caulfield12

What the 15 biggest US school districts are planning for reopening https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/us/schools-reopening-district-plans/index.html Hillsborough County, Florida, the eighth-biggest district in the country, will announce its decision August 3. Its school board previously rejected a plan for virtual learning for the first nine weeks of school.

He's got to beat out Bradley, Trout, Kiermaier and Mercado.

One thing that's clear right now...Bieber >>> Berrios for best starting pitcher in the AL Central, and the Indians have that dude under team control through 2024, Carrasco through 2023, Clevinger through 2022, Casey Mize on the doorstep with the Tigers, but they're unlikely to push him up early this year, at least not until they do the whole service time thing.

Moncada/Madrigal, completely similar players, constantly confused for each other, lol... Wouldn't feel confident unless they add one more quality veteran FA pitcher this off-season, especially if Lopez has a season-ending injury, which would mean you couldn't count on him in any way, shape or form except out of the bullpen the last 2-3 months of 2021. 2022 would likely be at least 1 to 1 1/2 seasons early for Kelly (especially without two full months of minor league ball to get his feet under him), unless he just explodes on the scene. The last time we took a highly touted high school pitching prospect in the top 2-3 rounds, he turned out to be a complete bust, so they're always going to be the ones with the highest variability in terms of outcomes. Stiever, Thompson and Dalquist could all figure into the equation down the line (of course, along with Dane Dunning...and we'll just have to wait and see about Lambert for now.)

White Sox projected at #6, fwiw. Was doing some research on the Berrios and Buxton contracts (both free agents after 2022) and came across this article from late in the 2019 season. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2849545-future-power-rankings-where-every-mlb-team-will-stand-3-years-from-now Thought it would be interesting as a general debate/discussion topic, particularly in light of some of the personnel changes since this article was written. The quite obvious one that jumps out to me is the increasing uncertainty about the Braves in their starting rotation, hard to see how they're going to maintain that top spot but they've always been blessed with one of the best minor league pipelines in baseball, despite going through a GM scandal. If Soroka, Wright and Fried all make it, they could still be fine. Having the Astros at #13 is a bit of a hot take, but they also have a ton of pitching question marks in the near and short term. Also, the Rays being able to sustain a position in the Top 3 of MLB seems a bit dubious, no matter how much every scout raves about Wander Franco. They've also experienced some major injuries in their prospect core over the last 18 months. Of course, for White Sox fans, a bit laughable that any projection of Jake Burger being an important depth piece at this point in his career means someone isn't paying attention all that carefully to the state of the organization.

From Greenberg: “According to preliminary overnight ratings, from a source, the Cubs did a 6.0 household rating (equivalent to 195,000 homes) between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday night, peaking with a 7 (225,000) around 8:30 p.m. That was the No. 1 viewed broadcast in that time slot in Chicago. (The White Sox game, according to a source, did a 3.1 [100,000 homes] on NBC Sports Chicago.)” For context, the Cubs’ local average annual ratings in Chicago have ranged from 3.32 to 4.48 over the past five years – when the games were shared among NBC Sports Chicago and over-the-air options WGN and ABC. The last three years were right around 4.15. Moreover, the Cubs saw a pretty decent sized drop in their ratings from 2018 to 2019. So, yes, a 6.0 rating on Marquee – a cable-only channel – is enormous, even for an opener. I’d think the lack of sports content gave that even more of a boost. https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2020/07/27/cubs-ratings-for-the-opener-on-marquee-were-expectedly-huge/

In contrast, the Harvard group says that “at the red level, jurisdictions have reached a tipping point for uncontrolled spread and will require the use of stay-at-home orders and/or advisories to mitigate the disease.” Right now, that would mean 13 of the Trump task force’s 21 red-zone states returning to lockdown: Florida (with a staggering 48.1 new daily cases per 100,000 people), Louisiana (46.2), Mississippi (43.5), Alabama (39.1), Arizona (36.6), Tennessee (34.1), Georgia (33.8), Nevada (33.0), South Carolina (30.1), Texas (27.9), Idaho (27.5), Arkansas (26.4) and Oklahoma (25.6). The other eight task force red-zone states — California (23.5), Missouri (22.0), North Dakota (18.2), North Carolina (18.1), Utah (17.9), Iowa (16.3), Wisconsin (15.7) and Kansas (14.2) — would fall into Harvard’s orange zone. So do an additional 14 states, including several — such as New Mexico (15.6), Nebraska (15.1) and Maryland (14.6) — that seem to be getting worse fast. In the orange zone, Harvard says, “community spread has accelerated” to “dangerous levels” and “stay-at-home orders are advised” (unless “viral testing and contact tracing capacity” are sufficiently robust). If implemented, the Harvard framework wouldn’t necessarily force entire states to stay at home. In fact, the group has produced a county-by-county COVID-19 risk map and argues that “policy decisions about which strategies of disease response are best for a jurisdiction should be made by looking at both the local level and the state picture and considering the dynamic relationship between them.” In Ohio, for instance, that might mean issuing a stay-at-home order in Mercer County (33.7 new daily cases per 100,000), but not across the state as a whole (11.0). In on-the-cusp California (23.5), it might mean holding off statewide but requiring residents of orange-zone Los Angeles County (24.2) to stay at home because they are surrounded by four red-zone counties: Kern (91.6), Riverside (30.1), San Bernardino (33.0) and Ventura (27.7). Nationwide, however, it would mean putting targeted lockdowns back on the table, followed by dramatically expanded testing and tracing. https://www.yahoo.com/news/these-are-the-13-states-that-need-to-lock-down-now-according-to-harvard-coronavirus-experts-162201179.html

