NorthSideSox72

FS will have affiliate previews up soon, and our next Podcast is slated for next week to talk about roster surprises. Meanwhile, some of the most interesting stuff surrounds who is starting versus relieving. Some guys I was sure would start (at least this year) are in the pen, and some relievers have been put into rotations... Kannapolis Rotation: Dykstra, Danish, Leyer, Bierman, Mitchell Winston-Salem Rotation: Goldberg, Ortiz, Recchia, Wendelken, Bucciferro (not sure of order on that one) Birmingham Rotation: Beck, Snodgress, Bassitt, Jaye, Doyle? (they didn't specify who was #5) Bassitt is on the DL also, says it is a very minor thing, should be back very soon. Dykstra and Wendelken starting are surprises. Olacio, Hansen in the pen are surprises too. Montas isn't even on a roster, we got word he may be injured, don't know any details yet.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) The only way it is worth itis if the city or state actually has some money generating opportunities. This would be concessions and parking or similar things. This could add revenue to the government. Sure, net money is the ultimate picture. If they spend $100M but have some sort of revenue deal on ancillary products that can get them at least that $100M plus Opp Cost or inflation adjustment in a reasonable payback period, then that works too. Though it should be noted in the particular cases of Illinois, Cook County and Chicago, due to their significant debt loads, borrowing costs will be higher and therefore the necessary returns will also have to be higher to compensate. That also doesn't even get into the pure leverage risk issue for each entity, which has to be considered as well. Basically, any revenue stream deal like that needs to be very favorable for the governmental body in question for it to be worth it.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) McCray appears to be on the 7-Day D.L. for Birmingham, so you can cross him off. And Bierman, Cales and Blough are on other teams as well. Charlotte roster should be out today and we'll finally know.

Kanny roster out now too. A few names I was surprised aren't there, but I'll wait to see what the deal is in W-S before commenting on that. Looks like W-S will have a big number of guys who should be in the rotation, so that will be interesting: Olacio, Hansen, Montas, Ortiz, Bucciferro, Recchia, Cose, Leyer. Which three won't be? Maybe some injuries there?

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) I would agree for the most part, but I do think driving a portion of the local hotel taxes to stadiums is a wise investment for a community. I do not believe in sales/property tax assessments on the general population to benefit billionaire owners getting a discount. Maybe. I just really dislike the idea of general funds, state or local bond obligations, or tax increases that hit the locals for this sort of thing. And even the taxes on hotels and rental cars and such do have a negative effect on locals, especially if they get too high. Just in general, I think the amounts of money that local and state governments are throwing at sports stadiums are mistakes. I could be convinced that smaller stuff, or stuff that doesn't generally effect locals, can be part of a compromise.

This is where I don't care whether or not I'm a Sox fan. Putting any large amount of money into new stadiums for sports teams is inevitably a giant waste of taxpayer money for states and municipalities. I don't want them doing it for the Sox or anyone else again. The lessons have been learned. Now, I'm fine with little things, or them doing the things only government can do - helping alter traffic/street patterns, zoning permits, help with licensing and other permints, making those processes work for them. No problems there, even though it costs some money (just not very much) to do the little things. Even some creative restructuring of tax and other obligations for a few years to make the transition work OK. Beyond that? Go do it yourself.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 12:01 PM) He apparently has no plans to change his swing either, as each of his swings in both strikeouts looked identical. No adjustments, just hoping to run into one. Dude is awful. The at-bats of his I paid close attention to, they fed him a steady diet of breaking stuff, and he was way out in front every time.

There was some jackass right behind us, in a group of four very drunk idiots... when they started the tribute video to those who had died in the past year (they do this every year), the whole stadium is silent... except this guy, who proceeds to ask who the &*^&* these people were, then shouts at the top of his lungs "AMERICA!!!!!!". I turned around and just stared at him, his friends noticed and reined him in. Not surprisingly, those weren't even their seats, and they eventually had to move away and left the area. It's a ballgame, I accept there will be lots of screaming idiots, but this guy was just too much.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 11:43 AM) You want to see a slow swing, Tyler Flowers, he was god awful. Dunn did not get the ball out of the infield. Security was tight at the park as there was a rumor floating in the Chicago Police Department that Obama may be attending the game. Emmanuel and Quinn were there, I walked next to Quinn briefly. And his 4-man security team.

Saladino confirms he is in Charlotte.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 10:37 AM) Sale only guy on staff south of 200. Extra funny because in his case, he should be well north of 200.

Watching Abreu hit in person, I now understand why there was a disconnect in the reports between supposedly questionable bat speed, and yet loud contact and power. If you watch him swing, it LOOKS slow. Not long, just slow. But somehow, when he makes contact, there is immense power behind it. It must be his hands or something. But I totally get how some scouts may have seen what they perceived as slow bat speed. I don't think it's slow - I think he's got a fast top hand with a very short stroke of it, a relatively short swing, and a lot of body and bat size, which together give that false impression. I think the guy is going to be a monster.

