NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Dec 4, 2015 -> 08:09 AM) Can you explain what puts you at risk for the minor league phase of the Rule 5? Thanks in advance. So, for the MAJOR league phase, it's guys not on the 40-man who are at either the 4th or 5th Rule 5 since signing, depending on age at signing (5 if 18 and younger, 4 if 19 and older). Then for the MINOR league phase, the team can further protect guys on their "reserve" list, which is beyond the 40-man rosters. The reserve lists are not published so I'm not so clear on who is really, typically on them, but it isn't everyone in the minors. Eligible guys get picked all the time in the minor league phases.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 06:34 PM) So who do we have unprotected that we arguably should protect. Is Robinson Leyer really available? Sox value Carroll over him????? We will have a Rule 5 preview up on Monday, covering this. Yes RLeyer is available, no they don't value Carroll over him, but protection is not just about prospect status. The risk of Leyer being picked is incredibly low, because he has one very good pitch (a fastball that moves and runs 94-97), and NOTHING else. His breaking pitches don't break much, and he can't locate them. Carroll is a higher claim risk than Leyer.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 03:51 PM) It does work like that...but you're also twisting my words a bit here. The CPD doesn't "keep said evidence", since most of it has to get sent off to independent labs for analysis...the CPD aren't scientists. They don't perform ballistics, or bloodwork, etc...all of which is evidence given to a 3rd party. There is a lot of separation of duty throughout the government for this very reason. This runs counter to my experiences (in another state admittedly) as well. We had an evidence room, with a tagging system, regular cleanouts, access controls, etc. We only sent evidence out the door if it needed specific testing (which was only for a very small percentage of it) or for legally allowed destruction (which was done periodically).

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 01:55 PM) My guess is the Sox trade Micah Johnson and Onelki Garcia to Oakland for Brett Lawrie. I don't think Garcia has any real trade value. I mean he was left off the 40 and is exposed to the Rule 5. Would probably take something more like Micah Johnson (if they are even looking for a 2B), and Chris Beck or the like. I believe Lawrie is arb-eligible this year and next, so he's still relatively inexpensive for 2 years. Micah comes with big defensive and health questions.

.223 assault rifles, which if I recall means probably AR-15's, right?

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 05:54 PM) NDSU went on a big run when everyone thought Niang blew out his knee. The team is still learning to play under Prohm as well. The defense is already miles ahead of last year. Ken Pom efficiency ratings, while still early Offense last year: 11 This year: 15 Defense last year: 71 This year: 22 They've been rusty on offense at times, but the defense has come miles already. They lose the Colorado game last year. Thanks for that. I'm only following them here and there so I don't have much insight.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 03:20 PM) I was trying to come up with one earlier without stirring up a potential s***storm but I couldn't figure out a way and then I got sidetracked. Basically, while this... ...is true - what I think is and should be irrelevant to the Sox org - I don't think the point can be handwaved away so easily. I think the continued employment of Kenny Williams is at the heart of a lot of the loyalty complaints. Many people don't feel KW has justified his role as Reinsdorf's "trusted right-hand man" for so long. I agree with most of the piece, particularly that the exercise of trying to assign the org's moves between Hahn and KW is pointless at best. I tend to be in the camp with you that Kenny has caused some issues and probably needs to go. QUOTE (gatnom @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 04:07 PM) As always, I appreciate raBBit's insight into the organization. But, I think it paints a far too rosy picture of it. As shysocks points out, a lot of the problems this article mentions the Sox fixing are directly attributable to KW (and to a lesser extent Hahn). Any rational fan would see that they have been trying to fix their problems, but at the same time the reason we're losing games now is the direct result of their actions in previous years. It's hard to say exactly how much it was really worth keeping them both around. I guess what I'm trying to say is that accumulating all this human capital shouldn't be taken for granted as a positive. I understand you were mostly trying to dispel the myth that JR is cheap, but quite frankly I don't care how much he pays his executives if they can't put a good team on the field. To this point, they haven't. The article is definitely taking a specific view, to point out that SOME of the narrative is off. I don't think it is trying to make it seem like a rosy picture, as much as it happens to be a take on the aspects that run against the negative narrative. There is plenty of negative to be found, no doubt.

Wow, no comments on this? Kinda surprised.

