NorthSideSox72

There's been a lot of discussion on social media the last few days, about Tim Anderson becoming the team's starting shortstop in 2016 on Opening Day. Not as much here, where there are some very knowledgeable posters, but in some cases it's been said. Here's the quick docket of reasons why he's not ready. Feel free to send this to any of your friends who might be suggesting it.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 11, 2015 -> 07:59 AM) He demanded the president acknowledge his privilege. Do you think you don't have privilege by having that kind of money? He should acknowledge it himself then. Ah, OK, I hadn't seen that specific quote.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 11, 2015 -> 07:23 AM) Since it came out this am that Butler's family is unfathomably rich, do you think he'll write a handwritten letter acknowledging his privilege? Maybe I'm missing some underlying story here but... what difference does it make that Butler's family is rich?

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Nov 11, 2015 -> 04:43 AM) I may vote republican for the first time in my life simply based on all the candidates being against the ridiculous min wage hikes that have brought up around the country. This would only be true if trump isn't the republican candidate as I'd rather not vote at all over support someone like him.... You mean the suggestions to raise the minimum wage to what it was 20 or 30 years ago, after inflation? I don't think a big raise all at once is a good idea, but I do think it should be higher nationally. And probably more importantly, you do that ONCE, and attach an annual market basket adjustment to it so that you don't have to have this discussion again.

Get to know Greg Sparks, from when we reported on him last week.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 03:31 PM) This is quite literally the worst assortment of primary candidates that I have seen in the entire time I have been voting. I can't point to a single candidate I would be happy to vote for. Everything about a Clinton Presidency I don't want to see again. The lack of a firm conviction on any issue and the lack of trust with the candidate are at the top of the list. I can sit here and pick out individual issues, but as soon as polls shift, so will Clinton. We saw it during his Presidency, her time in the Senate and even as a candidate. The sad thing is that would still almost be better than a Trump or Carson Presidency. Flat out I am just reviled at the candidates this time around, but then again, since we have been reduced to meme's for politics, we get memes for leaders. It is not unexpected at all. I agree. I do like O'Malley, but I don't think he has a real chance. And even he's not great. Kasich I could potentially vote for too.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 02:46 PM) Nice post. I'll tell you one thing. It makes me really sad a person has to go through this kind of stuff in college of all places. Some people are really raised to be pigs/assholes. It does make Mizzou seem to be a true hellhole. Kim English's comments are scary bad as well. Very sad as I mistakenly though this kind of s*** was very rare. I know growing up on the southside there were a ton of racists. When I went to Brother Rice there were a few black athletes and I know the white guys respected them. Never heard any slurs. In college I can honestly say I never heard a racial slur in four years in my fraternity and never heard of any problems on campus. Of course no blacks were in my frat and none went through rush. Literally none. MU must really have some pricks running around that campus. If its just a handful of people they are really giving their college and city a very bad name. The Greek system at most schools, especially big state schools, is usually segregated anyway. There's a Greek system, and a Black Greek system. It's pretty arcane, but it has always been that way.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) Carson also has a weird tale of a time when he wanted to fire a woman who worked in his department, but he didn't have the courage to do it. Fine, no big deal, very few people take joy in firing someone and it can be a difficult situation to face. But as he recounts it, he thanked God because one day she just disappeared and he never heard from her again, taking the burden off of his shoulders. No sign of concern for her well-being, just glad she's not his problem anymore. It's like the story he told about the alleged hold-up at a fast food restaurant after the Oregon shooting. He claims that he was standing in line when someone came in the rob the place, and the guy pointed the gun at him. Brave Ben Carson redirected the robber to the cashier. Who thinks these stories are personally flattering? They make him look like a sociopath, but he's apparently proud of them. I agree that those two stories are more significant, to me, than the West Point one for example. Honestly, I am starting to think he may not just be arrogant. He may be sociopathic. Then again, I remember reading a paper in college that came to the conclusion that most Presidents' egos were so large that they were all borderline sociopaths anyway.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 11:01 AM) So you do not believe a black kid,from Detroit, who was the leader of the ROTC at his school, if he wanted to, would have gotten in to WEST POINT? Really? Irrelevant. Carson lied. You can think it is no big deal - I get that, and ultimately it probably isn't. But he did what he did. He said something patently false. Could be he remembered wrong. More likely it is just that he's got a monstrous ego (like most of these people) that naturally inflates all his accomplishments.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) How is Nieto a free agent? He's on the 40 and has options left. Because he qualifies for minor league free agency. They'd have to re-sign him to keep him on the 40, like they did with Zach Phillips. And options are irrelevant to FA status.

Baseball America posted the full list of Minor League Free Agents. This does not include the players the team has already re-signed. Here is the link, and here is the White Sox list... RHP: Tim Crabbe (AA), Jesse Crain (AAA), Kyle Drabek (AAA), Raul Fernandez (AA), Arcenio Leon (AAA), Brad Penny (AAA) C: Adrian Nieto (AA), Dallas Tarleton (AA) 1B: Chris Jacobs (AA), Neftali Soto (AAA) 2B: Drew Garcia (AAA), Michael Johnson (AA), Tony Thomas (AA) 3B: Chris Curley (AAA) SS: Justin Sellers (AAA) OF: Tyler Colvin (AAA), Christian Marrero (AA), Matt Tuiasosopo (AAA), Dayan Viciedo (AAA) The only name there that I'd like to see them re-sign for sure is Adrian Nieto. Secondarily, Raul Fernandez and Christian Marrero are not bad guys to have around. The rest are, to me, completely replaceable. Not going to comment on Viciedo.

