caulfield12

Him or HER at catcher? Jessica Mendoza of ESPN? Carlos Ruiz and Geo Soto are the only two guys on the MLB Trade Rumors list (of FA's this past off-season) without a current home.

Seems Passan and the Sox staff have a difference of opinion (as they've already pushed the idea of the benefits that he'll get out of AAA baseball exposure). Imagine that...

Yolmer Sanchez...arguably.

Unlikely...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumpcare-will-hurt-people-next-year-201655059.html TrumpCare will hurt these people next year...and now the blame gets tossed back to the other side, like a political football Bill Luffman, 61, is a tobacco consultant in State Road, North Carolina, whose premiums have soared since the ACA went into effect. But he doubts the Trump proposals will help him. The premium on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy covering him and his wife, Joan, rose from $689 a month in 2015 to $2,347 per month in 2017. He paid. But when Blue Cross hiked it to near $2,500 per month for 2018, he applied for a federal waiver letting him buy a cheap policy with limited coverage, because the cost of health insurance was well over 25% of his income. He got the waiver and now pays $1,350 for a policy that covers catastrophic care, but little else. Luffman rides motorcycles, and doesn’t want a policy that could expose him to open-ended medical costs. So he won’t go without insurance or buy a plan with a low payout cap. And he doesn’t trust Blue Cross, the only insurer in the area, to offer a better-value plan if it can force people into expensive plans. “I think what Blue Cross will do is parlay this into an all-or-nothing situation,” he says. “Without a mandate, they could say, ‘there’s no mandate, either go uninsured or pay us four grand a month.’ Everything about it just really makes me angry.” He hopes to stick with his catastrophic plan — assuming it remains available — until he turns 65 and qualifies for Medicare. Only a few insurers have so far proposed rate changes for individual plans for 2019. In Oregon, at least three insurers are planning to roll back rates, with six others proposing increases ranging from 9% to 16%. In Maryland, Vermont and Virginia, insurers have proposed rate hikes ranging from 8% to 91%. Those are only proposals, and state officials typically negotiate rate hikes lower. Still, double-digit premium increases seem likely in at least some areas.

Because they don't trust Vasquez or Leon, either...want to keep him as a fall-back option if the offense goes south.

If we're going to criticize Sanders for not releasing his donor list, then we need to do the same with Obama. The lack of support for the national and state parties in 2010 and 2014 when he wasn't running (even then, 2012 was a debacle for almost every aspect of the party other than keeping the presidency)...it's not difficult to understand the lack of trust after 2016 and everything that happened to the Sanders campaign. And Laura Moser got crushed in Houston because the DCCC weighed in against her, not unlike Blankenship in WV. Of course, that runs the risk of someone like Blankenship continuing to run as an independent because he's so pissed off he basically wants to give the election to the Dem's in order to spite Trump and McConnell. Our Revolution endorsed Abrams in GA, although they didn't actively support her financially. I do think getting behind Cynthia Nixon (the Sex and the City actress) despite her lack of any substantive policy experience besides celebrity-oriented advocacy work is going to blow up in their faces in NY. Right now, there's a stalemate. Sanders and Warren are probably too old....the likes of Gillibrand/Booker/Harris aren't ready and Biden is the fallback option for many Dem's who just want things to return to a sense of normalcy. Biden's also the only Dem who Lamb brought into that district in Western PA...who can actually talk to rural/white/middle class voters and has their respect. Cheri Bustos in Western Illinois would be one of the few others that I can think of.

Let's just roll with Luis Robert's recruitment/marketing video...they can play it on the scoreboard and Machado can imagine it's him in a blowout game like this, playing for the worst team in baseball, lol.

Renteria's brilliant for one game, at least. Jose Rondon as DH, who woulda thunk it coming out of ST?

Look at Jordan Hicks' strikeout ratio if you think they're not at least hittable (solid contact is another question). All about location (above the belt, good luck), movement and what count the pitcher is working with...

