NorthSideSox72

Dan's write-up of the moves on FutureSox is here. I'm kinda surprised that Saladino got protected. He's recovering from TJ and won't be ready until March or April, and doesn't really have any standout tools. I just don't see how anyone would claim him.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 17, 2014 -> 12:57 PM) You call an ambulance, they pick you up, they take you to a hospital, normally one that is known to cater to uninsured people, you get to the ER, you get treated with everything you need and told to follow-up with your doctor. If you're medicare eligible, they bill medicare. If you're medicaid eligible, you go see the employee at the hospital that deals with medicaid and they set you up. If you're anyone else, they bill you and do a half-assed job trying to collect (if they do anything). Even if you're billed $5000, you can offer them $1500 and they'll probably take it. True except the part where they pick a hospital based on insurance. Paramedics don't ask for insurance cards - they treat and street, or pick up and go to the ER, and drop you off at the ER they are assigned to by a central triage dispatch (in a multi-hospital environment) or just the nearest one with the right level of trauma care available for the injury or illness at hand. This I know is the way it is done. The EMS who picked you up (local Fire or EMS, or whatever it is) will get info later from the hospital and/or information they have (like your name and address), to send a bill and/or bill insurance, sometimes via the hospital's systems. The hospital then does exactly what you described.

Our report of the fire that destroyed parts of Estadio Cibao, home of Aguilas, where Dan Black and Donnie Veal (among other MiLB'ers) are playing this winter. Includes photos, and quotes from Black.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 15, 2014 -> 09:11 PM) Edge of Tomorrow is one of the great action movies of recent memory, damn shame it didn't garner the respect it deserves. Say what you will about Tom Cruise but dude knows what he's doing in action movies and this is no exception. I'm in this camp as well. I was very surprised, in a good way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 19, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Bassitt was also called up in Sept, so he is already on the 40. Oh yeah, duh. Nevermind, haha. So they both will end up 38, or maybe don't drop Wilkins off the 40.

40 man currently at 37 with the addition of Duke. Guys who I think will get outrighted/DFA'd off the 40 man: LGarcia, Wilkins Guys who I would outright/DFA: Belisario, LGarcia, Wilkins, Mitchell Guys who I think they will protect: Montas, Thompson, Bassitt, Ravelo (gets to 39) Guys I'd protect: Montas, Thompson, Smith, Bassitt, Ravelo, Rondon (gets to 39) We'll see how grossly off I am.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 18, 2014 -> 05:36 PM) wow, a great article and extremely well written..... i am envious of his command of the King's language. only i advise. too bad the age of the prospect wasn't added. either way keep up the great work all. He brought up age when it was an outlier - mentioned that Smith is 26, and on the other end, mentioned that Basto was 20.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 17, 2014 -> 09:41 PM) I lied. Considering the pieces they are missing, that was impressive. They get two guys back now, and their center in December. I do wish they scheduled one or two stronger OOC teams than they did though. No one on their OOC schedule looks to be ranked at this point.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 06:17 PM) You have a "radio name". You need a talk show. Someone give this man his own talk show. Well I do have a face for radio, LOL.

Our AFL review is up. This was written by our newest writer, Will Siskel. Lots of great stuff here.

QUOTE (shipps @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) Great read guys. I know that they are just prospects and its really early but offensively every single position player was a bit under whelming. Would have liked to see that the Sox have a standout position guy in there somewhere. I wouldn't read a ton into that. The key guys the Sox drafted - Rodon, Adams and Fry - were all pitchers. And yeah, it is really, really early. Next year will tell us more with these guys. Also, Jake Peter had arguably one of the top 3 overall performances in the system, and he was a 7th round infielder.

I pinned a thread in PHT too. Thanks Jeff! I'll merge the threads later, good to double-cover for now anyway.