First test of MLB's new domestic violence policy.

I believe Tommy's younger brother died very young as well. Just awful.

We have another player-written guest post up, part of our series. This one is written by catcher Jeremy Dowdy, who has been all over the system in the past few years. He writes about the relationship between catchers and pitchers. Dowdy, having handled nearly every arm in the system at some point, plays a key role akin to coaching, in developing the organization's pitchers. Also, as it turns out, he's a darn good writer. It's worth the read.

1408 - John Cusack horror flick. Sox hat plays a role.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 12:38 PM) Sanchez probably is, Saladino probably isn't. Maybe marginally both, but really the team won't be starting both. Maybe not either. Micah is still very much in the mix at 2nd too. Leury's are a dime a dozen. If there's space for him, fine. If they need it, he should be first to go. No reason to keep your third best utility infielder protected if it means leaving an actual prospect exposed, or losing a chance at a more valuable player.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 11:26 AM) Ben Carson fabricated a story about getting accepted to West Point. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-...st-point-215598 Predictably, that looney bin is starting to be exposed for just how absurd it is that he's even a candidate. Trump wave is already past crest, and Carson has crested. Both too early. Which works well, so that maybe the GOP will have a nominee that isn't a complete joke.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 11:05 AM) There have been enough of these in the drone era that you'd really hope there was a lot of reevaluation of what the circumstances need to be for these types of attacks. Unfortunately we will not know if that's the case because there is not that transparency. But, the loss of innocent lives in hospitals/schools/weddings is really piling up (intended), and there needs to be a discussion on whether that is justifiable. Agreed. And at a higher level, really, it should just remind people why the country needs to be much less quick to jump to military action.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:35 AM) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States...ssy_in_Belgrade http://www.thenation.com/article/us-has-bo...g-parties-2001/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deh_Bala_wedd...party_airstrike http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...han-school.html And again, those were (except maybe some wedding parties involving a lot of bad guys) accidental. Therefore, not targeting. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:35 AM) It's hypocritical in that the US will criticize unfriendly country X for doing something friendly countries or the US itself does routinely. Like I said though, every single nation on earth does this. Actually, the US doesn't do that. They get angry when it is done intentionally to be sure. But again, you keep conflating hitting with targeting. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:35 AM) It's an argument for why those who pushed for some of these disastrous wars should be rotting in prison or, at the very least, never taken seriously again instead of continuing to hold influential positions, regular media appearances and be key members of Republican foreign policy teams. http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/10/08/...spitals-bombed/ It's an argument for why wars are bad. Stretching to war crimes is a different matter.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:31 AM) To lean heavily on terrible cliches, it's not connected to the "mainstreet" economy these days. The stock market was doing fantastically well and corporations were making record profits for years while employment was still high, and even with employment rates greatly improved, wages are still pretty stagnant and wealth is even more unequal these days. A robust financial market doesn't necessarily translate into economic improvements for most people. Bolded is certainly true, yes. Just saying that the market as a whole is not fully disconnected from the economy, or anything close to that. In some senses, some of the movement is more trading for trading-caused, that is true too.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 09:25 AM) We've targeted schools, embassies and weddings, but not hospitals! If Assad had bombed a civilian hospital in Syria, the US would rightly be criticizing him for it. Absurd hypocrisy in foreign policy is standard for every single country on the planet, though. I don't think so. Anyway, there is nothing hypocritical on this whatsoever. What it is - and this is the valid argument you could make - is an example that when you go to war, you risk doing exactly this sort of thing accidentally. QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) ‘Look for Hospitals as Targets’ “The bigger the hospital, the better it was,” he said. Stevenson said he believed the hospitals were rated highly as potential targets, not because American commanders wanted to attack wounded enemy troops, but because hospital complexes were often protected by company- or battalion-sized troop units…. Probably just an accident. Only bad countries do this. Vietnam 40 years ago??? Come on. I wasn't saying EVER, that should have been clear. I meant the military is not now in any way doing that, and you know it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:20 AM) Stock market isn't really connected to the real economy these days. It is, but in a much more complex way.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 09:50 AM) All of those guys have some use. Smith, fwiw, is our most advanced catching prospect. WEbb has had a lot of time in the majors, and he's done well at times, albeit inconsistently. And Leury certainly can be an effective utility player; he hit a little better last year as well. The Sox spent $8 million or so on 2 utility stiffs. They are going to need one of these types. They have three - Saladino, Sanchez and Leury. With Leury being far and away the weakest of the bunch in overall value. His hitting is atrocious on a special level, and frankly his defense isn't that great either. He's got more speed than either of the others, but has no other advantages. No reason to keep him.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) The U.S. has apologized for the attack, saying it was a “mistake.” Oh, it was just an accident. Any other country does this and it's consider a war crime. We do it and it's just an accident. Oops. Also, not the first time we have targeted hospitals with bombs. First line is true. Other two lines are unfounded in reality.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Nov 5, 2015 -> 07:49 PM) Engel 2-4 with a 2B. Wondering what has caused this offensive outburst. QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Nov 5, 2015 -> 10:09 PM) Maybe he's just learning to use that gigantic insanely athletic body. He's been this good before, in short bursts. He was tweaking his plate approach multiple times this year, with the help of Charlie Poe.