Our own Brian Bilek wrote a thought-provoking piece about the White Sox front office, looking at where the current narratives do - and don't - fit with the realities. This one should spark some interesting discussion. What are your thoughts on this? It's a pretty long piece, but is worth reading in full. How accurate are the narratives?

Starting to get concerned that Iowa State is showing a similar pattern to last year, in that they start games against lower opponents too slowly, only to finally pull away late. That's a dangerous M.O. that will eventually bite them in the ass. It appears it wasn't a Hoiberg thing, but about these players. North Dakota State and Illinois went the same way, and VA Tech was similar but they had their run late in the 1st half. Maybe it's too early for that to be an issue, but I saw it a lot last year.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) You know, that's the first blog post/article I've read on this subject the last few years that's pretty level headed and reasonable. No "cops hate black people," no "cops are just evil killers," no pretending that cops don't have legit reasons to fire and fire quickly, etc. Just pointing out that cops keep inserting themselves into dangerous situations where shooting someone becomes the next seemingly reasonable step. I think that's the key, in many of these cases, where the police officer(s) escalates a situation unnecessarily, and then in the end they are (in some cases) forced to shoot.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 03:41 PM) I 100% believe Ray will be the pick if he's there I have a hard time believing anything anywhere close to 100% on the June draft when the 2016 spring seasons haven't even started.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 05:03 PM) No chance. City Hall knew about the murder and the tape the night it happened or the next day. I'm 100% convinced Rahm, McCarthey, Alvarez, et al. had a call or a meeting and discussed the best way to handle the whole situation given the election ramifications and obviously the PR ramifications. If the judge had never ordered the CPD to release the video, it never would have gotten out and chances of that cop getting charged are very low. 14 months to indict! 14! Some bulls*** "blame it on the Feds" excuse is just that, bulls***. Let's also not forget about the "secret" CPD interrogation building. What's been the status of THAT investigation? Lastly, if you really want to know how Rahm operates, remember that the reporter that busted this whole story open was BANNED FROM A PUBLIC PRESS CONFERENCE INVOLVING THE MAYOR. Banned from the room! Lack of all credibility and accountability? I'd say so. I'm sure Rahm knew about the shooting, and was presented with a suggested settlement later. And the fact that he wanted to go for that without a real investigation, or ignoring that investigation, is also bad. Don't misunderstand me. Also I wasn't saying Rahm did well here, at all.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 02:55 PM) I thought I liked Claypool and then I realized they are all a part of the same machine. The upcoming CPS strike will make or break him. Not at all. Claypool ran for County Board President, but the Stroger-Daley machine worked hard against him, at first to protect the younger Stroger. He also was ignored when it came to his brief Mayoral run. Claypool is not a machine guy, really. But he's a good leader, with strong business sense, and he was responsible for some pretty massive and effective changes with the Forest Preserve District, then CTA. CPS is his new challenge, and it is not a surprise they picked him for the crappiest job. He's better at making those work than others.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 02:47 PM) I don't know. When you ask what one of the worst things an administration can do, it's hard not to say help cover up a murder. I agree, it was quite terrible, though I would venture a guess that the cover-up work was almost entirely done out of sight of the Mayor. I do hold him accountable anyway though, through the lens of being a terrible manager, if that is the case.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 01:59 PM) I thought she would be a nice change but yep the county has not changed one bit under her. The county once again raised taxes. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/p...1109-story.html The tipping point for living in this city, in this county, in this state continues to grow near. Disagree strongly here. Chicago and Cook County are corrupt, but people don't seem to see what has and hasn't changed. Preckwinkle and Emmanuel have both done pretty good work getting their financial pictures in a better place. Oh, you say it looks bad? Well yeah, it was awful before, but has gotten better in some key areas. Emmanuel's handling of policing leaves a lot to be desired, and his work with CPS has been needlessly rocky. He's no angel for damn sure. But he was handed an absolute pile of financial poop, and he's done reasonably well with it, as opposed to Daley who drove the city to the cliff. Same with Preckwinkle, who has done a lot to fix the mess left by various Strogers. I'll get yelled at now, because people are upset with the status quo. And I agree that the current picture is ugly. But it is less ugly. I probably wouldn't vote for Rahm again, but it depends on who else runs. Preckwinkle is fine, I voted for her before and would again. They are both hamstrung in so many ways, it will take a long, long time to get the ship back in order. I'd love to see Claypool run for Mayor, by the way.

