caulfield12

They both have “infectious” personalities? Except Madrigal is always dead serious about winning, unlike, say, Melky Cabrera.

Maybe if you take away the $35-45 million the White Sox have been getting from 2016 - present for generating such low attendance/gate revenue? (Either way you penalize someone, it’s going to be disproportionately more (or less) of an impact for mid-market vs. large/r market teams. Now, as far as what’s “IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF BASEBALL.” Well, you can argue that MLB is more successful financially (ratings/sponsorships) when the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, etc., are in the World Series or at least the ALCS/NLCS. (You might even argue baseball would be better off having the Yankees and Red Sox in separate divisions or leagues, but that’s an argument for another day, like the DH). It’s the same argument going on currently about the NBA, with even this year’s obvious mismatch basically drawing the same ratings/market share as the 2017 beatdown in 5 games. People love to watch historic franchises, superstars and/or budding dynasties. Even teams like the Giants and Cardinals, certainly the Astros or Royals...just don’t register on a national basis. They’re regional alliances...whereas the four I listed are all “nationalized” fanbases. I bet only about 3-5% of baseball fans could even name the 2005 White Sox as the World Series champions that particular year. Finally, you MIGHT be able to argue for the Angels being #5 now that they have Ohtani and Trout, but those two superstars might be enough to have pushed them over into this special status. I do think if you started pulling revenue/tv/gate revenue sharing, you’d see franchise like the A’s, Rays, Marlins and potentially Pittsburgh (under present ownership) forced to either move to other markets or sell to deeper-pocked, more long-term oriented ownership groups. Manfred has already been pushing for at least one team in Mexico and going back to Canada (Montreal, probably).

The difference is that he can bunt a LOT better (great, I bet everyone’s saying to themselves, unless Renteria’s still around) than Yolmer, has much better flat out straight ahead speed for stealing bases. For OSU, he often calls pick-offs on the infield before the manager/coaches notices what is going on....he also calls a lot of the mound visits, pep talks for pitchers. He’s like another coach on the field...and I think his enthusiasm/work ethic/seriousness about the game will rub off on other more physically gifted players like Moncada, Anderson and Luis Robert. Throws to the right places, hits to the opposite side to advance runners or dials up XB power, always is looking for just the slightest bobble so he can take the extra base when he reaches. Like Omar Vizquel, he’ll make the entire infield better from a defensive standpoint. I know we heard in 2008 that Gordon Beckham was going to be the Jeter of the White Sox and the face of the franchise, but Madrigal represents what it means to be a White Sox fan. Always the underdog, always undersized, having to prove himself to doubters....blue collar work ethic. The only thing those two have in common are uncertainties about their eventual defensive positions and being the best collegiate draft classes (although some argue that even as a HS senior, Madrigal was the best pure hitter but MLB teams were afraid to draft him too high because they hadn’t seen what guys like Betts and Altuve could do...how good they were going to eventually be.) Between him, Anderson and Abreu (for now), you’ve gotta 3 different types of leaders...and Shields for the pitching staff, although he won’t be around too much longer. He also noted for how his teammates have to drag him away from young fans clamoring for autographs because he’ll stay and sign for everyone if they let him. That’s rare in this day of “what’s in it for me/me first” type of players. A throwback, old school type like Nellie Fox or Bill Mazeroski.

Through 2023 is either 3 or 4 years in the Sox competitive window for Moncada.... Abreu and Rodon are big ?’s.

District 10 (CA) Looks like the only race where the Dems COULD (eventually) be locked out of the general because of too many running against each other in the primary... Republican Jeff Denham is running for reelection in this district that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Democrat Michael Eggman lost to Denham in 2014 and 2016; five other Democrats, including investor Josh Harder, entered the race. Candidate Votes Pct. Jeff Denham* (R) 22,272 38.0% Josh Harder (D) 9,014 15.4% Ted Howze (R) 8,406 14.3% Michael Eggman (D) 6,290 10.7% Virginia Madueno (D) 5,326 9.1% Sue Zwahlen (D) 5,256 9.0% Mike Barkley (D) 1,473 2.5% Dotty Nygard (D) 567 1.0% *Incumbent 70.6% of precincts reporting

Ultimately, you SHOULD have Luis Robert and Madrigal battling it out over the next two years for "top prospect." Jimenez will be #1 going into next year. Kopech MIGHT be graduated...we shall see. Then you have Collins, Cease, Hansen and Dunning somewhere in that next grouping or tier. And then the survivor/s of the Adolfo/Rutherford/Basabe/L.Gonzalez OF battle/s in the next tier, alongside Burdi.