Mercedes at Winston-Salem looked good in a few ST bats I watched...better than Alfredo Gonzalez.

I was reading somewhere where the average fastball for MLB starters this year was 95...is that correct? Thought it was closer to 92-93?

2005 Houston Astros were 15-30 before making their run...in a much stronger division.

Wasn't Austin the personal catcher for Rodon? Or am I confusing him with a different NC Stater that we drafted the same year?

They need a new section for fans at G-Rate..."Covey's Coven" (does that sound too much like a #metoo violation, or secret cult?)

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23573718/state-baseball-rebuilding-teams-already-contending-uncertain-futures On the field, it has been a mostly dismal campaign for the White Sox, as evidenced by the 114-loss pace mentioned before. But there are emerging signs of where this is all headed. Yoan Moncada is on a five-win pace in WAR. Reynaldo Lopez looks like a budding front-line starter. Tim Anderson has climbed to league average and is still getting better. Top prospect Eloy Jimenez is mashing the ball in Double-A, while fireballing righty Michael Kopech is knocking on the door in Triple-A. There are bumps -- Jake Burger's ruptured Achilles and Lucas Giolito's command issues, to name a couple -- but there always are. The Chicago rebuild is in just its second season, which underlines the 2021 season as the breakthrough campaign if this all stays on track. There is no reason to think it won't. Basically, behind the Braves/Phillies and certainly the A's (who have the much tougher division to deal with, A's have more "core talent" up in the big leagues right now)...and ahead of the Marlins, Padres, Tigers, Royals and Reds. We're 25th! We're 25th!

Herm Schneider's run of "good luck" is seemingly running out...luckily this year doesn't matter much (except for the future core players).

Well, they're saving X amount of money for the remainder of this season, but it's a setback for our young pitching staff... All in on Yasmani Grandal next year? Hahn, as mentioned, continues to make one bad FA acquisition after another.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-praises-tomi-lahren-restaurant-134118261.html Dems making it harder on themselves by cursing at Tomi Lahren (of course Trump comes to her aid on Twitter and it has nothing to do with her appearance!) and throwing water on her. Both sides! This is the equivalent of Charlottesville, no doubt about it.

The Republicans with their tax cut and bloated budget deficits for the foreseeable future make anything more than subsidized community college/vo tech...some infrastructure spending (nothing like the hundreds of billions being spent here in China each year)...and watered down health care reform possible. I’m not sure how much these “Better Deals” will resonate...at any rate, health care is the most pressing 2018 election issue to voters, as of today.

Greg, Bernie Sanders most definitely is not the one to lead the charge to take away guns...research the positions of any Vermont politician on this, political suicide to go after the Second Amendment. It’s worse than threatening to raise taxes as a policy/platform issue.

I just wish a Baltimore Sun columnist could write a column in the Trib saying how the Orioles’ plan, whatever that is...is ten times worse. They have an albatross contract in Chris Davis, Jones, Britton and Machado all departing, Alex Cobb, Schoop, Mark Trumbo...and a $150 million payroll in the toughest division in baseball most years. I guess they can trade O’Day, Cashner, Gausman and Bundy (and the three big names above)...but where does that really get them? At best, the same position the White Sox were in two years ago but with much less payroll flexibility. And picking off top prospects isn’t nearly as easy as it was when Hahn started his deals. Plus, their farm system isn’t one of the better ones to begin with.

Trump helped suppressed black votes. Well, Bannon strategies, more specifically. Superpredators and the 2008 South Carolina primary where Bill Clinton undid 30 years of political history getting African Americans on his side didn’t exactly help matters. Finally, Obama’s heart wasn’t behind You’re Likeable Enough Hillary...unfortunately, he didn’t realize until too late the threat he posed to his own legacy achievements. Of course, you could say the same for her campaign/Mook, and Comey, for that matter. The perfect storm of overconfidence/hubris on all sides, and 87,000 votes in three states neglected by Dems.

Carlos Quentin...Alexei his first year.

Jason Whitlock was one of the first I can remember who chose this style....