Balta1701

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 01:00 PM) I actually think if he plays roughly the same as last year, he would be cemented as a top 10-15 guy. I think if he takes another step forward, you are talking potential top 5-7 guy. Butler's game might not be sexy but he is a beast in the paint, a beast in transition, and a heck of a defender. People, first need to see that it isn't actually a fluke. And I do agree with you that it is a tough step to take, that said, their were times last year where I looked at Butler and what he did and thought to myself, and just said wow, this guy is an old school 2 that can play and is just mean down low. The key to him is going to be continued improvement in his shot and his aggressiveness. If he does that, he'll be even beastlier with his back to the basket. In terms of becoming a "mega star" which is what your original point addressed, top-15 guys are known throughout basketball but I don't feel like they're always well known everywhere else, especiaially if a key part of what makes them a mega-star is not the spectacular offensive plays. If he takes another step forwards as you outline here, then yeah, even endorsements & stuff will come his way.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 01:12 PM) Remember too, post-TJ, he missed some time in ST and again early this season and was getting his strength back. He's been hitting lately though. Last month worth of games: .289/.364/.458. Last 10 games: .316/.356/.526. Let's hope these numbers translate slightly better than Sanchez's.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 12:44 PM) http://www.nba.com/bulls/?ls=iref:nba:gnav Look at the interview w/Swirsky. I don't get how Butler doesn't become a mega star (from a pure marketing perspective). If this guy can take another step forward basketball wise, their is no way he doesn't start getting mega pub and mega deals. He also just seems like a total leader. My answer to why Butler might not become a mega-star is that the bolded is really tough from here. Legit all star last year, if he takes another step forward we're talking about an all-star starter, one of the top 10 players in the league. That's a tough step to take.

Just so its said in this thread, this is the corresponding move to Carroll being sent to Charlotte yesterday.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) See my response to Kalapse post. We are both clearly on the same page here and when I look at that list, I come to the conclusion that it kind of doesn't matter. I was going through posts in chronological order and hadn't gotten to yours yet

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 10:25 AM) Stone said the other day Avi was 5th in the AL in velocity coming off his bat. As down as some people are on him, there is potential there. If he gets balls in the air, he could be a monster. I heard that, problem is I don't know what that means. How does "off the bat velocity" translate to production? He's got that inside out swing to take the ball to RF, does that lead to a higher off-the-bat velocity?

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 12:08 PM) Rodon just needs to keep everything in the zone. The only reason he fails is because he's pitching from down in the count. He just needs to get ahead of hitters and he'll be fine. If he throws strikes early in at-bats he will destroy them.

@CST_soxvan Saladino playing third, batting second.

