NorthSideSox72

Solid slate of starters to watch today.

I know this will sound Hawk-like, but it is true... this team does have a lot more fight and stay-in-it than last year's team did. Even early on last season before they completely tanked.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 03:10 PM) Viciedo has no patience today. Swinging at everything QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 03:10 PM) I'm starting to think Uribe and Viciedo are the same hitter. Except for the lack of Uribe's HR follow-through and dropping the bat quickly. I wonder if riding the bench is part of the issue here, trying to do everything on short order. QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 03:11 PM) Rienzo has been pitching well at AAA. I wonder how long Johnson's leash is? 3 starts? 4 starts? I've got to think at least a month, but it depends on how bad he looks. If this is mental, it could turn around in his next start. If it is physical, he could be headed to the DL.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 03:04 PM) Has Johnson always pitched like this? He looks like he doesn't even care. From what I saw on videos through the minors (never did get to see him in person down there), he was was throwing a few ticks harder with the FB and with much better control. Also in his MLB games last year, he was sometimes tight like this, but usually not. I think, and hope, this is more mental than physical. The loss in velocity could be scary if it is a physical problem.

The K improvement was definitely noted and encouraging, though in increasing his contact rate, he lost some pop. Hopefully the two come together this year. I don't think any of the FS voters from our last poll had completely abandoned ship on Thompson, he was at least in the mid-teens on everyone's list, T10 for some. danman31 will be happy to see this thread.

If you had told me EJohnson would look terrible and Tyler Flowers would be leading the league in AVG 3 series into the season, I'd have laughed. Small samples, but still, interesting turns.

I had TWO, and have some info for ya. First for comparison sake for you, our lot is a corner lot about 60 by 120, average house footprint, but a lot of garden landscaping. Overall not a very big lawn, but not small either. With a relatively small lawn, decided to give the electric a try - got a battery-power one from Home Depot, I forget the brand. Had a 30 day return policy, so I thought, might as well try. Price same as similar gas mower, less noise, no gas/oil, cheaper to run. Worked great first year - usually finished the lawn with about 30% of the battery remaining. Cutting job was OK, not the best I've seen, but just fine for me. Quiet, charged quick, lived up to expectations. Went to charge it back up after the first winter, did what you should do with stored batteries - ran it down a little, then fully charged it. Well, it did about a quarter of the lawn before it died. Figured it was the winter, so I charged it full again, let it sit, charged it full yet again, then tried it. Was even worse. Batteries were trashed after sitting for one frickin' winter. And of course, the mower has a 2 year warranty... except the battery, which is 1 year. Missed it by a month. Bought a new battery. Worked great at first, seemed just as good as it was when new. Later in the summer, started having trouble finishing the lawn. Did some interwebbing, says to keep the battery plugged in over the winter, so I did that. Next spring? Dead again, battery barely worked. Also by this point, after just two years of use, a couple plastic parts started acting funny, just not a quality build. Since the mower itself was still under warranty and it had other flaws, I managed to trade it in for a different brand electric, this one a Black and Decker (Home Depot was pretty good about this). That one I returned in a couple weeks because it couldn't finish the lawn on even the first shot! Finally gave in and bought a gas Honda mower, which has worked fantastically for 2 years. It's a great concept, but the batteries - both the OEM ones and the aftermarket ones from a different manufacturer - just don't last. I don't recommend it. ONE NOTE - These are the battery powered ones. Plug-in ones may be fine, I don't know, but those weren't practical for me.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 01:35 PM) De aza's trade value will be minimal, at best. If he's hitting, he'd probably fetch a prospect or two of value. No one elite though. You have to remember that he's really fairly cheap for a productive outfielder, with another arb year after this one. This isn't Rios and his contract. They are essentially getting 1.5 years of him at probably AAV ~$5M, and he's easily worth that and change if he's putting up a mid-700's OPS and stealing 20 bags as a LHH OF. Different WAR calcs see him differently, but if a team has a need for a LH bat mid-season, he'll bring back something. ETA: His defense killed his value somewhat last year, but he was playing a lot of CF. He'll be better on the corners.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 12:54 PM) Yes, they are a sleeping giant. Not sure I agree with the term behemoth here, but I agree with your overall point. 14th in revenue, as the clear 2nd team in a city, in a 99 loss season, and no post-season in 6 years... that's pretty good and indicates there is room for growth there.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 01:43 PM) I see Sean Bierman is in Kanny. At 25 for low A, i guess he doesn't have much of a future. Where is Ben Kline? I don't see him on any roster. Kline was released. Bierman is just filler. Neither of these guys were prospects to begin with.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 10:30 AM) Pretty sure on account of my download you're now the number 1 baseball podcast in Ireland. You're welcome. Awesome. Where's an Irish flag smiley when we need one?

