NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 12:07 PM) http://chicagoist.com/2015/04/17/leaked_ba..._dawn_of_ju.php Batman vs Superman trailer leaked Hopefully it's as awesome as it looks. Trailer looks pretty good. For what it's worth.

We've got a new podcast up! Give it a listen and let us know what you think. This one is a little less raucous than the last one (less booze was involved), and more structured. Curious to hear if people think that's a good or bad thing.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 09:22 PM) Robbins has a monster swing and I heard he had a powerful college career, hope he keeps it up, Alvarez was great in the field but a let down at the plate Good stuff, thanks!

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 03:52 PM) Officially starts tomorrow. Anyone want to make a guess on his first start this season? I'll take Sunday, April 26th at home vs. Royals. Problem is, the guy who makes the most sense to replace is Danks, and he's nearly untradeable.

In case anyone wants to keep up with him, he starts for Charlotte tonight. It will be on MiLB.tv. And of course we'll be discussing the game over in the FutureSox forum, recap it tomorrow AM on the blog, and keep up to date on the twitter.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 12:45 PM) Apparently, supervisors were told to falsify training records. http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage1/source...97b03c6c04.html Oops. Also the reporters here seem to have missed a huge key question, unless I missed it. Forget for a moment specific training courses - is the guy even state-certified as a law enforcement officer? Was he before, is he currently? Is he academy-trained?

QUOTE (Bruce_Blixton @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 01:24 PM) If only Danish was going today for BIR. That would be the perfect scenario. But Recchia is pretty darn good (he's one of "my" guys, I like his prospects more than other people do), I won't complain.

Found out why Aaron Bummer wasn't assigned. Had elbow surgery to remove bone spurs and floating bodies (NOT TJ). Asking him when he thinks he'll return, no response yet.

Article from Dan Hayes is worth the read.

Strong pitching slate. Prospects ranked 1, 4, 13, 28 all going.

Of course it is also still very early in the season. Hawkins, Michalczewski, May and a few others still have significant ceilings. And no I'm not quite ready to give up on Davidson yet, especially with some reports of his changed approach at the plate (and I don't mean fluff here, I mean he's driving the ball the other way in games), and multiple people talking about his D being much better. Trayce Thompson seems to be opening well too.

Daily recap here. It's so very early, but it sure does look like the system is trending heavily towards a lot of SP prospect depth (some guys aren't even in starting slots because of the crowd). And yeah, after Anderson, the lack of offensive talent in the org is pretty severely lacking. Trading guys like Semien and (to a lesser extent) Ravelo will tend to make that worse.

More sloppiness. Specific hitters or pitchers being cold isn't a concern to me this early, but the bad defense and bad decision-making are. And yeah, that's at least partially on the manager and coaches.

Dykstra through his first two starts: 13 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, and 27 ground-outs versus 2 fly-outs. That's quite impressive. I was surprised he wasn't in BHAM to start the season.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 10:03 AM) I can believe there's an uproar over the cop that ran over the criminal. The criminal that robbed a store, set a house on fire, invaded a home, stole a car, and shot his assault rifle in the air on a public sidewalk, heading towards his work (I think). The technique was perhaps not well thought out, but yeah, I have a lot less concern about that than I do pretty much all the other shootings we've been discussing here. This guy was clearly an imminent lethal threat to the public who'd been evading officers and was currently armed and firing a weapon.

W-S DH starts at 9:30 AM today our time. Wow.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 07:00 PM) I see Davidson has started where he left off last year. Not at all - this is where stats are dangerous in this small a sample size. He's been poking hits the other way the last few games, making loud contact, and I've seen multiple people talk about his improved defense. I'm actually a little encouraged, though it is early. QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 07:22 AM) How much longer before the Matt Lindstrom experiment ends? Same question with Brad Penny. Maybe a month or two would be my guess.

Kanny rained out, play DH tomorrow. So just two games tonight. Easy peasy for tonight's recap writer, haha.

Going to be doing a trip in late August that I've been thinking about for a long time - 3 days in the backcountry of Canyon de Chelly. CdC is unusual among National Parks in that it has people living on parts of it, and it is dual-controlled with the Navajo nation. As such, unlike any other park, you can't just go hiking in it (except a few small areas) on your own. You can only travel with a Navajo guide licensed through the park, which we are doing. While normally I prefer no guide (I've rarely used one, if ever), in this case not only do I have to, but it could be kind of cool as they are also interpereters. So they can tell you the back story on all the fascinating archaeological sites in the park. CdC is like Mesa Verde, except there are even more arch sites (because it was heavily used back then but also more recently), and far fewer people. Really psyched for this one. The guide thing makes it pricier, but thinking it will be worth it.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 10:31 AM) Quote that really caught my eye from the article: Just seems ridiculous. You would think some teams could easily buy 20 apartment units around the facilities for the players to stay in rent free. Sort of related, I am very interested to see how the litigation of minor league players alleging violation of minimum wage laws, etc. impacts minor league baseball. But it just seems patently unfair to ask guys to commit to baseball for a team, pay them peanuts, but also ask them to pay for housing and utilities. Actually in spring training the minor leaguers don't even make peanuts - they aren't paid for ST at all.

I'm somewhat with Balta on this. The sloppy play and bad decision-making are the biggest concerns to me, and those have to fall at least in part on the manager. It's still early in the season with a new group, but this is something that could become a concern.

So Yency Almonte is the 6th starter. Interesting.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) Which underscores how much we still need some impact bats. Feel pretty good on the pitching front. What new? Difference between pure hitter and impact bat. Guys like Anderson, Barnum, even Davidson fall into the latter category, but maybe only Anderson (if that) fits into the former. Peter is a pure hitter who could bring value, but his ceiling is very limited. You want some Jake Peters, but you want Anderson/Barnum types more, and in big numbers because of the flop rate.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 06:29 PM) This is really f***ed up. A 73 year old "reserve" officer who's really an insurance exec who donates money to campaigns for the police is put on the Violent Crimes task force and ends up shooting a killing an unarmed man. Police departments let wealthy donors play cop and give them deadly weapons. I'd have to look up the rules for Oklahoma, but in the states I know of, even a reserve officer needs to be academy trained and state certified - not sure if that was the case here. Also, why on earth do you have relatively inexperienced reserves even be part of dealing with a friggin gun bust? That is just stupid.

Turns out he is back, but starts the season in extended ST (technically on the Dash DL) getting rehabbed and stretched back out.