NorthSideSox72

I'll post the list here. White Sox minor league FA's... RHP: David Cales, Parker Frazier, Tommy Hanson, Terance Marin, Daniel McCutchen, Nestor Molina, Chien-Ming Wang, Matt Zaleski LHP: Frank de los Santos, Nelvin Fuentes, Mauricio Robles, Juan Rodriguez, Donnie Veal C: Miguel Gonzalez OF: Christian Marrero, Matt Tuiasosopo Of that list, the guys who I think are interesting enough to consider keeping on if possible are Cales, Marin, Molina, de los Santos, Veal and Tuiasosopo. And maybe Matt Zaleski just because.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 01:32 PM) Undoing the 435 cap and decreasing the people-per-rep ratio could go a long way to better, more meaningful representation. I think if that number gets much bigger it could be come unwieldy. It makes concensus building that much harder.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 09:33 AM) Do you gentlemen think that Johnson could provide solid defense at second? If not, then the Sox should think of a position change. If LF is too great of a challenge for him, at the Big League level, then perhaps he should spend some time there at AAA. It doesn't seem like a good move to put him at a key defensive position like 2ND, unless he can provide solid defense. That is a greater defensive liability, for the team, than a less than competent left fielder. What exactly is his greatest short coming at second? How well does he turn the double play? His issue at second is mostly about hard hands. I don't follow your logic here. If a 23 year old is struggling defensively, moving him is not the only option. The other one, the obvious one and the one that most often happens, is that you try to improve him there. As it is now he does make some mistakes, but he also gets to more plays than other guys due to his speed, so he's playable there. With him being the athlete he is, there is every reason to believe he'll improve further at the position with more time there. That should be the path. Also, 2B is a position where it is harder to find offense than LF, so there's more value in him playing there long term, all else equal. However iffy he may be at 2B in 2015, he'd be far, far worse in LF - I'd bet on it.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) Semien was the one they tried out there so I'm guessing if any of the MIs get moved to LF it'd be him. Exactly. And that was done because Semien has a pretty strong arm, and had already shown the ability to at least handle all three skill infield positions. Johnson hasn't gotten to that level at even one yet. Semien was also moved because his bat is MLB-ready and they want to get him playing time - I'm not sure Johnson's bat is ready anyway.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) Well, it does seem the organization is determined to use Johnson somewhere, on the Major League team. I just hope that it isn't second base, because he is apparently not very good there. The defense up the middle is just too important to sacrifice, unless the player can provide a major offensive contribution. One thing Beckham provided, that was often under appreciated, was a great double play combo with Alexei. I hope they are able to maintain that strength, and Sanchez seems to be the best candidate to provide it. He seems like he could be a pretty good 2 hole hitter, with good contact skills. In a similar way, with Johnson batting 9TH, Eaton would provide good skills to bat behind a speedy, base stealing threat, like Micah. Leave the slow power guys in the middle of the order. I think the position change thing is much harder than people understand. The guy hasn't played OF, basically, ever. You really think you're going to take a guy who has struggled at 2B glove-wise, and who doesn't have a strong arm, put him in LF where he's never played, and he's going to do well out there? At best he'll struggle a lot. At worst he's not playable out there at all. And you're doing this just as he hits the majors? Just seems like a high likelihood for disaster to me.

Also, if you go on FutureSox' YouTube Channel, there are three videos of him that we took in late 2013. Here are the direct links: Didn't get any full at-bats for him, but the individual pitches give you a look.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 08:52 AM) how is Wendelken, how is his profile?? any info will help. His fastball is low 90's with some sink, a slider that has been called above average, good control. He's been starting, but likely he's a reliever long term and is just taking he reliever-as-starter path that is common for the White Sox.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 08:54 AM) didn't he have arm surgery before ?? Twice. He had a nerve thing in his throwing arm. The good news is, the second surgery is a permanent fix, so it shouldn't recur. The bad news is, it may have been caused by bad throwing mechanics. QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 08:57 AM) I thought that Davidson was ultimately better suited to play LF, than 3B, providing of course, that he gets back on track. Then too, there are several promising guys who could eventually fill the outfield. I'm thinking J. Mitchell, Jacob May and C. Hawkins. It seems that they are really in greater need of finding someone to get them through the next season or two, before those guys are ready. I think May will eventually take over in CF, and Eaton will move to LF, if he's still around. Eaton just seems like the kind of guy who will slow down due to injuries and age, and without speed, he wouldn't be much of an asset. Despite Buddy Bell's repeated protestations otherwise, Jared Mitchell has not shown any reason to believe he's a major league outfielder. I hope that changes, but I doubt it. May and Hawkins both have at least a couple years, if they ever get there. You can't build around assumptions of their presence at this point.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 7, 2014 -> 08:15 AM) Again, have you seen any assessments of his arm strength and accuracy? Above average arm. Plus range, plus-plus hands and footwork.

Not sure if you are aware, but he hadn't even started switch-hitting until during he 2013 season. Give it time.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 07:35 PM) So Montas is our own version of Tyler Kolek but 2-3 years ahead of him in development. Not bad to get what is essentially a return of two Top 100 prospects for Jake Freaking Peavy. And two more prospects to boot - Rondon and Wendelken. That looks more and more like a great deal for the White Sox.

