NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 04:33 PM) I'm also hearing Youk out for paternity leave. Man, get these guys some calendars.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 03:37 PM) DeAza CF Lopez 3B Wise LF Konerko 1B Rios RF Pierzynski C Viciedo DH Ramirez SS Beckham 2B Liriano P Youk and Dunn off, even after an off day? That's odd. I'm not sure they are getting this game in anyway.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 02:58 PM) ^^^ i see 'technical' people that have degrees in totally unrelated, easy degree stuff, all the time. but they are all over 30. new grads have limited opportunity. I work at the intersection of finance and technology. My BA was in Political Science. Got the MBA later. Most of my peers did not come out of undergrad with a plan to work in financial tech - they all got their via other paths.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 02:25 PM) Seriously?? Ryan spewed blatant lies for much of his speech. Such as blaming Obama for the closing of the Janesville auto plant that closed before he was even in office. I guess it's easy to have a good speech when you don't care about the truth. have you not met mr genius?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 02:06 PM) Have any media outlets had a chance to ask AJ about this? I would love to hear his reaction to all the rumors? If you were a beat reporter who wanted to keep some sort of relationship with the players... would you want to ask AJ of all people about something like that? it gets you nothing other than a verbal assault, and possibly a physical one, and shuts you off with that player for the future. Since it is pretty much assuredly untrue, what is the benefit, for that cost?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 12:04 PM) I think I read somewhere that people think the real unemployment rate of people graduating college is somewhere in the 15-20% range, which is pretty high. And that article indicated they thought it could even be larger then that when you consider those who don't show up at the statistics because they took a job at starbucks, etc. Maybe this is an age thing. I'm 39, most of my professional and other friends are 35-45-ish. If you are talking people in their 20's, I don't have much of a feel for it. QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 12:29 PM) I would put you in the corporate Democrat category. That being said, Romney is probably your guy this time around. I don't know what that means. I tend to side with the right on many fiscal and intergovernmental issues, some foreign policy, but only one or two social issues. Tax-wise I sit between. Most social issues I lean left. There are a few issues, like the environment, energy and healthcare, where my ideas are really outside either party's plan. I lean towards individual (or more granular) freedoms with anything deriving from the Bill of Rights, which puts me on the right on 2A and 10A, but with the left on 1A, 4A and 5A (in general).

Speaking of that instructional fall league, I'm guessing Barnum will be there, with the time that he missed. Unless he still isn't healthy. Same with some other draft picks who didn't play much, and add in some lower level guys who need work like Soptic.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 01:26 PM) I can't imagine they will push him too far. He is 18 and has just played the most games of his life by far. Next year he is going to play even more games. Workout, stay in shape, and come back ready to go next year. That's my guess too. It is possible he plays in the fall instructional league (aka mini-AFL, for the younger and lower level types), but I doubt it. Best to let him end on a very good note, get some rest, work out and keep stretched out, and come into the spring fresh and ready to go the full season.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:23 AM) I could be wrong, but I feel like it's very rare for a team to have zero Top 100 prospects (BA's list). Therefore, I think either Hawkins or Thompson has to make it and based on his play at A/A+ I think Hawkins is the better prospect. How many high-schoolers have jumped off to a start like this in recent years? He's also having a much superior year than Almora. Guys like Almora who have early big hype will stay on the list longer than they should in some cases, because the same people who hyped them are the same ones who influence the list. Also, there is just the practicality that it is very difficult to track and analyze so many prospects in baseball with any real depth of knowledge, so the big names just tend to do better in these lists, even if there are indications they aren't living up to expectations. Plus add in the team/system perception I noted before too.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 11:37 AM) I'll be honest, pretty much everyone I know with a college degree is unemployed or severely underemployed. Or they have a job and then don't have a job. Now some didn't get the best/most marketable degrees and I'm not going to say they are overachievers, but still, It is surprising cause I think in a normal market they'd be sucked up and would be "average" employees. I bust my ass every single day. No guarantees in life and I could be fired tomorrow, but I'm more then willing to put in whatever hard work is necessary. My average day is 10 working hours a day (albeit, things are relatively slow for me right now, hence why I'm posting on here). I think when you combine hard work and a valuable degree, you will be fine, but the reality is most people don't want to work 50-60 hours a week, so to be frank, I have an easier opportunity to stand out and make a name/reputation for myself within my company. Really? It has been the opposite with me. Most everyone I know with a degree has a decent job, if not a great one. There are always a few on the street at any given time, and it has been a higher number the past few years, but still a small minority.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 11:03 AM) You're starting to sound like a Republican NorthSideSox72. I was before, and pretty much always have been, neither Dem nor GOP'er. Posters like Balta and SS think I'm a Republican, posters like you think I'm a liberal. People here like to put me into one category or the other. But my views are on the left on some issues, the right on others, and neither on yet more. I've voted in 5 presidential elections so far: I've voted for 2 GOP, 2 Dem, and 1 Independent. And I'm still not 100% sure who I will vote for this time.

