caulfield12

One thing is hard to argue. Renteria wasn't good enough for the Cubs...at least, not when they had the resources to get one of the top tier guys in Maddon. It does kind of get old when we're supposed to believe that Hahn is actually smarter than Epstein about staff/personnel decisions. What exactly would our belief be based upon there?

Fine, the Royals and Astros are better examples...

The majority of young players in those situations (Royals/Cubs) were promoted level by level through the minors...stayed together with their same draft class, experienced a winning culture together and learned to rely upon each other for 3-5 years in the minors as teammates. Moncada, Anderson, Jimenez and Kopech are the main guys who could theoretically be affected (by the overall lower level of talent and cohesiveness at Birmingham and Charlotte while they were moving up.) Hansen, Collins and Burdi as well. At any rate, we really won’t see this until 2020-21 when the Winston-Salem group hits the major league level together.

Wonder if we can break the trend of Sox managers being quite effective in their debut year (Ventura 2012, Renteria 2017) and then struggling thereafter to keep the team’s attention...?

WV GOP Senate primary continues to amaze and befuddle... https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/05/blankenship-polls-west-virginia-senate-primary-570752 His (Blankenship’s) scorching attacks have veered into deeply personal, even racially charged territory. This week, Blankenship began airing a TV commercial labeling McConnell “Cocaine Mitch,” an apparent reference to a 2014 report that drugs were once found aboard a shipping vessel owned by the family of McConnell’s wife, Taiwan-born Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Then, a few days later, Blankenship began airing another spot declaring that McConnell’s “China family has given him tens of millions of dollars.” ... But after lining up behind losing candidates in Alabama and Pennsylvania races — electoral defeats that ultimately proved embarrassing to Trump — many Republicans are skeptical that he will forcefully repudiate Blankenship ahead of the primary. Particularly concerning to Republicans is Blankenship’s TV spending. Over the final six days of the race, the self-funding coal baron is set to spend over $640,000 on commercials, according to media buying totals — more than Jenkins and Morrisey combined. Blankenship has spent over $2.5 million on TV ads in total, far more than his rivals. Senior Republicans say they are also distressed that Jenkins and Morrisey spent nearly all of the campaign savaging each other. Further complicating matters is that a Democratic super PAC, Duty and Country, convinced that Jenkins would pose a formidable challenge to Manchin, has invested $1.8 million targeting him in an effort to keep him from winning the GOP primary.

The White Sox might be shut out of the playoffs for another decade if they go to that option...

On the plus side, we’ve produced 3 of the top 12 shotstops statistically in baseball this year. #5 Escobar (who might not be ranked so high without Sox pitching to feast upon) and #9 Marcus Semien. Plus yet another for AJ Preller. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23424256/bruce-bochy-san-francisco-giants-laughs-brandon-mccarthy-reply-rare-tweet Next, hilarious Brandon McCarthy Twitter humor!!! And at least we’re not Yadier Molina about right now, so there’s that. Finally, passed the Royals for 3rd pick, closing in on Balt and Cincy!

Watching highlights now...why didn’t Yolmer throw home? Forgot there was only one out? He didn’t even look...he was playing in on the grass. Abreu was pissed, you could tell. Well, at least we brought the Twins right back into race. Indians are only 17-17.

Yeah, and Oakland padded their numbers as well with a free night (40,0000+) for the 50th Anniversary of the Coliseum. Strip those numbers away, they’re at 17,180 pg, not 19,055. White Sox currently at 15,732. Cleve should beat us, but Balt and Cincy are in sight. Detroit and KC will struggle all year long as well.

Basabe 6 for his last 26 before tonight...hardly en fuego.

At least one cause for celebration...but Basabe cooling off.

76ers teaching everyone the fragility of the rebuild process...Cubs and Astros made it look too easy.

Tied with Royals for third in tankathon...now, how to catch Cincy and Balt?

Especially with continuing uncertainty about Anderson...

The 2012 team was in first place for most of the year, but most knowleadgeable Sox fans knew deep down the Tigers were better. Tepid support even then...part of it due to Dunn’s 2011 and Buehrle departing.

At least that makes more sense than original joke by Benetti

Anderson can’t hit again...Escobar must be hitting .400 career wise against Sox

Call 3rd homer, Adolfo double (10) and a walk

Something off with the Cubs this year. Obviously, Baez, Schwarber and Almora are doing well...but the bullpen, Quintana, Rizzo (Parkland shooting effects?), it’s just incredibly difficult to sustain a World Series level team.

AJ Pollock is continuing to look like the most attractive option after Harper, Machado, Donaldson and Arenado (2019-20 class).

Cubs, Twins, Tigers/Indians (tie)

That completely depends on the second wave of talent now at W-S, Kopech, Jimenez, Cease, Hansen, Robert, Collins, Burger...these next two years of years of high draft picks.

Narvaez needs to get that tag lower on the body...

Narvaez has had an ungodly number of PB’s

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/week-trumponomics-workers-disappear-173826715.html Economists struggle to explain two oddities in the current labor market. The first is the relatively low portion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one. The so-called labor-force participation rate is 62.8%, a level it has generally been stuck at since 2014. The peak was 67.3% in 2000. So while the unemployment rate is back to the low levels of 2000, the portion of Americans working or looking for work is considerably lower. An aging labor force might explain part of the problem, since workers aged 55 to 64 — a bracket that is swelling, as the baby boomers age — are less likely to work than younger folks. The opioid epidemic might keep some people who would otherwise have a job from working. Recent research from the Conference Board suggests more people consider themselves disabled these days, a third possible explanation for the low participation rate. The other oddity is weak wage growth, with wages rising just 2.6% during the last 12 months. Ordinarily, employers hike pay as unemployment drops and workers become scarce. There are 6.5 million unfilled jobs in America, and there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that a lot of employers can’t find workers. But if they’re paying more to get the people they need, it’s not showing up in the data. These two factors—weak wage growth and low worker participation—are a drag on economic growth, and they seem out of sync with an unemployment rate that’s historically low. Trump’s main economic policy is tax cuts, which are supposed to leave workers and businesses with more after-tax income to spend and invest. But it’s not clear tax cuts will do anything to pull more workers into the labor force, or boost basic pay.