NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Cali @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 08:24 PM) Seemed like a lot of posters here were already calling Trayce a bust. Surprised to see him ranked so high... I'm actually not as high on him as some others, but it is waaaaaaay to early to call him a bust.

FS' latest top 25 White Sox prospects list is up. Take a look and tell us what you think.

My first choice is for the Sox to go 9-3 or 8-4 in this next run of games. But I'll admit, if they DON'T do that, I'd prefer 3-9 to 6-6, if only to force some much-needed changes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 09:26 AM) Two of those three things still exist, probably stronger than they did in the 00's. Two? You can't be serious. Housing is certainly no bubble now, and lending is still very restrictive for any real purpose. The unregulated trade on debt, I will grant you is only partially addressed, and still represents a real danger.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 09:20 AM) You mean back when we had low unemployment and a solid economy? I would contend that the economy "recovery" in the 2003-2006 time period was created mostly by three unsustainable forces: the housing bubble, too-free lending and the unregulated trade on debt. They created a hollow recovery that did not actually help the long term economy via industry or long term job growth. I give Bush near-zero credit for that "recovery", and in fact blame him (a little), Congress and the regulatory agencies for letting much of that get out of control, causing this much worse recession. The 2003-2006/7 economy was not at all solid, it was a ticking time bomb. The 90's run-up also bubbled, but, it had some degree of fundamental strength as well, which is why it was such a dramatic run-up. Of course, I don't necessarily credit Clinton for that either, he only played a small part.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 05:08 PM) I just read both Keith Law's and BaseballAmerica's mid-season Top 50 Prospects list, and didn't see a single White Sox player. Is your guys' system really that bare...? Pretty much. I personally wouldn't put any reliance on Keith Law when it comes to the Sox, but in this case he'd be right. Though I contend Viciedo could easily be in that 50. You should go look at our Future Sox forum, lots of prospect discussions there, and we'll have a new Sox Top 25 Prospects list up soon. ETA; Poster above makes a good point, they may consider Viciedo ineligible.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 09:04 AM) Trillions in spending once you factor in everything didn't do anything, and I am supposed to believe that trillions more will? Oh stop it, I know you disagree with Balta on... everything... but this time you are arguing for the sake of arguing. Of course tax increases have an effect, as do tax cuts, as do increases or decreases in government spending. So let's put aside the silliness about none of this having any effect, or that somehow tax cuts in the stimulus failed but reverting off part of the cuts would be a disaster.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 08:33 AM) I'm sure taking a bunch of money out of the one sector of the economy that is actually hiring won't have any bad effect on things... Do you have any evidence at all that this is true? I mean, certainly that bracket spends more, but its been pretty well debunked that few small businesses actually fall into this category. Further, even if it were true, there is nothing 100% about a relatively small raise in taxes on those few businesses would make a difference. Probably would for some. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 09:00 AM) Wait, so over a trillion dollars in tax cuts over 3 years didn't stimulate the economy much, but I'm supposed to be scared about a couple hundred billion in tax increases over 10 years? Have to agree with Balta (which, on tax matters, is unusual), in that you cannot argue against reverting top bracket taxes to pre-Bush levels (still historically very low) would decimate the economy, but the large tax cuts that made up half the stimulus were a failure.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 15, 2011 -> 07:45 AM) That's an aggressive move upwards for Phegley. Has he been hitting well enough to belong in AAA? Well, Flowers will be in Chicago a good long while. It might be roster expansion time before Castro is back anyway, so, he may be up here the rest of the season. So... do you give Lucy full time play, or give Phegley a chance to challenge himself?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 08:40 PM) Gentlemen, if the GOP signs a deal with Obama on the debt ceiling for anything less than 2.4 trillion in cuts (which is not enough, by the way) we need to vote them out. tea party 2012 Obama is willing to go to $4T, if the GOP is willing to look at ending the Bush tax cuts for the top bracket.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 01:54 PM) [/b] That is just crazy. No one is going to give up their state, especially someone with the history of the Israelis. Of course they won't, because now they truly have one. Back then, they really didn't, not in the same sense. I was referring to that. Neither party would want that now. QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) Id be willing to allow an international body to control and protect Jerusalem. The Jews may have had first claim, but over time things have changed and there is more than just Jewish relics there. As for Israel being run by an international coalition seems unnecessary, there is a compromise that can easily reached, both sides just need to accept a deal that they will consider bad. There are all sorts of compromises available, but as you said, neither side is willing to give anything up.

