Chicago White Sox

So how does everyone see the rest of this season shaking out? Next week is obviously going to focus on the mission to grab a wight. I'm sure just like with Hardhomme there will be some other stuff going on, but I bet at least half if not more of the run time is focused north of the wall. So what does that leave us with for the rest of the episode and the finale? Assuming the mission is successful, there will no doubt be a regroup and potential short-term alliance with Cersei in the finale. There clearly is going to be some sort of showdown between Sansa, Arya, & Littlefinger. We'll probably find out where Sam is going. Maybe they'll address the Theon-Euron situation, although Dany being involved wouldn't reflect a truce. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect after that. Would love to hear what everyone thinks. I fully expected Dany to take the throne this season before dealing with the white walkers next year, so I'm kind of thrown for a loop at the moment.

I am now certain that ron883 is the same person as greg775. Two different personas, but the same underlying person.

The 2019 season should be interesting. We should have a rotation of Kopech, Rodon, Lopez, Giolito, & one of Adams or Guerrero. Burdi should be back & healthy by then and hopefully guys like Fulmer & Stephens will have filled roles in the bullpen. I also wouldn't be surprised to see add a veteran reliever or two by then. Point is, the pitching staff has a chance to be pretty damn good is all goes well (no guarantee there obviously). The positional side is tough. The single most important factor would be Moncada developing into a star by then. I see a few other things needing to happen as well. Anderson rebounding into a 2 to 3 WAR player. Abreu maintaining his current level of production. Jimenez being ready fairly early in the year and being a solid contributor from the get-go. And signing one significant impact player in free agency. If they can do that, I think they'd high end players to offset any weak spots and be s legit contender and not just a .500 caliber team.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 01:43 AM) Cash to line Reinsdorf's pockets You're as big of a troll as greg now...

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 11:46 AM) I loved when Davos told Gendry he was glad he made it because he thought maybe he was still rowing. I laughed at that. The Jaime/Bronn swimming to safety thing was really annoying. When (if?) the books ever get released I think the route the story takes to get to the end is going to be so massively different at this point. It really feels like they are now rushing things and relying too much on plot conveniences 100% agree. The books are going to be so different that it will almost be like a different story.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 10:13 AM) No one has to clear waivers from Houston to get to the Sox. They have the first choice. That's why this Kemp thing makes little sense. Why would it be a PTBNL or cash? Even if we claim him, Kemp would still technically have to go through the waiver process. And because he's not immediately available, he has to be a PTBNL. Seems pretty straight forward to me. The cash part seems like a technical requirement due to the player coming back our way having to go through the waiver process and some consideration being required to execute a trade. I'm sure the rules don't take into account the fact we have first claim.

QUOTE (ReyLo @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 08:48 AM) Were there rule changes to why PTBNL would indicate a 40 man guy? I thought it was just done for expediency, like, hey, we want this deal done, here is a list of guys we'll trade for him, you can scout them post deal. If you like none of them, here's cash. ^Conversation I'm just speculating because someone on the 40 man would have to clear waivers or be claimed by us in order to be traded. Your scenario is plausible, but I don't really see the urgency for a deal to be rushed given where the Astros are in the standings and it's not like we're approaching any deadline.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 07:43 AM) Because, at minimum, the Astros have to pay Clippard the minimum, so it saves them something. They aren't getting back crap for him. This is the Astros. They don't want to give you something interesting for Jose Quintana. The Astros just gave up a pretty decent prospect for Liriano. It's the top few guys that are untouchable for them, not the mid and lower end talent. And honestly, the Astros aren't going to have a lot of options if they want to upgrade their bullpen given their record and low waiver priority. We should get something back of moderate value unless they took on the entire contract.

Have to believe it's someone on their 40 man roster given it's a PTBNL. Kemp still makes a lot of sense IMO.

Does anyone have a link to this Kemp rumor? Would be a pretty nice get for Clippard. EDIT: Never mind, I see it was just speculation.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 09:25 PM) Bronn and Jaime just swimming away was really f***ing disappointing 100% agree with this. The books are clearly heading in a different direction in regards to Jaime.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 10:20 PM) Barric, Thoros, The Hound, Jon Snow, Jorah, Gendry and Tormund all on a ranging together is GOT porn. Next week's episode will be the GOAT. We haven't had a battle with this many important characters, even if a couple of them are somewhat fringy.

QUOTE (ReyLo @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 09:39 PM) What are odds we've heard of returning piece? I think it will be a guy in their 20 to 30 range.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 09:27 PM) https://twitter.com/TylerClippard His bio already has that he's playing for Houston Hmmm...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 04:46 PM) You said that most people voted along party lines. One of those candidates this time had the enthusiastic support of basically every white supremacist in the country and was happy to reach out to them. That was still not disqualifying. That makes us a terrible people, and every single excuse you give is an example of why they get away with it. Again, I have no idea what you're talking about.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 04:24 PM) Clinton was a bad candidate. That's not relevant to how much you can excuse with tribalism. This whole conversation started off with a claim that a good portion of the Republican base is okay with white nationalist ideology, and what your saying sort of agrees with that. That wasn't enough to get them to abandon their support. Why didn't Trump baggage concerns work for Republicans on the bottle with Trump? Why were they still okay with voting for him in spite of the p**** grabbing and Muslim banning and "Mexicans can't be fair judges" crap? That's the whole point! None of that baggage was too much for them. Your original point was that anyone who voted for Trump was a racist enabler. I think that's bulls*** and a dangerous generalization. I think some people voted for Donald because they believed he could make their lives better and didn't trust Hilary to do so (which I already said was foolish). Having said that, I think there are some people who voted for him due to his hate filled rhetoric. And I think most people voted for him because of party lines and not having a respectable Democrat to consider. I think many of these people are cowards for looking the other way on the kind of scum Trump really is, but I'm not going to accuse everyone of this. Some people had their reasons (while flawed) and some others simply didn't due their due diligence, but voting for Trump doesn't automatically make you a racist or racist enabler.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 04:24 PM) And by your own admission, "a candidatein bed with white supremacists" is therefore not a disqualifying feature for the people who "voted along party lines". If we were a decent people, if we weren't the terrible people we are, it would have been disqualifying. You just did a "but her emails" about Confederate and Nazi flag bearing marchers. Balta, I'm really struggling to follow your posts. What did I admit exactly?