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 09:44 AM) Dykstra 9 up 9 down. 12 up, 12 down.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) Dykstra ended up starting. Not Danish. Josh Feldman is saying the Monday rainout pushed everyone back a day, as they had Wheeler start one of the DH games.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 09:01 PM) I don't know why people get so worked up over it. I don't think it's a very big deal. I don't get worked up over Laumann and Parent's kids, because they were on the bench, where they belong. And if one of the front office staff's kids is a legit prospect, great, they deserve to start. I just think this is a little KW Chicago-style politics is all. Not a huge thing, just something that irritates me.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 11:12 PM) Really enjoyable again. Would like to hear on the following topics, if any pique your interest: - Adam Lopez and Tony Bucciferro and their dominance versus their age for the level - Cleuluis Rondon and will he be able to hit at all - Carl Thomore and if he's still a legitimate prospect Thanks, and thanks - we'll start putting together a list of questions and those are good ones.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 04:50 PM) http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?p...&pid=573247 He looks like Dad, but he was 5 for 9 entering the day. That's as big of a "who cares" as I think you can find. At least they aren't lying I guess. Look at what he did the past two years. He doesn't belong getting starting playing time, this is another one of those nepotism things. Dude struck out in nearly half his at bats over two seasons and never hit a lick, as a pure DH. I don't care if they take guys like that and have them ride the bench to provide some guidance or whatever, but just like with KW Jr, it drives me up a wall he is playing while guys who have some non-zero chance of being valuable wait behind him. /end rant

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 02:14 PM) unfortunately though he didn't look much different than Paulino They really are not much alike as pitchers. Not sure where you are getting that.

OF Dane Opel, with Great Falls last year, tore his ACL in extended ST and will miss the season.

Has to be Rienzo. After that, likely Surkamp, but maybe Axelrod depending on how Surkamp is doing in AAA.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) True about the money but outside of Nolan's trilogy, the movies are awful. I'll point out again, while it was a very different look and feel, the first Batman back in the late 80's was very good. Each successive movie after went downhill though, until Nolan came along.

Interesting side note about the minor league DL... most of the guys on the DL for the White Sox are on the standard 7 day DL. But Stephen McCray and Jake Cose were put on the 60-day, per Baseball America. Cose had a back injury this offseason, so I assume that is the issue for him. McCray I have no idea about.

I'm going to guess (and this is only a guess) that there is something physically wrong with Boggs, and he heads to the DL when the Sox are ready to put Hanson in Charlotte.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 8, 2014 -> 09:24 AM) There was an article about White Sox ownership last year where a couple of owners speculated JR's stake somewhere between 10 and 15 %. JR said their guess was significantly understated. When JR goes, the executors of his estate get control of the team. I really don't think it will be ugly at all. Some have wanted out and got out. Some want to stay and let their heirs be owners. The bottom line is JR has made these people a ton of money. A lot of them are with him with the Bulls as well. Sounds about right. People know their own stake, but don't necessarily have to know others' exact stake. I'm also guessing there is in essence a "living will" for the partnership in the event any partner (majority, minority or parity) passes on, in terms of control. Monetarily it would just fall under any other probate scenario, so all the partnership laws would have to care about is the executive control aspect. There could even be an agreed-upon dissolution or redistribution. No one really knows, except the owners.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Apr 7, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) I think re-location becomes a very real possibility once JR dies and the team is sold. That is going to be a heck of a mess anyway as none of the other members in the group seem to know how much of the team they own, you can bet that is going to be a messy court battle when the Reinsdorfs reveal they have secretly acquired 80%(random number) of the team in deals over the years. With the current membership group and the overlap with the Bulls organization, there is little chance that anything happens in the next 4-5 years. I have a very hard time believing the owners don't know how many shares/dollars they own and their percentage of equity. In fact I'm pretty sure it would be illegal for any equity partnership to exist where leadership was deceiving the owners as to their stake. They know, in some fashion, how much of the equity they own.

Second podcast is up, see the pinned thread in PHT for details and links.