NorthSideSox72

After a DL stint and a rough April, Justin has started to get rolling in May and is getting closer to the form that was expected of him. In his last three starts, he has a 1.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, walked 5 and struck out 17 in 18 innings. For the month of May: 6 games (all starts), 30.1 IP 1-4 3.56 ERA 1.25 WHIP 10 BB / 22 K 0.89 GO/AO .241 AvgA Which puts his season totals at: 9 games (7 starts), 38.2 IP 1-4 4.19 ERA 1.42 WHIP 17 BB / 25 K 0.91 GO/AO .252 AvgA 2 HR As long as he keeps pitching as he has the past few games, he'll be in good shape. One concern with Cassel though, even when he is on, is that his GO/AO is well below what you'd want to see for a guy looking to pitch at The Cell. Flyball pitchers are not a good combination with the Sox home park. Hopefully he can improve this as his AAA season goes on.

Monthly Update - May 2009 Charlie continues to do well in W-S. His May wasn't as good as April, due mostly to his outing on 5/26 (5 IP, 9 H, 6 ER), where he took his first loss. His numbers in May: 6 games (all starts), 37 IP 5-1 4.14 ERA 1.24 WHIP 10 BB / 24 K 1.93 GO/AO .250 AvgA Not terrible for a "bad month". And his overall numbers so far for the season: 10 games (all starts, 59.2 IP) 8-1 3.77 ERA 1.17 WHIP 15 BB / 40 K 2.09 GO/AO .242 AvgA 0 HR The WHIP and GO/AO numbers are encouraging, he's got good control and gets a lot of ground ball outs. Hasn't given up a home run yet either. None of his numbers are bad, although you'd like to see his K numbers a little higher. Overall he's having a very solid season, similar in most ways (other than W-L record) to his year in Kanny in 2008.

Toledo ended up beating Charlotte 6-0. Beckham finished 3-4, Torres got hit around. Knightni should check out the guy who closed for Toledo.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ May 31, 2009 -> 03:30 PM) And yet you guys love to talk about him. He obviously feels he needs to say outrageous stuff to try to be relevant. Like Jesse Jackson and Sharpton, ignore them and they will go away. I love to talk about him? I think this may be the first time I have ever even discussed G Gordon Liddy in here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 04:12 PM) Give me a campaign finance overhaul first and I'll be happy to believe that our Congress won't go that way. That's simply how our government works. When it can put a 50% tax on something it doesn't like and a 0% tax on something that does give it a ton of money, right now it's going to do so Sure, that seems likely. I didn't say this was GOING to happen, I was illustrating how it COULD be done properly.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 04:22 PM) I also like how he calls the Spanish language "Illegal alien". Maybe he was abused by a hispanic woman as a child. Whatever, someone says something that hateful, they deserve to simply be ignored by thinking people.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 04:10 PM) Between Newt Gingrich calling her un-American and Rush Limbaugh comparing her to David Duke, you'd think it'd be hard to determine a winner for the most patently offensive statement so far from the right wing about Justice Sotomayor. But no, pardoned criminal G. Gordon Liddy has a solid grip on that position for now. H. Christ man, do you actually listen to the bile that spews from your mouth? I'm not even going to blockquote his words, take a look at the hyperlink if you want to figure it out. Whenever I see someone that over-the-top in their hatred of some specific group, it seems painfully obvious to me they have some issues of their own to work out in that dynamic. Someone who looks upon women in such a foul way, most likely is either a repressed gay man, or someone who feels great fear about women.

To clarify, I'm on the fence with concepts like VAT, national sales tax, etc. But to continue down this path... QUOTE (lostfan @ May 29, 2009 -> 03:48 PM) Never heard that idea, but on the same hand, what about exemptions for people with kids? Also, that seems like it would take out a pretty big chunk of revenue automatically. You don't simply reduce taxes, you re-balance. Keep the overall burden the same, just spread it to different areas. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 03:49 PM) The real problem is that once you start exempting things from the tax...you wind up just begging it to turn in to something like our income tax. Our income tax system is ridiculously complicated not because an income tax, or even a progressive income tax is very complicated on its face...it's complicated by the shear number of deductions we've written in as a method of rewarding favored industries or adding a distortion to the economy in some way. We offer massive deductions for things like business expenses, homeownership, medical care, etc. There's simply no reason to assume that if you switched to a VAT or added in a VAT that within 5 years it wouldn't be vastly more complicated than the income tax because each Congressman gets to insert an exemption for his or her favorite campaign contributor or method to help his or her district. If you want a way to think about it...ask this question...how long will it take for them to realize that giving a VAT break to ethanol production would be a big benefit to corn farmers? Slippery slope? Only if you allow it to happen. YOU may wind up with that, but one does not HAVE to.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 29, 2009 -> 03:41 PM) It would be regressive which is my biggest problem with any kind of flat or consumption tax. The higher your income, the less of your income you spend out of necessity (rent, utilities, food, clothing, car payment etc.), and it's probably close to 100% for most people. Which means the tax burden falls harder on the lower classes than anywhere else. I've seen this criticism of flat, vat or sales taxes a lot. But it can be addressed quite easily, and in fact some states and localities do exactly that - the rate can be very low or zero on things like clothing, store-bought food, necessities like that, with higher rates against other items. This is done all over. Not really an obstacle, IMO.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 29, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) I think we can settle that he was traded to the Cubs. C.J. Lang was promoted to B'ham to fill the open roster spot, Kyle Shelton shuffled up from Kanny to W-S, and Kanny now has an open roster spot. That writer actually responded to me this morning, and said this: "I was told that he went to the White Sox, plain and simple. If I remember correctly, Machado has played some outfield, too."