Per a source we've spoken with who works with the front office of a DWL team... Rangel Ravelo injured his hand in his first game of the season down there, and is no longer with the club. He apparently tried to fight through it, but had trouble gripping a bat. So he hasn't played since then, and is now headed home. I don't have any other word on the severity of the injury.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 01:46 PM) My retort to that is that a vote cast for a third party is a much better way to display dissatisfaction with both parties than not voting. You can put actual numbers to that group. Yup. All not showing up does is give the folks that are on the take an even better chance at winning, and feeling like they can do what they want. Fun example - in that awful Blago-BarrTopinka election, people were so disgusted with the choices, the Green Party got a significant part of the vote while spending basically zero money campaigning. So much so that they became eligible for state funds for the next race. And of course the other way to do this is, get involved, not just voting.

JJ Stankevitz is at the AFL game that just started. Spoke very highly of Montas' change-up, which like with Bassitt, could be a key to whether or not he can be a starter.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) Seriously though, name a single thing that's going to change with this election other than which side is introducing the motion to file cloture that won't pass. Potentially a lot, but hard to say yet. You seem to think nothing changes, yet history says it always does. Also, what does that even have to do with what you were replying to?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 12:04 PM) I'd actually argue that it is something that isn't being talked about. The number of "registered" voters is complete fiction. Explain.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 11:46 AM) Lowest voter turnout since the 1940s, if not of all time, according to collected data. Gotta love voter suppression, er, fraud prevention strategies! Eh, that might account for a small number, but most of it is simple disinterest (or outright throwing up their hands). Which is a shame.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 07:21 AM) Bayh has no chance at making it through a Democratic primary. Not even close to liberal enough. That's what I hate about both parties--excellent moderate candidates are drawing dead before they even start because the parties are controlled by the extremes. I would love to see somebody like Bayh, Bob Casey or Joe Donnelly on a national ticket for the Democrats but that is never happening. The guys I've liked the past couple cycles - Huntsman and Richardson - both were relatively moderate, and both had impressive resumes and actual, demonstrated leadership skills. Unfortuantely the primary system doesn't encourage any of that. In both cases they also had other issues holding them back too, but the point is, candidates like that just don't make it out of the primaries.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 10:37 AM) Thanks, that's what I was looking for. My contract says the annual increase can be the increase of CPI or 5%, whichever is higher. I don't think 15% fits in either category. Just like with any floating rate contract of any kind, you should always very specifically state the exact index to use, the date of index rate, period of effect and location of publication. For example on a floating rate mortgage, you'd see something like "The interest for the following full year will be the 1-month LIBOR rate at close of business on November 1st as published in the Such and Such newspaper". That way there is zero ambiguity.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 02:57 PM) That's not true of the last two gubernatorial elections (leaving aside prior R landslide wins). In '06, Ritter (D) won by 17%. In '10, Hickenlooper won by 15%. With the state economic numbers, it should be very surprising that Hickenlooper only won by 1.4% last night... Oh it's not a good sign for Hickenlooper. But that is an obfuscation. Hickenlooper did not win by 15% in any real sense. He got 51%, while the Republican (Maes) and the other Republican/Constitution Party Illegal Alien Obssessive (Tancredo) combined for 48%. That is the true reflection of the split - 3%.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 04:31 PM) Thanks for the reassurances. Why would they even bother wasting a roster spot? Sometimes the backup plan is available before Plan A. I'm guessing Shuck is about Plan C.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 02:21 PM) He was re-elected in a state with a booming economy by less than 1%. That's extremely problematic. The political dynamics in Colorado are such that no state-wide candidate is going to win by any large margin. It's the deep-blue front range urban corridor versus the deep red rest of the state. In time Colorado will probably become more reliably blue, with the influx of youngsters and minorities and the continued large growth of the corridor.

Marin is not pitching in Australia, says he couldn't go. He's in Mexico with Caneros de los Mochis instead.

My votes, since people are throwing them out there. Not listing the offices where people were unopposed (like Biss, my state senator, and that loser Berrios for Assessor)... Governor: Rauner ® Attorney General: Madigan (D) Secretary of State: Webster ® Comptroller: Simon (D) Treasurer: Cross ® US Senate: Durbin (D) US House: Schakowsky (D) State House: Myalls ® *Vote all GREEN PARTY on Water District slots (G) 12th Judicial Subcircuit: Kaplan (D) All judges on retention OK I'll say again too, those last three lines, those should not be elected offices anyway. So that's 4 R, 5 D, and 1x3 G for me. That's actually more Dems than I thought I'd end up with.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 4, 2014 -> 06:19 PM) I voted for 3 R's and 3 D's. All judges except one were no votes. Wait what? You voted for 3 D's? Who? QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 09:21 AM) I voted for 2 democrats, 2 republicans and the rest independents last night, and one of the republican votes was merely because he/she was running against Lisa Madigan, I figured the republican candidate had a 0.00001% chance to get rid of her vs the independent, otherwise that would have been an independent vote, too. Voted yes to constitutional changes, too. Curious what you don't like about Lisa Madigan. Or was it a proxy vote against Michael? QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 5, 2014 -> 09:22 AM) Bah, they'll do just about everything that was done the last few years. The Senate may let Obama veto a few things just because they're unhappy with him right now as it is, but it's abundantly clear no one cares about senatorial procedures any more. The one thing that might be an interesting long term shift is if Mitch knows its coming and changes some of the rules to cut out the things he's been doing for the last 6 years. I'd love it if they removed the 60 vote threshold, which I personally think is a huge problem. But I don't see it happening.