@CST_soxvan White Sox recall IF Tyler Saladino.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 08:30 PM) Contradiction? I don't believe Micah is anywhere as bad defensively as we saw earlier this year. I know the cool thing to do on this site is state he "was on a pace for a historically bad defensive season" despite the fact it was an incredibly small sample (therefore not enough to be predictive) and was a rookie playing on a team with expectations of competing for a playoff spot. I don't think it's much of a reach to believe the guy may have been pressing a bit in the field. Furthermore, I'm not sure why guys like Sanchez are given an adjustment period with the bat, but Micah isn't afforded one with the glove. Kottaras on the other hand has been a league average hitter in the majors who happens to play one of the weakest positions in baseball. The fact he is rotting in AAA (for a parent club with catching issues) and not even a backup for a major league club suggests he must be terrible defensively. Despite that, I said he was still worth a look, I'm just not optimistic. But obviously I'm not surprised this post came from you. Only the most recent history for a player matters and clearly Micah will be a disaster defensively for the rest of his career because of his first six weeks in the majors. Couple points - for one, I'll say Micah was bad but you will not find me saying he was "historically" bad anywhere. I agree with you on the sample size issue there. Second, I don't expect Micah to step in and be all that great with the bat. Yes an upgrade over Sanchez, but he was still a pretty easily exposed hitter in his stint up here and I expect struggles are the norm with guys who come up from Charlotte. Therefore I think the upgrade in the bat is easily offset by the downgrade with defense since I'm not projecting him to do what he's doing at charlotte for a while. That therefore is why I made that point - because you can't assume Micah's going to come up and hit .300 in the big leagues just because he is hitting better in Charlotte now. Third...some whispers we heard a week or two ago suggested that the reason why Micah was not afforded an adjustment period with the glove is that the pitching staff, possibly Samardzija specifically, were becoming particularly frustrated with him and that was the #1 reason why the defense improving swap was made. If the pitching staff is standing strongly behind Sanchez...at the very least that will buy him extra time. And finally, thanks for the cheap shot.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 07:57 PM) Who starts at short, Gordo or Alexi? Depends on how healthy Alexei feels tomorrow.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 07:43 PM) I 100% believe Micah will be called up soon amd effectively plug our 2B hole. I'm very skeptical that our options at other positions will be enough of upgrades (if at all) to make a difference. I simply don't believe in Davidson, feel that guys like Thompson & Saladino will have a rough learning curve, & that Kottaras is more likely to offset any offensive gains with his defensive shortcomings (still worth like a look IMO). Just to note the contradiction - Kottaras's defensive shortcomings are likely to offset his offensive gains but that's not considered for Micah.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 07:09 PM) So hypothetically you emphasize with a particular person when having a conversation, oh I'm sorry, I understand I had a leg up and am compassionate for your situation and what you've worked through? How does that really help the impacted person? Does it make them feel better, does it erase past inequalities, does it do anything different? I suppose maybe the person at least feels they were acknowledged for their success and what they did to accomplish whatever it was they accomplished? I could tell you that if I told that to my father in-law, he'd be irate if I made that sort of comment (and he was one of the last flights out of Vietnam and lived on a marine base until eventually making it on his own (came over with nothing, not knowing if his family survived, made it over, etc, and then had to find ways to get other members of his family over, etc). All that said, he's incredibly proud of what he has been able to accomplish and what he was able to accomplish for his family and his children (one of which is obviously my wife) and would never want to hear about how he could have done so much more if he hadn't been born in a poor country and then had to deal with war, etc. If you pause and recognize such things...a valid question is the one Alpha just asked, what next? You can look at that at both a personal level and a societal one. The simple one at a societal level I can keep using is the drug punishment one. African Americans and Whites in surveys say they use marijuana at similar rates, yet African Americans are arrested at rates 3-4 times as much as white people for the exact same crime. That's why I highlighted the case above - because white people are able to get away with a crime that black people are regularly jailed for. Recognizing personal behavior, whether in business or life, is another one. I had a friend/colleague who received negative comments from his employer because his teeth were too bad - he grew up in Kenya and had never had braces. I'm sure the employer never felt he was being "racist" at the time, he was just providing advice from the experience he has about people with bad teeth, but that's exactly what it was and my colleague recognized it immediately. Comment because a person hadn't bothered to think about different backgrounds and his own privilege turned that into a hostile work environment. How do you think that person would act if another person with those teeth came into that office for an interview? Clearly would count it as a negative regardless of actual qualifications. Do we ask what other judgments we make based on personal appearances? Or based on the sound of people's names? (that's a classic experiment in resumes btw, giving people similarly qualified resumes except with names common to different ethnic groups).