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) NSS how have you not bought one of those yet? Who says I haven't? Seriously though, I wouldn't be out there defending this guy like I am, except that the other options are terrible. I do think that Kroeger has a chance to be a solid major leaguer if given the chance, but alas, it ain't happening in Chicago, unless Wise or Pods gets hurt in the near future.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 29, 2009 -> 02:49 PM) Do we have to start the Wise bashing? Yes we know he's a below average major league player. I assume you are blaming KW and Ozzie, which is good. I'm sick of blaming Wise because he can't help the fact he's a fairly s***ty player. Let's face it. We are going to struggle big time without CQ. We just are. I was definitely blaming KW/Oz, not DeWayne himself. I think Wise seems like a guy who works hard and just wants a chance, I have nothing against him personally. And obviously whomever plays, I hope they kick ass. He's just not the best option right now, IMO.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 29, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) 191 AB. Wise hit .250 in his brief time up here last year, Kroeger is currently hitting .250 so far this year in Charlotte. If Kroger got off to a start reminiscent of his 2008 season this year I'd be inclined to agree that we might have a late bloomer on our hands, but he didn't/hasn't. Instead, we have a AAAA (edit: he probably isnt't even a 4A player actually) player (Wise) and a player who has yet to prove they are an above average AAA player. Kroeger's lines at AAA 2004: .332/.376/.587/.963 2005: .261/.316/.422/.738 2006: .231/.270/.370/.640 2007: .263/.338/.474/.812 2009: .244/.319/.407/.726 So, to me, it is Kroeger's 2008 year that looks like it may be an aberration. I wish him well, if he were to succeed it would onlky help us and give us more options. But I just don't see it. ML teams also havent seen it as he hasnt gotten a call since his 2004 season. I know you tend to fall in love with these types of players (Cook, Torres) and there's nothing wrong with that. I just can not see any way that Josh Kroeger is currently a better option than Wise. That being said, if we're out of it in September I wouldn't mind seeing him called up to get a few games up, but right now he isn't the right call IMO LOL, my biases aside (which if true would only make me like Wise more, which I don't), let's look at these guys' careers. And bear in mind that Kroeger is 26, and Wise is 31 (so Wise is far less likely to have upside left and has had more chances to learn each level)... Career MILB... Wise: .260/.309/.422/.731 Kroeger: .284/.340/.450/.790 Searching for aberrations, the best five OPS seasons for each (in stints over 100 AB to remove outliers): Kroeger: 1.058, .981, .963, .937, .887 (all since 2003, and last year was his 5th best, with 430 AB) Wise: .967, .917, .844, .821, .796 (only 2 since 2003, and last year was his 2nd best w/ only 191 AB) So any way you want to look at it - overall performance, when they did well (lately or not), best seasons... Kroeger wins out in a pretty big way. I'm sure I won't convince you with this either, but I've seen lots of Dewayne, and saw a little of Kroeger in ST. During that spring, you heard people in the org talk about seeing a good hitter in Josh, as did people here who saw even more of him. Any way you slice it, he looks a lot better to me, with a much higher chance of success.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:34 PM) Pretty similar seasons last year, plus Wise proved he was capable of handling MLB pitching. He didn't set the world on fire by any means, but as a temporary replacement for Quentin and to serve as an extra outfielder he's fine. Kroeger has zero history in the majors and has disappointed at Charlotte so far this year. Plus, Wise could be valuable as a PR and can adequately play all OF positions. Kroeger is best served in the corners and while not slow, he isnt an ideal PR candidate. I really fail to see where or why he is a better choice. Claiming Kroeger is a better option than Wise right now is a bit much. If looking at Wise's brief and highly aberrant 130 AB last year in Charlotte and comparing them to a full season is your measure, then Wise wins. But as I said, look at their careers, development, trends, etc. They all say that other than speed, Kroeger is the player with a far better chance of succeeding.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) actually I miswrote that... I could see Ozzie sticking Wise in CF with Pods in LF against a vast majority of righties and saying how great it is to have an extra left handed bat in there. Oh my god, I just envisioned how poor Pods/Wise/Dye in the OF is going to be defensively. Yes, that was my fear. If Ozzie could, he'd play Pods and Wise against righties, and 2 Andersons against lefties. Since he can't, I think he'll play Anderson in CF against lefties and that's it. We'll get Pods/Wise the rest of the time. Just terrible.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) lol, for the record, I changed my spelling mistake in my original post!!!!!!!!! He may get playing time over Pods, but not BA, I just don't see anything in Ozzie's track record that would make that a reality, he'll fall back on the lefty/righty thing. Hopefully you are right, given Brian's righthandedness and playing well lately, he'll get starting time.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:11 PM) We have ALOT of lefty bats on this team right now. Well, finding a RH hitting OF would be even harder than finding one at all right now. The only one in Charlotte is Mike Restovich, who I don't think the org sees as a real option.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:09 PM) that's being optomistic I know, I'm hoping against history that Anderson will get to stay starting in CF. And as much as I get on Pods, he's still far better than Wise. If Wise gets as much time as either (or more), then its an even worse move.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 29, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) How so? We don't have any other options down at AAA. And please don't say Kroeger. You asked and answered. Look at the numbers Wise and Kroeger have put up in their minor league careers, in their full seasons last year, and in spring training this year, and tell me you really think Wise is a better option for a backup OF.