Now post-convention and two months out from the elections, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the UE rates, the jobs numbers, and the equity markets, are all gonna pretty much go sideways until election day. What both parties continue to ignore here, at the peril of the country, is that the continued unknowns are a bigger problem to business and market growth than EITHER side's actual policy efforts. More regulation on the markets and banks, or less, either way, get it down on paper and passed, and signal that this is the way it is for a while. Same for taxes, and government spending. This situation where everyone is holding their breath is the single biggest reason we aren't growing.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) I guess it is becoming tradition now that I show back up in the Buster every few months... I don't get where people say Biden's speech was good. I thought it was pretty terrible. He's just not a gifted speaker. How many times did he start a sentence with "folks"? I thought his speech was oddly paced, thin, and badly delivered. Grade: D Obama's speech was good but nothing special. And he didn't get into any more specifics than Romney did - but he delivered better. Obama did what you need to do in the conventions, which is spark the base. Grade: B Michelle's speech was very good, I thought, but as with Ann Romney's speech, it just doesn't carry much weight since she's not running for office. Grade: A- Paul Ryan is a better speaker than I had previously thought, he gave a pretty good speech... except that it turns out a metric f***-ton of the supposed facts he espoused were just utterly false. Grade: C+ Romney improved over any other speech I've seen him give, so that's a good thing. But he is still not terribly charismatic, and that will hurt him in the debates. Grade: B- As for the debates... I am pretty sure Obama will crush Romney, but I am also pretty sure Ryan will crush Biden. Romney can't beat Obama in terms of speaking ability or relatability, so his only real shot is a combination of wilting attacks on the current economy, and providing some specific policy ideas that are his own. Oops, forgot about Slick Willie. His speech was mostly very good, though he wandered a bit. Grade: B+ or A-.

I guess it is becoming tradition now that I show back up in the Buster every few months... I don't get where people say Biden's speech was good. I thought it was pretty terrible. He's just not a gifted speaker. How many times did he start a sentence with "folks"? I thought his speech was oddly paced, thin, and badly delivered. Grade: D Obama's speech was good but nothing special. And he didn't get into any more specifics than Romney did - but he delivered better. Obama did what you need to do in the conventions, which is spark the base. Grade: B Michelle's speech was very good, I thought, but as with Ann Romney's speech, it just doesn't carry much weight since she's not running for office. Grade: A- Paul Ryan is a better speaker than I had previously thought, he gave a pretty good speech... except that it turns out a metric f***-ton of the supposed facts he espoused were just utterly false. Grade: C+ Romney improved over any other speech I've seen him give, so that's a good thing. But he is still not terribly charismatic, and that will hurt him in the debates. Grade: B- As for the debates... I am pretty sure Obama will crush Romney, but I am also pretty sure Ryan will crush Biden. Romney can't beat Obama in terms of speaking ability or relatability, so his only real shot is a combination of wilting attacks on the current economy, and providing some specific policy ideas that are his own.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 08:55 AM) mlb.com came out with their top 100 list, and no White Sox players were on it from mlb.com? The same contributors as the people who made that Top 20 White Sox prospects list that was just published? If so, I think we all know how useful that list will be.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 08:32 AM) So based on his performance does Hawkins crack BA's Top 100? You gotta think he kinda has to Just scanning the bottom 20 or so guys in BA's last 100 list, I'd think Hawkins could very easily get in there. But he isn't helped by the fact that he's in a Sox system that is still seen as very, very thin (and with good reason, though I think it's getting better). Reputation of system plays a big role in this, whether they say it or not, and reputation lags reality.

