Robert replacing our current CF's. Reason #2: We are trying to edge our way into competition, and Franco is probably a late 20 or 2021 addition. So not only do you lose your best CF prospect, and that output for 2020, but you don't gain Franco's output for some period of time that is still TBD. Reason #3: We already have a long term deal worked out with Robert that gives us cost and service security going forward. Franco could well end up being better than Robert in the long run, but that doesn't mean he is the best fit for the team and for today.

4 playoff teams doesn't make any sense financially. The playoffs are expanding and this is the trial balloon. My guess is 7 playoff teams in each league. Three 1st round series and a bye. The owners need the television revenue that extra playoffs will provide if they carve 60-70 games off the schedule and don't have fans in the stands. Less playoffs isn't an option.

Make America Great Again. Fake News. Lame Stream Media. All catchy but simple phrases that don't mean anything, and I am sick of hearing them constantly. They were never that clever to begin with. And saying them over and over doesn't help address the real problems that are still facing this country. Trump didn't even expect to be elected. When he met with Obama right after the election, he was shocked when Obama told him he had to staff the West Wing. Trump had said he was going to bring in the best people. Where were they? Who were they? Vacant faced Jared? Dumb as a brick Ivanka? Crazy Steve Bannon? BTW, where is Darth Vader Bannon now? He has disappeared and has taken his doomsday ideas with him. Thank God for small favors. The GOP has to step forward, even if it is for political reasons. If I was a GOP office holder, I wouldn't want to be connected to this disaster. It can follow the party for decades. Trump is finding it is easy to campaign. It is much more difficult to govern.

From the Morning Brew https://link.morningbrew.com/click/20018258.753565/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubW9ybmluZ2JyZXcuY29tL2RhaWx5L3IvP2tpZD05ZjQ3MTk5ZA/5cf7034844d51f506205eaf0B18d395f8 Israel's plan to reopen. The plan consists of four phases and focuses on opening more lucrative sectors first, Haaretz reports: Phase 1: Tech and finance, plus slices of trade-oriented industries. These sectors employ more than 10% of the population. Phase 2: Commerce and retail stores. Phase 3: Restaurants and hotels. The NSC expects most of the education system will be back at this point, too. Phase 4: Recreational sectors like sports, air travel, and entertainment. If that seems like a straightforward process, consider these caveats: Each phase will have a two-week buffer to review whether the next can proceed. All of the public health guidelines we've been subject to (social distancing, face masks, etc.) will be required for reopening industries. None of these phases applies to people over 60 and other at-risk populations. Bottom line: Coronavirus restrictions will almost definitely extend into the summer. + While we're here: NY, NJ, and a few other northeastern states have formed a task force to coordinate reopening their economies. So have some West Coast states.

Why even have divisions if everyone is so close in proximity? If they're going to have the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues for a season just take the top 4 teams of each league and have a playoff..

I wouldn't trade Robert for all the tea in China if I were the Sox.

Damn you! Damn you to hell!

Yes. The players want to be paid.

flat, 1222 new cases, more than the 1075 yesterday. Curve has been very slow to bend here. Tests? still at 5k ?

Trump endorsements aren't the gold they were a couple of years ago. I think people may finally be getting sick of the craziness. He likes to call some RINOs, but that seems to be more projection. He stole the republican party. He's not a republican. It wouldn't surprise me as we go on that many of his buddies start trying to distance themselves from him.

Yes. It's mid-April, and some lightening of restrictions by mid-May is expected...at least in some areas. Baseball could still start as late as early July and squeeze in 90+ games without going too far into October. I'd love to see baseball with fans eventually this year, but that's probably wishful thinking. The next 2-4 weeks will be crucial.

Even better.

What a mess this is going to be... https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal/609940/

That moment and the all star game chant were apparently the things that got everything moving. Imagine being embarrassed enough to make a move not because your team has been stuck in the mud for over four years with middling to awful results(some on purpose some not) with a joke of a coach, but rather because the fans embarrassed you on national television. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't know, Gar getting slapped down is pretty good. I don't know if you read Cowley last week. Was the typical bulls airing of the laundry, but I guess when the bulls honored Luol Deng last nov a bunch of former bulls were at the game and Forman was "aloof" toward them, angering the players. Word got back to reinsdorf and apparently that was the moment big reinsdorf removed Gar's protection.

And THIS is why we are not attempting “herd immunity” One third of National Health Service staff and other key workers who’ve been tested for coronavirus have returned positive results, according to data released by the British government. According to the figures released Monday, 16,888 people who fall into the category of “key workers and their households” have been tested. So far, 5,733 – or 34% -- are confirmed to have the virus. The government has been under pressure to ramp up testing for NHS workers and their families, amid concerns about a lack of appropriate personal protective equipment. Health minister Matt Hancock has previously said that NHS staff who show symptoms -- or live with someone who does -- will be able to get tested under the government’s plan, with the ultimate goal to provide testing to all NHS staff regardless of symptoms. www.cnn.com