Mama Boucher : You gonna lose all your fancy "fools' balls" games! And your gonna fail your big exam! Because school is... Bobby Boucher : The devil? [Mama gasps] Bobby Boucher : Everything is the devil to you, Mama! Well, I like school, and I like football! And I'm gonna keep doin' them both because they make me feel good! Bobby Boucher : [Bobby runs out, slamming the door, then comes back in] And by the way, Mama. "Alligators" are ornery 'cause of their "Medula Oblongata"! Bobby Boucher : [Bobby runs back out, then back in again] And I like Vicki, and she like me back! And she showed me her boobies and I like them too! [slams door on Mama]

The culture on both sides which distracts from addressing, let alone fixing, what is actually wrong with the country is what's really ruining it...that abundant hyper-partisanship on progressive and conservative extremes of the spectrum.

The only thing he lacks is an elite arm. He has a very strong one, especially for CF, but that's a minor quibble to say he's not elite in one of the five tool areas. The player he reminds me of in terms of the way he glides after balls in CF is either Devon White or Eric Davis....but he's much stronger physically than both of those guys. He's also getting into some bad habits about how he catches the ball and eventually that will come back to bite him and one will drop embarrassingly and that will be that, but that swagger's always going to be part of his game, and that's a strength, too. He's not quite showboating out there, but eventually he's going to learn how to give way to the corners and infielders and not try to take every single ball hit in his direction. Fwiw, can't even imagine what it would have been like to have a team with Robert, Moncada and Tatis, Jr., (Jimenez is capable of being a great hitter, but lacks the overall athleticism/coordination/agility those guys possess) all on the field simultaneously. But who knows, maybe Elijah will hit a growth spurt just like his older brother did and fill out and develop enough strength to hit 15-20 homers from the middle infield, becoming our own version of CJ Abrams.

Q2 GDP annualized, quarter over quarter: -34.5% expected vs. -5.0% in Q1 Q2 Personal consumption: -34.5% expected vs. -6.8% in Q1 Core Personal consumption expenditures, quarter over quarter: -0.9% expected vs. 1.7% in Q1 If GDP comes in at a 34.5% annualized contraction as expected, it would mark by far the worst plunge ever recorded, based on Bureau of Economic Analysis data spanning back to 1947. Before the pandemic, the worst GDP print on record was in the first quarter of 1958, when GDP fell 10.0% on an annualized basis. US economic activity contracted by 5.0% in the first quarter of 2020, which captured only the start of the coronavirus pandemic and business shutdowns in March. Estimates for the margin of decline in second-quarter GDP spanned a relatively wide range. On the low end, several economists expected GDP sank as much as 40%. On the high end, Mizuho Securities economists estimated GDP declined by 25% in the second quarter. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s closely watched GDPNow tool forecast a 32.1% decline in second-quarter GDP, as of Wednesday’s estimate.

Jesus, that was ugly. Just make Bummer the closer. Heuer, anyone. Then again, no matter where Colome pitches in the late innings, they're going to drag on and on and on forever. Reminiscent of the last days of Bobby Jenks with the White Sox.

"Colome makes Rafael Betancourt look like a fast worker."

Dreaded closer with the 4 run lead situation....but absolutely had to get him some game action.

Thanks, Nolan Ryan.

What's the MLB record for earliest hitting coach dismissal in a season? We might be the franchise to do it.

"I can't help but wonder if by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, if I might have put some... of the virus on the mask and breathed it in," Gohmert told Texas affiliate KETK on Wednesday. When masks are worn incorrectly, it can lead to exposure, health officials say. Gohmert noted that despite his earlier comments, "in the last week or two, I have worn a mask more than I have in the whole last four months." He's also not changed his views on mask-wearing, saying "this used to be a free country." The CDC advises people wear cloth face coverings in public settings and when around people who don't live in your household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. Many of the counties in Gohmert's East Texas district are not enforcing the state's mask mandate, KETK reports. Gohmert is one of multiple members of Congress flouting the mask requirements put in place on Capitol Hill to keep members, their staff and employees of the complex safe. www.cnn.com

Let's not forget the Indians built up some payroll flexibility this year dumping the Kluber contract...that's going to come in handy for a small market team with an unfavorable local broadcasting rights deal.

Giolito's benefited from this expanded strike zone, too. Unfortunately, the hitters haven't made the adjustments.

Grandal looks like he's joined the cast of the Walking Dead: Mil-lee-wok-kay with Alice Cooper The patented 2 minute, 32 second White Sox half inning of offense.

Here comes your ballgame. Fantasy league hitter vs. the young White Sox season, lol. There can only be one outcome.

I thought about picking up Machine Gun Joe Kelly just for his antics and facial expressions vis a vis the Astros last night. That's classic, baseball needs more of that kind of stuff...rivalry week.

Waiting for Jack Parkman to argue/state/claim/assert Madrigal would have stopped that single...if the Indians go on to score here with two outs.

WHERE'S RON??? Gold Glove defense out of Jose, lol. Mercado can really play some D, too...Cleveland has a nicely balanced team, but I think their offense is just not enough to compete with NYY, MIN, HOU. A bit like the 1990's Braves' teams that only won one World Series title in 14 attempts.

Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and George Brett never used the term sequencing...like, ever.