Much of this is about confidence. While government cuts will have a short term negative effect... it will not be huge, and more importantly, the cuts mean a deal, and a deal will be a salve for the markets. If they can then get back to clarifying regulations and requirements in the finance sector, those things combined would go a long way right now to loosening up some funding to allow for more growth.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 12:51 PM) Just watched Baseball Tonight's preview of the AL in the 2nd half, and Doug Glanville said the White Sox are the team to watch, and that Adam Dunn will break out of this and turn his season around. Predicting Dunn to break out isn't really ground-breaking. A guy who has been consistently one thing for years, suddenly dropped off into an abyss, with no injury reason... pretty easy pick to be a likely comeback player in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 12:47 PM) It is a multicultural state. In the most literal sense, that there are other cultures who live there, sure. In the way its government is set up and the its make-up, not even close. And when I said multi-cultural state, I really mean in terms of how it is set up - either a government that is a coalition of sorts, or more ideally, a non-state state run by other international parties.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 12:37 PM) I think that no matter what solution you chose, 60 years later we'd look back and describe it as "Sheer stupidity". A multi-cultural "State" would probably have ended up a lot like what we have now...a genuine apartheid state, probably with a civil war similar to the one in 1948 to boot. I think a lot of the stupidity could have been avoided by not creating such a state at all. Or, if you were going to create one, it wouldhave to be set up to NOT be what it is today. This could have been done, but it wasn't.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 12:05 PM) The problem with that line of thinking is that there was a very long running conflict going on between those groups before 1948 happened. Of course there was, all the more reason to not have created the state there. Furthermore, if you were going to do it, it needed to be a multi-cultural state in any case. These groups have been in conflict a long, long time. There is no ideal solution, but segregating out a slice of prime fought-for land for one particular religion's people in this case was sheer stupidity.

So, just curious... what do all you GOP'ers think of Jon Huntsman?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) Or we can just put it in a more sensible way... Are Fannie and Freddie the sole cause of this mess? No. But they helped, along with many other government arms, private banks, lending institutions, etc...all in conjunction with one another. They're all to blame, in part...we can look at it from multiple angles and say no one entity is the singular cause, but what's the point? People were buying homes with ARM mortgages and the banks / institutions HAD TO KNOW that when these ARMS started inflating, they wouldn't be able to afford them, nor would they be able to refinance due to their already high risk factor. They didn't care. They got their commission...what happened 5+ years down the road wasn't their concern... That is, until it became everyone's concern. I approve this message.

People want to blame the Israelis or the Palestinians. I sort of agree with those who say both are at fault. But IMO the single biggest fault for the ongoing conflict goes the nations that decided after WWII to create Israel in the first place, where and when and how they did. That was the single biggest reason for this mess, if there is one.

Its a private establishment, I see no problem with it. And I have a 2.5 year old, she is basically at the rowdiest age there is. We go to restaurants, but I have no issue with some of them choosing to not be a kid-friendly environment. Their choice.

And very quickly, G Johnson has been promoted to W-S. Final numbers from his short stint with Bristol (2 games) and Kanny (1 game)... 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (and a nice 2.50 GO/AO) 23 years old at this point, so he may have a shot yet if he does well in High A or above this season.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 12:57 PM) Didn't know where to put this, but I figure it's "investment" related. So has anyone else been screwed by an escrow fund review? My wife and I bought a place last year. For some unknown reason (which i'm investigating) our property taxes went up by $500/installment (2nd of last year, and first of this year), and our house insurance went up by $500. My bank sees this and "projecting" into the future tells me that the escrow fund is gonna be like 800 bucks short next year. Thus, they're asking me for that plus an amount near double that so they can set up a "reserve" account. So at the end of the day my monthly payments are going up about $300 a month. For you long time home owners out there - do property taxes and insurance go up like that every year? I mean, i figured they'd go up some, but that seems a bit excessive. At our last place, I was able to turn off escrow entirely, which I much preferred. Why give the bank a free loan if you don't have to? Had our homeowners and other insurance billed monthly to the credit card, and pushed money each month to savings in anticipation of property taxes. Adjusted the amounts as necessary. A little more work, but very little. But on the new house, this mortgager won't allow turning off escrow until I have both 40% equity and at least 5 years in. Irritating.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 12, 2011 -> 08:46 AM) Serafin also had a bad day. He is on the 40 man. Will he stay on the roster this off season? Serafin isn't on the 40 man. And there is no reason for him to be either, he's a 2nd or 3rd year guy in A ball.

QUOTE (kyle @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 12:17 PM) Garrett is not out of baseball. He has just returned for a rehab assignment pitched to Adam Dunn in Denver and Chicgo. Just sent to Kannapolis and throw 2 innings Thursday 1 hit 0 runs and 0 bb 2 strikeouts. Welcome to the board! If you continued to the end of the thread, you would have noticed the more recent update I posted about this. Yes, he's back in Kanny.

G Johnson did some extended ST and rehab work after the injury. Trib noted that he got to throw some BP the big leaguers in Colorado. Now activated with Kanny, Low A.