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 07:07 PM) Which accomplishes what? You can't figure out ways to eliminate problems, whether it's systematic and governmental or just in a person's own behavior, without recognizing what fits into those problems. Whether its judging someone because you're personally not used to behavior that's normal for them or society doing something like the completely different drug enforcement rates between different races.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 06:57 PM) Everything you said is fair and I agree with most of it. The issue I have is that I feel like every white person is being painted with the same broad brush (which is pretty ironic all things considered) I grew up in a pretty broken home and got nothing from my parents or family and still dont talk to members of my intermediate family. Thats why I find it offensive that its ok for people to just assume anything I have or have earned is partially because Im white. Ive been broke, harassed by police, unemployed and had to fight every day to keep my head above water and now Im constantly being told I need to check my privilege and I get to hear about all these great advantages Ive had. The problem with white privilege is that it does not mean you or your family haven't worked hard to get where you are. Saying that it exists and asking people to acknowledge how it effects people willing to work equally hard from the same situations is part of the point of highlighting it.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 06:37 PM) Is that because he is playing out of position? The White Sox never believed in him as a SS and even when Saladino went down with an injury at AAA last year they didn't play Semien there as an everyday player. The Sox treated him as a utility player throughout his time in the minors, so he never really got to work on "be the best SS you can be". The White Sox may well have been correct in that assessment and Semien may simply not have the physical tools to be an adequate SS, the A's might give up and move him somewhere else in a year or two. OTOH, the A's also seem to believe he can handle that position, so they clearly seem to feel he can improve there given time. Basically, if Semien would never be able to be a good SS, he'd be struggling there this much, and if Semien needed practice to not be a terrible SS, he'd be struggling there this much.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 06:21 PM) Who the hell cares about what happened to his grandpa back in the 20's or 30's or whenever the hell it was. I am beyond flabbergasted. Do you live your life thinking about where you'd be if x and y didn't happen to your grandparents or your parents or just pass up on opportunities that opened up because somewhere somehow their probably is someone more deserving or someone who had to go through "more" to get there? Do you just live your live dreaming about if only x, y and z happened to my great grand parents and then my parents, etc and then I'd have been something or do you deal with what you were dealt and do the best to make the best of it (through hard work, dedication, etc). Per the story, he actually committed a crime, received no punishment for it, and then was able to build a life. Real simple question. Is that fair? Do we afford that same chance to people equally today? Or ever? If we do not, should we take that into account? If his family was able to make their lives better, shouldn't we give that same opportunity to others? We as a society are arresting and imprisoning millions of people for a comparable crime in marijuana possession right now and those people are overwhelmingly african american males. Basically the exact thing his family was able to sneak around the law to survive without substantial jail time. I literally couldn't imagine a better example than this if I tried.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 04:54 PM) Also, the Cubs looooove to strike out. I'm kinda excited to see how Sale does. 2nd most K's in the league for them, team with the most is Houston and their poor approaches led to them scoring 10 runs against the Sox in 6 games. Good matchup for Rodon too.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 06:12 PM) Saturday is the battle between the pitcher that can't hold anyone on and the team that can't steal successfully. With that said, I don't like Lester's chances of getting a hit off of Sale.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 05:43 PM) Privileged that he outran the law across the border? If he were to do that today, it wouldn't have worked, he would be in jail, with a felony no doubt. Or is it your contention that if he were a black moonshiner that the law would have worked extra hard to get him? This was like 1920 or so? With prohibition, I don't think they worried about color. There was no opportunity 'granted' my family. My father earned his. I earned mine. From your response it seems you equate success with privilege. Is any success earned in your eyes? And you still haven't said you would quit your job and give it to a more deserving and qualified minority. lead the way! Bolded = what we do to African Americans. This is why white privilege is a hell of a drug. You outline something that has jailed literally a million people today, dominantly one race, and then you insist he earned that freedom. The ungodly prison population in this country...well sorry, they shoulda known better than to commit the crimes that your ancestor got away with while earning his success. Tough luck.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 05:32 PM) Hawk asked if they still thought they could get back into it and he talked about how the staff is doing its thing finally after a rough opening to the season. Then said that they're winning only scoring 2-3 runs a game, when they start scoring 5-6 they'll win a lot of games. Just the way he complimented the staff and then put the onus on the offense to complete the deal seemed a little bit of a call-out, to me. And multiple times today he repeated things about "catching the ball" and the phrase "mental mistakes" appeared somewhere in there as well.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 05:24 PM) Do I need to feel guilty that my grandfather was a moonshiner in the Kentucky hills that only came to Illinois to evade arrest? And how many African Americans are currently serving long jail terms in this country for drug crimes comparable to that which your family was privileged enough to be able to avoid? What will you do or support to give them the same opportunity granted to your family?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 05:24 PM) Do I need to feel guilty that my grandfather was a moonshiner in the Kentucky hills that only came to Illinois to evade arrest? And how many African Americans are currently serving long jail terms in this country for drug crimes comparable to that which your family was privileged enough to be able to avoid? What will you do or support to give them the same opportunity granted to your family?

The problem with white privilege is that it does not mean you or your family haven't worked hard to get where you are. Saying that it exists and asking people to acknowledge how it has given them a leg up against people willing to work equally hard is part of the point of highlighting it.