NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 08:59 AM) I know I drank a lot last night, but apparently I blacked out for the entire first half of the season? Are the Sox in first place? D'OH! At least I got it right on the article, haha. Topic title fixed.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 08:58 AM) So who's left for the top 15? Rodon, Anderson, Danish, Michalczewski, Beck, May, Adolfo, Rondon, Micah Johnson, Hawkins. That's 10 in no particular order. Coats, Richmond, Peter, Fry...who am I missing? Are Wendelken and Basto still on the radar? This will be fun to watch people guess on. I can tell you that one of the six "other" names you listed there is in the top 15, and none of the rest made the T30 at all (though some just missed).

List is up, link in pinned thread in PHT.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 08:46 AM) Only way I can imagine is if you use the same credit card to buy the hot dogs as you did for the tickets. They've also been pushing the idea of people putting money on their tickets for food, and using the ticket like a credit card. That would provide tracking.

I'm curious how people react to the list. When we did our voting and discussion, we felt the very top (top 6-7 or so) was strong, the next group (say 8-20-ish) was relatively weak, but the back end (20+) was very strong, all relative to a typical straight-line. Any feedback? QUOTE (LDF @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 08:41 AM) as usual a great write up.... i will not say anything else, b/c i am sure many more will say better things than i can. a little tidbit. wow, some really surprises there. What surprised you?

It's prospect rankings time! Our twice-annual prospect rankings are coming out this week. We release in two phases. Here is part one - prospects ranked 16-30, with capsules. We'll do the 1-15 capsules and full list (including just-missed players) on Thursday.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 26, 2015 -> 06:14 PM) If the voters sleep on someone like Bassitt again like they did last time, I am calling for a re-election of the committee Haha, I tend to agree, I think we underrated Chris a few times. QUOTE (scs787 @ Jan 26, 2015 -> 08:11 PM) I'm most interested to see if Eddy Alvarez gets any love. You'll find out in an hour or two. QUOTE (LDF @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 06:15 AM) ok.... today is tuesday.... where is this list... i am dieing here. And so will you.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 26, 2015 -> 04:32 PM) Rodon #1 You joke, but Baseball Prospectus had him at 2, with Anderson at 1.

Banning shifting is impractical and idiotic. That's all I have to add.

Should also help that the red line won't be closed down for a big chunk of the season this year. And, barring a drastic change, averages say we should have a warmer spring than last year's chill.

It's rankings week at FutureSox! Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are going to publish prospects 16 through 30 with capsules... then Thursday the full list including capsules for 1-15, the 16-30 list, and a list of players who just missed. There will be a pinned PHT thread for it tomorrow. Meanwhile... any predictions?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 26, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) Who you work with is HUGE in terms of having a good time at work, wherever that may be. I don't care if you are one of those "ohhhhh, I just looooveeee my job" type of people, if those you work with are a bunch of asshats, that love won't last. I don't hate my job...but I wouldn't call it a love fest, either. There are a LOT of things I love more than being at work, such as my family, friends, road trips, good restaurants, a vodka martini, fishing, etc...I'd rather be doing those things than working. But work isn't bad...I don't hate being here, either...but I do it because I'm pretty good at it and I get paid...not because I love it. Exactly. I want to be working with people I like, doing work that is at least not bad, making as much money as possible, to get myself to the point financially where I COULD retire (but won't, exactly) as quickly as possible.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 24, 2015 -> 07:37 PM) Not sure if you are looking at the right guy, Beltre spent all of 2013 in Triple A and made it to the bigs in September. He was hurt most of last season and spent 1 game in Double A for rehab. His offensive output is respectable for a defense and speed guy 3 out of the past 4 seasons leading up to the injury. I don't think he'd do any worse than what we originally expected out of Danks, and he certainly carries more upside with him. He's spent a few years in the minors just not providing much offensive value, and he's coming back from an injury. He's 25 and has a little over a hundred games at AAA. He did get a cup of coffee in 2013. Looking at his background, he's definitely a guy worth taking a flier on for the minors. But from everything I've read, I have more confidence in Michael Taylor, JB Shuck, and perhaps even Trayce Thompson for a role in Chicago this year.