A look at how all the 2014 draft picks performed this year, from Jeff at FutureSox. Definitely worth a read!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 03:11 PM) Relevant: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-top-fiv...-projected-war/ With Rangel "Gordita Crunchela" Ravelo as the #1 prospect due to still being considered a 1B/3B prospect, though he's obviously not going to play 3B. Saw that - goofy that they still listed him #1 even though he hasn't played 3B since 2012. Seems silly to me to not make the adjustment manually.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) They just straight up sell them now, though they do oversell. The Kansas game has a seperate ticket pickup which is first come first serve. No discounted tickets for students?! That sucks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) This part bothers me a bit because he's done a poor job, IMO, of showing that he can perform offensively at a AA level. That might have been one of the biggest disappointments I saw from my time visiting the Barons - he looked the same in 2014 as in 2013, same weaknesses. Oh I agree. Neither of these guys are T10 names IMO - both in the teens I think. I was being more comparative between the two. QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:41 PM) I think Thompson is going to end up as a 4th OF. Probably not a lot different than a right-handed version of Jordan Danks. Most likely. And frankly I think he can do right now what Danks has done in the majors, with the possibility that Thompson could be better in the next few years.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:17 PM) As in Wite's statement that Thompson has far better tools than Engel, which I called "couldn't be more inaccurate". As I said, they have similar tools. One thing we are not looking at here is Engel has a stronger chance of staying in center, while Thompson has been long projected as a corner outfielder as his body matures. I think the fact that his defense has improved over the last couple of years in center has quiet down that notion, but I still believe Engel has better tools as a defender, and could offer more value in the future as a center fielder. I see where you are coming from, but I'd still rank Thompson higher as a prospect. Higher likelihood of more power, has shown he can perform at higher levels offensively and defensively, and frankly the extra speed of Engel by itself isn't enough to offset those things for me.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) I don't think either statements are true. If you adjust their stats based on their age vs competition, Thompson does have the advantage in that department, but not by a wide margin. As far as tools go, the statement couldn't be more inaccurate. Outside of their hit tool, Engel has some of the best tools of anyone in the system, and has been compared to Mike Trout without the bat. While the comparison is a bit of a reach, it's been well documented that he's a plus plus runner with plus range in center. Both tools are superior to what Thompson has to offer. I believe he also brings an above average arm and above average raw power to the table as well. It's also worth pointing out Engel was rated as one of the best athletes in the entire 2013 draft. At the end of the day, I agree with McDaniel's rank for Engel, but I don't see how Thompson is being ranked so high when he brings the same tools and flaws to the table as Engel, but has not made much progress in the past 3 years. Engel's speed tool is better than Thompson's. Thompson though, has an above average arm (just like Engel), and significantly more power. Both struggle with contact, raw hit tools. Thompson has proven more at yoinger ages per level. Saying the statement "couldn't be more inaccurate" is hyperbole. I'd rank Thompson higher too.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 10:08 AM) Again, some of the grades could be for when he watched those guys play, and having conservative grades on things is not a bad thing. Dewon Day supposedly had an 80 slider but we obviously never saw that and he didn't do anything in the majors. Had they called it a 50 or a 60 with flashes of 80, nobody would have thought differently. He mentions that those pitches can be great, but they are usually not. That's just fine. Also, Thompson has put up far better numbers than Engel and has far better tools. It's really not even close. Also, Thompson has spent 5 years in the White Sox minor league system compared to the 2 for Engel and Thompson is still just 9 months older than Engel. Thompson has proven he struggles with contact, but he's still also going to be 24 and likely heading to Charlotte, whereas Engel will be 23 and heading to high A, where Thompson was playing - 3 years ago. I am not even a big Thompson fan, but saying that Thompson and Engel are comparable prospects is crazy. Not sure I agree that Thompson has far better tools and not close... but he was definitely doing more, younger, at similar levels, and has proven a lot more at this point, to the level that he's basically ready to be a decent 4th OF today. They have similar ceilings I suppose, though Engel doesn't have nearly as much power.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 08:55 AM) And yet nobody complains about the costs of the CARE, just the costs of the insurance. Oh, my insurance is too high! Well how about that $120 for a 5 minute office visit? Or the $32 for a plastic disposable razor if you have a hospital stay? $40 Tylenol? $12,500 for an anesthesiologist to work 45 minutes during your knee operation? Yeah, whether or not you like Obamacare in general, the fact is that it really focused almost entirely on the insurance end. Hospital and doctor markup games meanwhile are reaching Pentagon levels. And even with the fixes to the insurance picture (some of which I'd contend were good, others not as much), they still missed one of the fundamental problems with the whole model - consumer price choice. When basically all medical care costs the same to the insurance holder regardless of where they go, it shouldn't be shocking that prices are what they are. Heck, even the part of the cost that does vary, no one actually knows what it will cost until after the fact. The entire cost and pricing structure is ludicrous as it stands right now.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 13, 2014 -> 09:04 PM) Let me know if you want my login for Cyclones.tv. There's only five games this year where there are even single-game tickets available for purchase. This is also the first year that you are required to donate $5,000 a year for the right to purchase season tickets in the lower bowl. I'm not used to this big-time program stuff. Just remember that we won by like 67 last week without three guys that will all play a lot this year. Nader has supposedly been one of the best in practice so far this year, and McKay might start. Looking forward to scoring 100+ multiple times this year. I only ever went when I was a student, and they had a special program for that. It worked like this: --You (and your group usually) applied for the ticket lottery --If you "won" (most years, most got in, but not all), each person in the group got a punch card with boxes for each game --You got every Big 8 (became Big 12 at end) home game, a few key OOC games (always in-state rivals), and a random selection of like 2 other games. --The games were split into four groups - for two of them you'd be UD student section, one LD student section, one behind the baskets courtside. So you'd get like 3-4 games in each grouping --The whole punch card cost about $100 Is there still a student ticket thing like that now?

Game ends in a tie, 4-4, and thus ends the AFL season for Glendale and the Sox prospects. We'll publish a season in review in the coming days.

This article is the first time I've seen someone talk about Basto having an MLB future. Kind of surprised.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 13, 2014 -> 12:02 PM) Right, and that's exactly what it would be. There's obviously no reason to be angry or anything, we publish the videos on YouTube so people can access them for free. Deed is done. Complimented the piece (because it is pretty great), asked a prospect question, then put in a "P.S." at the end about the vids.

I don't know if anyone posted it here, but I saw a reference a few days ago from a scouting type describing Jefferson Olacio's throwing mechanics looking like three small children stacked up and wearing Dad's trench coat.