Somehow I'm not surprised Rep. Steve King is getting almost 75% of the votes in his IA district primary. For the time being, California Districts 39, 48 and 49 APPEAR like they won't have Democrats locked out. That Paul Kerr who spent over $5 million attacking fellow Dems is at roughly 5%. Talk about a waste of money... I assume you're referring to D'Alessandro? Yeah, you'd think with One Revolution's/Sanders 2016 Mailing Lists, he'd be able to do MUCH better than that. I hate to judge candidates on appearance, but he's right out of Chris Christie Casting Central. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/04/25/democrat-pete-dalessandro-exploring-congressional-run-iowas-3rd-district/306376001/ As to your final point about "sharing" success...I think you might be onto something there. I will never admit this to Greg, but I actually watched a Christian movie called "I Can Only Imagine" about the origin of that song and the story of the group MercyMe (particularly lead singer/songwriter Brad Millard) and there's this powerful scene where Amy Grant is about to take his song and debut it in Nashville and she changes her mind at the last second and invites him to come up on stage and perform in front of a huge audience (because it's his story, a personal one about his father). That's what has to happen here as well, politically speaking. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren need to pass the torch on to SOMEONE on the progressive side...because neither one of them alone can carry it and win the Democratic nomination. Most importantly, the future will be about technology and how it affects American workers...we need YOUNG/ER leaders who really understand how tech works, about the arguments for and against Universal Basic Income, who can speak intelligently to Silicon Valley leaders about AI/AR/VR/robotics and (specifically) about how to address the needs of Millennials. Simply being much more palatable than a centrist/moderate in HRC doesn't mean you can win a general election unless you offer "REALISTIC" opportunities but not "FREE GIVEAWAYS" because investing in the country wins an election...but WASTING precious resources on BLAH/ILLEGAL people is going to be a position that the Dems have to fight back against (that particular GOP branding) and counter-punch hard.

Well, obviously Obama put himself on the map with that Democratic Convention speech (Purple States, not blue and red ones)...he had his autobiography out there, I remember distinctly thinking when he was in Kansas City in 2006 helping McCaskill out that HE WAS THE ONE. Don't have that sense that there's an "anointed" guy on the Dem side yet, kind of like Rubio was SUPPOSED to be on the GOP list coming into the last election cycle. It FELT like one of Gillibrand/Booker/Harris was being forced into that role, but they haven't fully earned it quite yet. FWIW, I pay attention to Loebsack and Bustos, being from the Quad Cities originally...but no so much what happen west of Des Moines (unless it's Hawkeye FB/BB recruiting).

Haven't heard as much talk recently about focusing on sinker ball pitchers with high K rates for those 81 home games at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Right now, the Democrats don't have ANYONE that could beat Trump...other than POSSIBLY Biden. Even then, it wouldn't be a slam dunk with how close the generic Congressional ballot is, under 4% from what used to be a lead well in the mid-teens. I don't think Schultz can win simply because 1) he hasn't even decided to run (for anything, officially), and 2) the Trump baggage of billionaire/businessman/politically-inexperienced mixed with "politically correct/socially conscious at the cost of profits" will be a turnoff to enough people he won't actually stand a chance. But I think having more "WELLSTONE-IAN" voices like Sanders, Schultz, Sherrod Brown, wherever they come from...is probably a good thing for the party.

Muhammad Ali? Arthur Ashe? Billie Jean King? Lebron James?

Arrieta "peavy-ied" the Phillies to a series-opening victory over the Cubs...

2001-2010, with the exceptions in 2005 and 2008 Like whenever we had to play at Anaheim or Oakland in that same era...or Toronto. At any rate, without the Blackout Game and the last week of that regular season, make-up game against DET, some of us might still be haunted.....if not for the fact the Twins started to suck so bad in their new stadium and the other three AL Central teams fielded much better teams.

Fernando Tatis Jr. was named a Minor League Player of the Month after producing a 1.054 OPS in May. The Padres prospect tries to stay hot for San Antonio tonight against Midland.