Once again, there were HUNDREDS of thousands doing contact tracing alone in China. In just ONE major city of 11 million, and then the outlying province with a population roughly the same as CA but much more concentrated. We don't have that capacity ANYWHERE. We don't have the ability to have everyone in the United States all adopting the same cell phone messaging service (QQ/Weixin or WeChat) or mobile payments (Alipay) to create that kind of a national tracking system (you're also seeing it in South Korea) with green/red/yellow codes..."real time" track of those hot zones, etc. We especially don't have the ability to distribute food to houses/apartments on a massive scale...at an affordable price, and quickly. Which means lack of access to quality food will begin to disproportionately impact poorer communities in the coming weeks. For example, the upcoming shortages of pork (Smithfield in SD) and beef products, that will also result in massive shortages and/or price hikes. The Chinese have hundreds of thousands of drivers on scooters or e-bikes. Meituan Dianping and Ele.ma, it's an oligarchy, essentially. Bigger than the Chinese army. They make only 75 cents to 1.50 per delivery, with NO TIPPING. We couldn't scale up deliver and logistics like that if it was ORDERED by the President under the Defense Production Act. So exposing hundreds of thousands of people to weekly or bi-weekly grocery shopping definitely works against us. People STILL trying to go to church, yet another factor. A large number of older people NOT in nursing homes, but exposed when they do go to grocery stores and have to wait in long/er lines...here in China, food was brought/delivered directly o older people, fruits/vegetables/noodles/rice/dumplings, at least basic staples to get by so nobody had to go out of their apartments. Next, having 30+ million without access to health insurance (still haven't seen that all the insurance companies agreed to treat ALL Covid-19 related costs, or get subsidies back from the government, or how they were going to contain outbreaks among homeless communities, jails/prisons and immigrant/refugee groups, whether border areas or farming/meat processing, etc. Not to mention 7 states still don't even have stay-at-home orders because they think everything is fine because they're simply not testing (or hardly at all.) Then you're going to have to move all the doctors, nurses and equipment across the country whenever there's an outbreak that can't be controlled locally...whereas here in Hubei Province, EVERYONE from across the country came here, built two new hospitals completely from scratch to isolate ONLY those with serious/critical/ICU needs like respirators, etc. Everyone that was "cured" and went home....they didn't even go home right away, they went into quarantine for two more weeks away from their family. And then many who couldn't originally be accepted at hospitals, were reported by neighbors, tried to get medicine from the local pharmacies, they ALSO were put in these quarantine centers (hotels, sports stadiums, convention centers) to isolate them away from the general population.

A pastor at a church in VA that held a service defying the local ban a couple of weeks ago just died of the virus. Wonder what will happen in WI after the election last week, and all that closeness. Trumps candidate lost anyway.

I can’t believe any mentally stable human was capable of voting him for POTUS. I don’t care what your political party is. I don’t care how bad of a candidate Hilary was (and yes she sucked). Trump is a selfish unethical incompetent douche bully manipulator. Him being POTUS is an abomination to the free world and we’re finally paying the price for it now.

It looks like we have actually flattened the curve nationally. Our peak new cases number is 9 days ago.

I do not know what the answer to this is, because by the time you've recognized that one person had it, they've been exposed to the ball or their teammates and the opposition for several days, any of which could have become a transmission pathway. But, if the league has a solution to that which the Players Association agrees to (Thank god they're unionized), then they could make this work. If they can't overcome that issue, then there's no sports until there's a vaccine.

A 30% chance at the playoffs? Nice.

I wrote about this realignment for today if anyone is interested: https://southsidehitpen.com/2020/04/12/possible-2020-realignment-how-it-affects-the-white-sox/

There are logistical issues for sure. The bottom line here in my opinion is this: players want to play and players want to get paid. They aren't getting paid unless there's baseball this year. Because of those two things, there will be baseball this year.

I just saw this. How awful. My sincere condolences. I was at the park a few years ago with my dog and he and a mastiff started sniffing each other. My guy is a cavalier King Charles. Next thing I know, the mastiff has my dogs head in his mouth. I dove and was trying to pry his mouth open. Finally he let go. His owner said he was only playing. I wanted to punch him and have his dog put down. But I will never go to a park with my dog with other dogs present again. The weird thing is the mastiff was black. Now my dog barks at every black dog he sees. It could be a tiny little thing. I tell him he’s prejudice. But I am sure he was traumatized.

God damn, that's awful Josh. And as the owner of the Mastiff, how can they even look you in the eye after that? I took my parent's Brittany to meet Santa last Xmas when my fiance worked at a vet clinic and when another dog passed by, my parent's dog lunged at the dog and nipped it's fur on it's back leg. The dog got scared and the owner just started lasers through me as she walked away. I was mortified and felt so embarrassed that she did that. I can't even fucking imagine if my dog ever did serious harm or especially killed someone else's pet. That's so sad to hear, especially when the owner is lazy and often lets it happen. UGH

My family lost our little Pomeranian Misty today. Had her for three years now. My older sister was taking the dogs out for a walk and a local dog, a mastiff who’s always loose and never on a leash, attacked her and the Pomeranians. She was able to save the boy but not Misty. Very much in shock. Here’s my favorite picture of her.

I like the seven inning double header idea.