After his 7 walk performance, I'm betting Liriano throws a lot more strikes. So I feel pretty good about the game.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 12:41 AM) The ball takes 3 or 4 turns in opposite directions. It's playing with my mind. Its a video artifact, the ball isn't actually doing that.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 11:55 PM) WhiteSox.com top 20 prospects I find it hard to agree with the list, but it's good for discussion and reading material. Bizarro. Leesman at 3? Him, Snodgress, Petricka, Marinez, K Smith, Saladino and Brennan all way too high (and I'm saying that as a bigger fan of Smith and Brennan than most in here).

QUOTE (YASNY @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 12:39 PM) I haven't weighed in on this but I feel that I should, since that old SI incident was brought up. I STILL believe rumors are fair game on, and good for, a message board format. We are not professional journalists, nor do we pretend to be. We are fans discussing baseball and rumors are naturally going be part of the conversation. This rumor was out there and of course it was going be discussed here, and microscopically scrutinized. Nobody threw AJ under bus, but there were some that were, well, checking the bus schedule, I believe. No one seems absolutely sure how or where this started but as far as Soxtalk is concerned, I'm not throwing anybody under that bus either. The rumor was out there, it was brought to the attention of the board and discussed. Very similar situation to the SI incident before that jerk from SI printed it. Good post. And I'd say I'm actually pretty impressed by the posts in here, in that few if any assumed guilt. People handled it quite well, in my view.

I check the boxes most days (usually from here, and if it isn't here yet, I start the thread - flavum usually does it though), catch up others. Read the transactions. I'll watch video and read scouting reports on guys worth noting, especially when it comes time to write the ranking and performance articles on futuresox.com. I've occasionally listened to games on the radio from various affiliates, and I've been to some minor league games here and there. Also good to have connections with people in the organization or in the media to get more info. And, in some cases, I've actually connected with players directly, via Facebook or email.

I'll try to spark some discussion... QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 11:37 AM) 1. Carlos Sanchez 2. Marcus Semien 3. Joey DeMichele 4. Rangel Ravelo 5. Tyler Saladino 6. Micah Johnson 7. Eric Grabe 8. Zachary Voight 9. David Herbek 10. Michael Johnson No Nick Basto? His numbers weren't great this year, but he's about 18 and was drafted pretty high. Also, Michael Johnson kind of surprises me on your list. He's about to turn 24, has played mostly in rookie ball, hasn't put up much in terms of numbers, and seemed overwhelmed at Kanny and W-S. I know you may have seen him at GF... any impressions on his play? QUOTE (danman31 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 03:25 PM) 1. Carlos Sanchez 2. Tyler Saladino 3. Joey DeMichele 4. Marcus Semien 5. Rangel Ravelo 6. Micah Johnson 7. Nicholas Basto 8. Juan Silverio 9. Eric Grabe I couldn't put Silverio on my list. I guess I'm still highly skeptical of his actual age, and he's not really showing much with the bat despite being paced slowly through the system.

Circumstantial evidence - his performance this year statistically being so outside the norm, and his recent atypical brain and effort blunders - seems mounted against him. But this is a chicken and egg argument. Are those the result of PED's, or is the rumor there purely because of the circumstantial evidence? I wouldn't be ready to indict just yet.

Pretty funny article in Teh Trib aboout Ozzie's return to Twitter, and the arrival of the period.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 07:24 PM) ALDS tickets are already on sale on Stubhub. Cheapest seat is $121. http://www.stubhub.com/chicago-white-sox-p...9-2012-4134336/ But they are not in hand. Those are season holders anticipating having them, but they won't be delivered until later this month.