Anyone find out what happened to Collins? Also, that's the first time I can recall ever seeing a team lose its DH due to playing both catchers.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 04:10 PM) You're also assuming that 60 million plus people only voted for him out of economic desperation and not out of enthusiastic support. Many millions of his voters aren't struggling economically. Nope, I'm assuming the vast majority of people voted along party lines like they always do. And honestly, blame the Democrats for choosing Hilary as their nominee. Any respectable candidate would have easily beaten Trump. Deserved or not, Clinton's baggage likely gave some Republicans on the bubble in regards to Trump cause for concern. Unfortunately, the sad reality is there are a lot of Greg's out there who think Hilary is as bad as Donald for whatever reason.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 03:44 PM) And again for emphasis, millions of non-struggling people across the country including in the rust belt voted for Trump. He got more topical Republican support than Romney. Millions of struggling people also didn't vote for him (by and large the poor don't vote for a variety of reasons). I don't see why we need to give people endless excuses. I already said there is no excuse and they got conned out of desperation. Caring about their families does not make them racist enablers though. It makes them fools for putting their faith in a douchebag they thought was somehow different than the normal Washington types and who would magically find all these jobs. Unfortunately, not everyone dedicates their lives to politics like yourself and oftentimes the average joe makes short-sighted decisions due to minimal research.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 03:32 PM) "I'm sick of this my way or the highway view of white supremacist rallies. You have to look at both sides of the issue and consider that the white supremacists may have some point." What in the world are you talking about? Someone more concerned about providing for their families than worrying about illegal immigrants being deported does NOT make them a racist. Showing up at a white nationalist event with Nazi flags and screaming Nazi rhetoric DOES make you a racist. StrangeSox is somehow lumping all these people together, which is absolutely terrible. So again, what exactly is your angle here?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 02:24 PM) I think it's totally fair to hold people accountable for those who voted for economic progress over race/social issues. Isn't that how the Nazis gained power in the first place? Wow, talk about quite the leap there. People in the rust belt voted for Trump out of pure desperation and not believing a career politician with a shady reputation would actually help them out. These people got conned by a truly despicable person, but them prioritizing the issues that are vastly important to them does not make them racist or racist enablers. It makes them human with their own struggles that they're desperately trying to address. I'm really getting sick of this "my way or the highway" view a lot of liberals have. Just because someone doesn't agree with everything you do does not make them stupid or evil. The Nazis in Virgina yesterday are scumbags b/c they're racist, hate-filled assholes, not because of their political affiliation.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 10:32 AM) It means if you live in the Rust Belt, in an area with a crippled economy and no middle class jobs, you're more than likely willing to vote for a bigot if he's promising to bring jobs back. This is the unfortunate reality for some. Those few swayed the election. It doesn't mean those people support racism. It means they valued feeding their family over social issues. 100% this. They fell for Trump's lies, but they voted for him out of desperation, not because they were ok with racism. The partisanship in this country really sucks. I'm a liberal, but under no circumstance do I think it's ok to come out of yesterday's f***ed up events and try to give themselves a political edge. Both sides of the aisle should be out there ripping these scumbags for what they are and I saw plenty of Republicans do so yesterday on Twitter. Trump's statements were cowardly but those fall on Trump alone and not on the people that voted for him or share his political party.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 10:00 AM) They are, at best, perfectly okay with voting for an explicitly racist and sexist man and enabling that ideology. They rewarded his disgusting behavior and gross incompetence time and time again. An overwhelming majority of Republicans voted for exactly what we've been getting for six months now. I'm not going to defend anyone that voted for Trump, but I don't agree it makes them racist or were ok with enabling that type of ideology. I think most hardcore Republicans simply voted party lines and the majority of independents just wanted something different than your typical US politician. I don't excuse them for not thinking about the bigger picture, because quite frankly they are at fault for that, but I doubt very many of them said to themselves "I'm ok with racism" when voting for Trump. These scumbags in Virginia are the loud, vocal minority that have used Trump to come out of their holes and feel comfortable expressing their hatred filled beliefs. They do not reflect the vast majority of the Republican Party base.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 09:31 AM) Meh, let Kopech spend the '18 season in Charlotte to continue building up his innings. If all goes well I can see calling him up next September to work out of the pen and then pencil him into the rotation to start the '19 season. Why though? You wouldn't get an extra year of service time that way, so why not call him if he's proven he's ready.