Thanks for the comments everyone, I appreciate it. QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 11:50 AM) Nice article, I enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on using things like pitchfx to metricize "stuff"? Have you seen anyone develop models that can be used to indicate how good someone's stuff is, and then calibrate the model against scout evaluations to see if there's agreement? I think getting PitchFX set up in minor league parks would be a nice tool to add, though I don't think it will ever fully replace in-person looks or other areas to look at. What I think it can do is, if you see a pitcher live once or twice, you can then look at PFX to make sure your sample wasn't aberrant in some way. And if you haven't seen them at all, it can add color to the picture. QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) Excellent article and insight. Self evaluation is one of the keys to learning in any situation. For the pitchers,it's learning how to throw good stuff while being biomechanically sound. Any one can throw a great slider if they drop down far enough. However, this will lead to elbow injuries. Can they throw a 94 mph fastball without overthrowing and making it straight? The first part will lead to injuries, the second will lead to it getting hit, as in your example in the article. This is why some pitchers are always injured or cannot come back after surgery. In order to be effective they need to do "unbiomechanically" sound things. Some pitchers can handle it, others cannot. This is part of the challenge from the injury/rehab perspective, how to smooth the mechanics without changing "the stuff." I think this is what happened to Johnson as discussed in another thread. He was fatigued from the previous year's load. He couldn't get the fastball velocity where he wanted it so he lengthened the arm swing to overthrow. This in turn caused mechanical issues and the ball to be more straight. So in an effort to improve "the stuff" he changed alot. As usual, great to add your views, ptatc.

Nothing big will change, no matter who runs that department, until you shred the current CPD union contract and start over. That is the source of many of the issues (though by no means all). It will take ugliness to get that done, but it is necessary at this point.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 09:49 AM) My bad. I thought the University of Illinois at Chicago was called UIC. It is. The student was a UIC student, but threatened UC's campus. Two (very) different schools.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 05:20 PM) well, i finally got done watching the movie Everest, wow, a very intense, for me, movie. great and i was disappointed it never appeared where i live. i am now catching up on most of the individual characters on wiki .... here is a link, i think this is the real people. http://www.videomoviles.com/0ui3sJpJFSM/tr...s-and-rob-hall/ edit ..... the real buck weathers. https://www.google.com/search?q=Beck+Weathe...bVr7zdOIKuNM%3A https://www.google.com/search?q=Beck+Weathe...bVr7zdOIKuNM%3A You should read the book: Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer. You'll get lots of character study in there. Excellent book.

We (the writers at Future Sox) are often asked some version of the question, "how do you evaluate prospects?". We have an FAQ page for that, but I thought I'd add some color to the picture by laying out how I came to it myself. I used the story of a pitching prospect early in my writing "career" with Future Sox to show how I came to realize that statistics, while sometimes indicative of useful information, can also sometimes lie. Here is the article. Hopefully this helps illustrate for people the limitation of stat scouting of prospects. I also wonder who here even remembers this particular pitcher.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 27, 2015 -> 01:43 PM) The terrorists don't give a flying f*** about 'global warming' or climate change and contrary to some liberal commentators, they are not created by the rising seas. Self important bastards trying to make themselves seem brave and noble. While I do think the fight against anthropogenic climate change is a worth one, and perhaps even noble, I have to agree with this post. Trying to line it up this way marketing-wise is yet another example of environmentalists shooting themselves in the foot.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 27, 2015 -> 11:16 PM) Good job Kim wherever you are. Much appreciated everyone who contributes to Future Sox . Kim doesn't post here on SoxTalk, but she joined Future Sox as a writer this year. She is our Arizona correspondant - she attends AZL, Instructs, AFL and Spring Training, giving us some in-person reports.

A little late to the game here, but as the news coverage we saw about the trade didn't delve into Almonte any more than citing a few stats... here is a write-up more focused on stuff for both players, particularly Almonte.

I've updated the Pinned thread here to not only link to our various channels, but also provide quick links to handy information, and list out our FS writers. Pretty much everything you'd need to find out about White Sox prospects is now in this thread - enjoy!