Final Sox Fest post from Brian - Three Big Takeaways from Sox Fest. Some nice insight in there.

Brian got interviews with Carlos Rodon and Micah Johnson. Again, please don't focus on the A/V quality as the room was tough for that. It's hard to hear Micah in places, but that happens. Here they are.

The official FS T30 (we decided to go 30 instead of 25 this year) comes out around Tuesday, FYI.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 24, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) Sox signed Engel Beltre, the once highly touted 5 tool prospect out of Dominican Republic. Could see him competing with Shuck for the 4th outfielder spot. Not unless there are major injuries. He was at AA last year, and this is just a minor league depth move.

Here's the first FutureSox content - coverage of the media-only press conference with Hahn. Interviews with Hahn, Rodon and Micah coming soon.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 03:55 PM) Matt / Jenks (and anyone else), I'll try to break down my understanding of the two based upon a hypothetical scenario. I'm not in all the details of this as I haven't yet had to do a tax return based upon all these, but I'll outline it as I understand it and how you can get the general benefits. Clearly there are nuances depending on your individual income levels but I'm going to use a hypothetical scenario of a married couple filing jointly with a household income of $75K. Income = 75K Children = 1 Eligible Child Care Expenses = 12,000 Tax Rate = 25% Dependent FSA: Contributed maximum of $5,000 and you used these accounts to pay for 5000 of your 12,000 in expenses. On this $5K, this money was taken off the top (similar to an IRA) and you did not pay federal income taxes on it nor did you pay social security tax or medicare taxes. That represents a 7.65% savings plus your effective tax rate of 25%, thus you have ultimately saved 32.65% (or $1632.50). Now because you have spent more than just 5,000, but have an income of $75K, you are entitled to a 20% deduction of your remaining medical expenses (capped at $3K in expenses; because you have 1 child). This means that now your child care expenses from 5,001 - 8,000 will be eligible for a 20% tax deduction / benefit, which equates to $600 in savings. The remaining 4,000 in child care expenses will be fully based upon after tax income. Total tax savings using the two programs = 2432.50 (on 8,000). If you had a 2nd child, than you would essentially be eligible for an additional $600's (meaning only 1,000 in child care expenses would be fully based upon after tax income as you would apply this portion of the benefit to 8,001 - 11,000 in day care spent). QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) Well hell, I didn't realize you could do both. I f***ing hate our tax system. So needlessly complicated. I think i've pissed away about 600 bucks the last two years not doing this. It really is. You should get on that FSA right quick though.

So far we have exclusive interviews done with Rick Hahn, Carlos Rodon and Micah Johnson. Not bad. Will be up on the blog later.

Our guy in the media session just got 5 minutes to himself to interview Hahn. Will be posted to the blog later.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 03:02 PM) If they're looking for a defensive infielder who can hit LHP, I wonder if Gordon Beckham is a possibility? I think Saladino is their current plan, with hopes to upgrade if an opportunity presents itself. Just my guess.

FutureSox has a writer there live at the presser, and are tweeting some updates @FutureSox. FYI, give us a follow. More content coming throughout the weekend there, on our FB, and of course the blog.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) That's actually not a surefire thing: "There were some GOP victories in Governor’s races, but in each case there were no coat tails. None of these candidates ran on social issues, Obama, or opposition to the ACA. Look at Rauner who took out Quinn in Illinois, but Democrats in Illinois retained their supermajority in the State Assembly having not lost a single seat." that's from the same article I listed above. Anomalies happen, and sometimes elections actually ARE based on the specific candidate. Underlying numbers in IL look fine still long-term. It wasn't really an anomoly, as I pointed out, it had a direct causal factor. But it was very state-specific.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 02:31 PM) When a Republican can win a major election in IL, you know the party is losing peoples attention. I think in that specific case, it was very much an Illinois thing. I voted for Rauner, not because I like him, but because Illinois is unusual in that it has one HUGE issue that dwarfs all others (the debt problem). And frankly, a GOP governor means more chance something real is done about it. THings that I trend left on, like some social issues and the environment, either don't come up much at the state level or simply won't change in Illinois anyway, so I don't care as much on those for that office.