Source? Assuming its true... expected and stupid.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Well, there's a reason why these are spread out amongst different agencies though...the road access is for different purposes. I'm not sure it makes sense to have a single agency be a clearinghouse deciding where logging can go, where mining can go, and where tourist and other transit travel can go. Different purposes for each. I didn't say combining agencies, as clearly they have different missions. I said a reviewing body, whose specific interests are those that are common among them. Alternately, have committees in each agency bound by the same rules and guidelines, but that will eventually lead back to a lack of mission in regards to how we manage open spaces.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 29, 2009 -> 11:45 AM) Besides those two, though...the others look pretty good. I wouldn't say he's a glorified blogger, yes, he has bad articles, but then again, who doesn't? In the interest of fairness, I know Dayn and he does know a lot about the sport. My issue with him isn't just the baseball knowledge, its that his actual writing is just not up to par. Its generally loaded with grammatical errors, bad information and research, etc. Which is another reason why he comes off less like a writer and more like a blogger.

Some great news today from SecAg Vilsack, for those of us interested in protecting roadless primitive and wilderness areas... Vilsack issued an order where all development to occur in any roadless area within the Forest Service must now be reviewed and signed off on by him personally. This is effectively a "time out" for all new development in roadless areas under the USFS. Great first step. but it does not cover BLM or NPS land, which are under Interior - hopefully Salazar will make a corresponding move. Then, ideally, the oversight of such roadless areas for development should be combined in a single reviewing body, instead of spread out over seperate departments and agencies. And as a final cement, take all the internal recommendations for Wilderness designations and upgrade all the WSA's out there.

QUOTE (MN_Sox @ May 28, 2009 -> 10:42 PM) I agree recently maybe so...but I've been a White Sox fan since '83. And I still remember those days back then when the White Sox just absolutely sucked because we had no farm system, and we didn't invest in any players. Those days of long ago when we couldn't keep any talent, even home-grown talent. I am glad that recently, the White Sox have been doing better in keeping and trying to get better players, build up the farm. But as far as I'm concerned, we still have never tried to go after the "big" name guy. And I believe that most big name high priced players wouldn't want to come to play for the White Sox. It's like Cleveland, Kansas City, Minnesota; most big name players wouldn't want to play there...most of your good high priced players would rather goto the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox. I believe the White Sox have as much tradition and history as the Red Sox and Yankees, but the White Sox would never be anything close to what those organizations are. I guess it's good to dream that some day, ballplayers would actually "want" to come to Chicago; not the Cubs! I don't know just my $ .02, take it for what it's worth. Maybe we need to build a new stadium???? Isn't it about time? I assume you are joking about the new stadium, since ours is only 18 years old and has just under gone 5 years of renovations. And this issue is really only tangentially related to the Sox - seems like this should be in the Sports Pub.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ May 29, 2009 -> 09:20 AM) Sorry for being "that guy" that won't quite let this thread die. Equal apologies for being "that guy" that gets annoyed at the national media. Having said that, I read Dayn Perry's recent article on Trades That Need to Happen Now! and couldn't help but scratch my head at this statement: I know he's an excellent prospect (rated #32 by MLB.com and #30 by Baseball America), but one offensive player, straight up is better than 4 pitchers (including Poreda, ranked #63 by BA)? Really? This just seems like a completely moronic statement, above and beyond the usual idiocy of some of these national "our job is to make people mad and drive traffic to our sites" writers. Its Dayn Perry, who is the second worst sports columnist I've ever read (behind the jackass that the Sun-Times fired a while back). I'd expect nothing else.