Who else was EXPECTING a three-run game-tying homer there....? PHEW. Twins were lucky to get a split.

Albert Blanco was one of the catchers that stands out... Kubel another blast from the past. Josh Willingham...thankfully, they let David Ortiz go to Boston or it would have been even more unbearable.

Denny Hocking, Bartlett, Punto, Tyner, Luis Castillo, they had an annoying back-up catcher (Latin American) that always got big hits off us. Obviously Torii Hunter after he ran down Jamie Burke. Never liked Shannon Stewart, Jacque Jones or Koskie/Mientkiewicz much either, but they could play some admirable D. I think the Sox have now lost 7 of their last 8 in Minneapolis (after the 1st game).

Star Date, Late August, 2016 Lucas Giolito threw 98 miles per hour during two scoreless innings in the 2015 Futures Game, and the baseball world nodded in unsurprised approval. Everyone knew about the 6-6 right-hander, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, with an elite fastball and uncommon curveball. Everyone expected the mid-to-high-90s fastball they got from him that day. A season later, as he made his fourth major league start Sunday against the Rockies, he never broke 95. Murmurs began. Tweets flew. What happened to 98? After four up-and-down outings in his first major league opportunities, is something wrong with the 22-year-old? Cue prospect paranoia. Then dial it down. Multiple rival evaluators familiar with the Nationals’ minor league system expressed no concern about Giolito’s velocity whatsoever. One scout said the numbers he had on Gioito put the righty’s average fastball velocity at 94.7 during the 2015 minor league season. According to BrooksBaseball, his release speed was 94.8 in his first big league start, 94.2 on Sunday. FanGraphs lists his average fastball velocity this season at 93.6 — though it lists his two-seam fastball velocity at 94.9. Two-seamers are not generally thrown harder than four-seamers, and Giolito does not throw a two-seamer often, if at all, so perhaps a few pitches that might have affected the numbers were misidentified by the Pitch F/X system Fangraphs uses. Maybe not. Either way, most prospect scouting reports prior to this season list Giolito as having a mid-90s fastball, sitting 93-96. He pitched to the lower part of that range Sunday, and is now averaging 93.6 in his four major league outings — just behind Sammy Solis for the eighth-highest average fastball velocity on the Nationals this season. Would you be surprised to learn that Blake Treinen, touted regularly here and elsewhere for his high-90s sinker that seems to always hit 98 on stadium scoreboards, averages 95.3? Or that Felipe Rivero, who hit 100 now and then, only averaged 95.3? The point those rival scouts made, and one worth considering, is that the top fastball velocities often morph into prospect epithets. Average fastball velocities say more. “There’s the hype element of all this that gets a lot of play. If you look at the starters and where they pitch, 93, 94 really has been where he’s been,” Nationals Director of Player Development Mark Scialabba said. “…with Lucas, he went through the Tommy John process, came back, rehabbed, and at times he was upper 90s, touched 100.” “As he went through the full season and pitching every fifth day, you’re going through the grind and the throwing program, the velocity is going to regress a bit to a level that’s more comfortable for him. Will his velocity improve? I can’t say exactly. But 93,94, pitching at that level is something that does fit where he’s been the last couple years in the minor leagues. He’s pitched 96, 97 at times. So is it alarming? I wouldn’t say that at this point. It’s something that’s consistent with his past.” Giolito’s velocity was about half a mile per hour slower on Sunday than it had been at times this season — something to watch, nothing to cause panic — and that velocity was not the problem, he explained later. “I can pitch at 93 if I’m hitting my spots and mixing up well,” Giolito said afterward. “I think I left way too many fastballs up over the middle of the plate. Those are the ones that got hit pretty hard, so the velocity I don’t think is a huge deal as long as I’m pitching the way I should be pitching, which I didn’t do.” Indeed, the numbers show that the problem for Giolito in his small major league sample is not so much how hard he is throwing his fastball, but rather how often. Max Scherzer’s fastball is averaging 94.3 miles per hour this season, according to FanGraphs. He is throwing it 56 percent of the time, in a mix with 20 percent sliders, 12 percent change-ups, and eight percent curveballs. Stephen Strasburg is averaging 94.9 miles per hour with his fastball, using it 57.1 percent of the time, in a mix with 17 percent sliders, 13 percent curveballs, and 12 percent change-ups. Giolito, on the other hand, is throwing 73.8 percent fastballs, 17 percent curveballs, and nine percent change-ups. His mix is not as varied, nor as consistent yet. When he mixed pitches Sunday, he got outs. When he threw consecutive fastballs to Nolan Arenado — including an 0-2 one over the plate — he got hit. Honing command of his fastball has been, and remains, an important developmental focus for Giolito — and Scialabba would not rule out an increase in velocity as the 22-year-old grows into his frame. He is, after all, just 22, and as pitchers sharpen mechanics and establish increased consistency with their delivery, confidence and velocity can follow. In the meantime, establishing command of that plus-curveball and consistency with his change-up seem like the rookie’s more pressing developmental necessities. “The change-up wasn’t as good today as I would’ve liked it to be. It’s been a lot better in the past, and the only thing I can do is continue to trust it and keep throwing it,” Giolito said Sunday. “I think a couple change-ups I threw today were pretty good, and then a couple not-so-good ones. But I got to keep working on throwing everything for strikes.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2016/08/29/should-anyone-be-concerned-about-lucas-giolitos-velocity/?utm_term=.b64b8852a280