Watching Abreu hit in person, I now understand why there was a disconnect in the reports between supposedly questionable bat speed, and yet loud contact and power. If you watch him swing, it LOOKS slow. Not long, just slow. But somehow, when he makes contact, there is immense power behind it. It must be his hands or something. But I totally get how some scouts may have seen what they perceived as slow bat speed. I don't think it's slow - I think he's got a fast top hand with a very short stroke of it, a relatively short swing, and a lot of body and bat size, which together give that false impression. I think the guy is going to be a monster.

I'll echo the puzzlement over Gilaspie hitting 3rd. QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 11:38 AM) so is that S-SE wind blowing out to right-center? In FROM Right Center.

I can't figure out who plays 3B in Winston-Salem. Curley and Wagner are in Birmingham. None of Michalczewski, Shryock, Stringer or Voight seem ready for that double-level jump. Rondon I have to think is playing short wherever he goes.

Field has narrowed significantly here. These guys have been assigned to Charlotte or have said they will be there: Jake Petricka Javy Guerra Scott Carroll Andre Rienzo Eric Surkamp (L) Dylan Axelrod That leaves 6 spots, maybe 7 if they go a 3 man bench, to be taken from: Stephen McCray David Purcey (L) Taylor Thompson Sean Bierman (L) Mitchell Boggs Matt Zalezki Ryan Kussmaul Evan Crawford (L) Zach Putnam Deunte Heath Bryan Blough Jake Floethe (could be in W-S) David Cales (could be in W-S) David Putman (could be in W-S) Bolded are my current guesses for Charlotte.

So, Kannapolis says their roster should be out later today. W-S is shooting for Tuesday, but it may be Wednesday. No word from Charlotte yet. B-Ham hasn't officially announced, but their roster is basically set.

Please don't call it Comiskey Park. I hated when they named it that to begin with. First, there already WAS a Comiskey Park, it was very different, and it drove me nuts they couldn't find a new name. Second, Comiskey was all sorts of bad things, he's not the guy I'd want to evoke anyway. If you want non-corporate, call it Veeck Park. But they'll likely find another sponsor, as US Cellular will undoubtedly want to bow out if they can.

More releases confirmed... Tony Pena Jr, Kyle McMillen, Angel Rosario, Ben Kline, Jake Brown.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 12:01 AM) I do not think prolific means what you think it means. /Princess Bride Anyway, I will never understand the mentality behind 'hey this guy can throw far from outfield/catcher, let's make him a pitcher and see what happens.' So much to pitching to throw a 20-something veteran minor leaguer into that spot. Haha, yeah not sure why I chose that term. Not saying he can make it work either, just passing on a tidbit. We'll see. QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) Too bad they couldn't have traded him for Nieto Pretty sure it will take a lot more than that.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 12:04 AM) I see Omogrosso was released and the Sox have sold off a few organizational pitchers in the last week. Omo was released? I didn't know about that one.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 05:37 PM) Yea, I see that. Seems like Saladino is in Charlotte. I'm curious as to what happened to Blanke. I was talking with Nathaniel Stoltz (FanGraphs) the other day, he said a couple scouts suggested converting Blanke to pitching. Apparently Blanke's arm isn't just strong, it's prolific. And with his knowledge of pitching/catching, he may be able to make that move. No word if that is actually happening or not - just supposition. More likely, Gimenez is released, and Blanke backs up Phegley at Charlotte (especially since Blanke is very good defensively and could maybe mentor Phegley in that regard).

Birmingham's roster looks pretty well set online, though they haven't announced it yet. Here it is (asterisks are the guys I assume will start): Pitchers 20 Chris Bassitt* 44 Chris Beck* 41 Frank De Los Santos 48 Terry Doyle* 10 Parker Frazier 34 Nelvin Fuentes 14 Myles Jaye* 31 Nick McCully 30 Nestor Molina 40 Scott Snodgress* 9 Kevin Vance 35 Cody Winiarski Catchers Miguel Gonzalez 21 Kevan Smith* Infielders 4 Chris Curley* 17 Jeremy Farrell 2 Micah Johnson* 24 Christian Marrero 3 Jaime Pedroza* 25 Rangel Ravelo* 5 Daniel Wagner Outfielders 8 Michael Earley* (DH?) 27 Josh Richmond* 32 Trayce Thompson* 23 Keenyn Walker* No Saladino, so I assume he's in Charlotte. Not sure if Early, Richmond or Marrero will be the regular DH. Also not sure if Wagner or Curley start at 3B, best guess is Curley. Also possible McCully starts instead of Doyle, but McCully has been much better as a reliever.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 11:10 PM) Is Daniel Wagner still in the organization? He seems like a typical organizational MI that would be bumped to Charlotte until Semien/Garcia return. Edit: Never mind, I just looked at tonight box score and see he played 2B for Birmingham. Yes, he's with B-Ham this year. And B-Ham's roster looks pretty finalzed too, if you check their site. None of the other ones look final yet.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) When does Charlotte kick off the season? You'd have to assume Keppinger and Beckham will rehab there until one or both of Semien and Garcia are optioned. Semien and Garcia both would start for Charlotte, I'd have to assume. I doubt Beckham rehabs in Charlotte, he hasn't been out very long, he'll just warm up in AZ then come to CHicago. Keppinger, whenever he's ready, he'll need some rehab time yes.