And, as far as changing his delivery/mechanics...75% of it was probably trying to prevent another TJS. Now we know with how Strasburg was handled the Nats aren't always right, and nor was/is Dusty Baker...but you don't tear a guy completely down and try to put him back together without good reason. In the same way, Tiger Woods started adjusting his swing in an attempt to cut down on the torque created on his knees, hip and back...if he could have kept doing it the same way (without his body deteriorating further), there would have been no reason to change, right?

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/padres-vs-nationals/2016/07/24/448339#game_state=,game_tab=,game=448339 Read this game story from almost two years ago with the Nationals....was sent back down after it. Nearly the EXACT same issues...could have been written about most of his starts THIS year. "He was really down to one pitch (the fastball)," manager Dusty Baker said. "And you have to have either tremendous gas, or you have to be able to locate to the max. It's back to the drawing board with him." Giolito threw 66 pitches and generated one swing and miss on Sunday, a startling number for a pitcher with the "stuff" that scouts have made him a potential future No.1 starter. He threw five changeups and 13 curveballs compared to 48 fastballs. Each of Giolito's three Major League starts have lasted four innings or fewer, including one that was cut short because of rain in his Major League debut, but the other two have been short as a result of performance. "You're going to get in trouble when you don't command those [offspeed] pitches," he said. "When you can't throw a curveball for a strike or changeup in a hitters count, then you get into trouble and I've been dealing with a lot of that." Giolito said he had been dealing with these command issues at times all season, although he had a good grasp on those pitches during his last start at Triple-A. There he struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings and allowed an unearned run on seven hits. "It's frustrating because my last outing at Syracuse I was commanding offspeed pitches pretty well and I had a good outing," he said. "I didn't translate that into today, obviously, so I just have to keep working and try to get better at it."

At least he built Starbucks from the ground up, and understood what it was like to grow up lower middle class border on poor in NYC...Trump was born with all the advantages in the world. Makes a huge difference in terms of empathy, EQ, understanding, compassion...not saying Schultz should be the next president, but he CAN bring a lot of important economic "fairness" issues to the table and will have a built-in following for his viewpoints not unlike what Bernie Sanders has created for himself.

Or I'll be forced to use the audio of the Roy Hobbs/Wonderboy homer from The Natural that crashes into the lights at Tiger Stadium...

Remember, this is the Twins without Mauer, Buxton (who's not much of an offensive threat this year) and both Kepler/Sano struggling mightily. Not to mention Dozier hasn't been up to his normal (hitting) standards, either. Rosario and Escobar are their only true threats at the moment.

The Babe Ruth was an even chubbier/unhealthier kid who grew up in a poor "On the Waterfront" home in Baltimore... Mickey Mantle, rural Oklahoma, should we keep going on and on?

Going by location/school alone, everyone should be camped out in NJ (Trout), Puerto Rico (Lindor/Correa), Las Vegas (Bryant/Harper), Cuba or circling Maple Woods Community College in KC while waiting for the next Albert Pujols.