NorthSideSox72

Lency Delgado was the team's 4th round pick this past June, but he was and to an extent still is a bit of an unknown. So our Ken interviewed him, pulled together quotes from other folks and some videos, to help add some color to the picture. Read all about him here.

Depends on the nature of the treaty I believe. If the conditions were ratified by Congress, then the President can only make the changes which were specifically granted to the Executive in the Act. And I don't know what those parameters are in this case. What's funny about all this is that the "NAFTA 2" or whatever we call it isn't some massive change. It's like 95% the same agreement, with some additions/removals/tweaks. Granted a few of the changes are important, like around Dairy, but this isn't some huge shift. All this noise for what really just amounts to a refresh of the original agreement.

The trade war was not suspended. They agreed to not add any NEW tariffs for at least 90 days while negotiations occur. Also it is only about China, not the other dozen trade war fronts being fought over right now. Do you work for the New York Post or something with this headline?

I like Nick a lot, but I think he's got a bias here too. I just don't agree that sending him to AAA to open 2019 is a good idea.

And I do still like Collins as a prospect. But the thing with OBP is, if you can't hit at least a little bit, the walks won't stick around because pitchers are going to force those players to hit after a while. Collins' power will help mitigate that risk, but not enough by itself. That is where AVG comes into play. I think Collins needs gradual development defensively so that his chances of sticking as a catcher remain decent, and also to resolve whatever issue he has with swing and miss. In fact, since he's obviously got a very good eye and is not swinging at a lot of bad pitches, the strikeout rate is even scarier for what it means about his swing and mechanics. So, I want to see him slow-rolled. Start in AA, prove he can hit that pitching a little better, then move up to AAA. That's my take anyway.

I disagree with pretty much everything in this post (except the numbers, haha). Average most certainly matters as it's an indicator of bat to ball ability. As is strikeout rate. And I guarantee the Sox care too and are aware of these things. It ultimately may not matter to his value very much what his average ends up being in MLB, but it matters in evaluation. The guy hasn't earned a call-up and will likely struggle even worse against AAA pitching. Also, the idea of having 3 catchers in Charlotte is silliness - it reduces the PT for the two actual prospects, and the 3rd guy as your actual MLB emergency catcher almost never plays and is rusty as hell if you need him. Just doesn't make sense to do that. Then there's the fact that if you DH them a lot, they miss out on defensive work they both need (but especially Collins) in order to be major league catchers.

I personally have a hard time projecting arrival years for players that young and still rookie ballers. Just so many variables. But if he really is "legit", you figure he does some full seasons and at least one split, which means maybe 2019-2021 in the minors, then 2022 in AAA flirting with MLB. That's if all goes well.

That's pretty much it. I personally am going to guess Great Falls, because A) the Kannapolis infield is already going to be quite crowded with legit prospects, and B) Bush is only 19 and there is no need to rush him up. Obviously things like injuries or other movement of players above him could change that.

Sadly, for us (FutureSox), it isn't hard to change - it is impossible to change. We are at the mercy of the Trib on this. Again, very sorry, wish we could help.

I don't understand why (almost) everyone has Collins in Charlotte. Unless you think Zavala is in MLB? No chance they have both Zavala and Collins in Charlotte to open the year IMO. For one thing, they want a 4A scrapper in Charlotte for depth so they don't have to call up a rookie before they are ready, so that's one Charlotte slot gone with Zavala in the other. For another, frankly, Collins didn't earn a promotion yet. His defense, while by some reports improved, is still a ways from ready. But more importantly the guy struck out 30% of the time and hit .234. The biggest difference between AA and AAA pitchers is not talent - it is sophistication. He'd get eaten alive without some improvements. He's quite clearly not ready for a jump.

By the way, looking at the whole board, the major crowding areas appear to be: --Outfielders around AA --Starting pitchers around AA too --Relievers at both A-ball levels --Kannapolis infield --Relievers for Charlotte (but this happens literally every year, by design)

Until I can get my Big Board onto Google Docs, here we go... Cease- Charlotte Robert- Winston-Salem Madrigal- Winston-Salem Dunning- Birmingham Rutherford- Birmginham Collins- Birmingham Basabe- Charlotte (my Hot Take - on 40, played AFL, someone needs to go above AA for PT) Hansen- Winston-Salem Adolfo- Disabled, then Birmingham Walker- Winston-Salem Burger- Disabled to 6/1, then Winston-Salem Gonzalez- Birmingham Sheets- Birmingham Just my guess, but I think Eloy moves up to Chicago around 5/1, at which time Adolfo joins BHAM and whomever of Call or Fisher seems ready to move up will do so. Prbabably Fisher because at this point he's just not important, and he's had a year of AA already.

Here's a sort of preview / check-in on the White Sox minor leaguers playing in the various winter leagues. Eloy Jimenez, seven other players and one coach from the Sox minors are found on offseason rosters. See where they are playing, why they are playing, and how they are doing so far (for those who have seen action).

This is pretty bizarre. If they wanted him on the 40, they could have put him on revocable waivers, and pulled him back if he was claimed. So... why go through all this? I honestly cannot fathom a scenario it makes sense, unless they put him on irrevocable waivers by mistake (or maybe the rules changes and minor leaguers on the 40 cannot do revocable?).

Saying Kopech hasn't been able to throw strikes consistently for more than a month stretch. More it's the opposite - he had a bad month and a half in 2017, then another 2 months in 2018. Feels like they are looking for a narrative more than actually looking at the data. Robert didn't miss 2018 time due to a knee issue. It was the thumb - twice. Knee was a minor thing the year before and turned out to be nothing. The injury history is certainly worth mentioning, but make sure it's right. Saying Rutherford has "always" struggled against LHP is flat wrong. This year he hit for a higher average and higher OBP against lefties than righties, though hit for less power. In 2017 he was better in literally all three slash categories against LHP than RHP. Maybe it was a typo and they meant righties? Adolfo's missed time in 2015 wasn't a hand or ankle issue. He broke his leg (spiral fracture to be specific) on a slide. He also missed some time early that year with a hammy. Neither were ankle or hand related. The bit where they say "Gonzalez has perceived makeup concerns—which may partially explain why he fell to the third round in the 2017 draft" is really not accurate. There were pre-draft concerns on this, specifically around academics, but tense is important here. There has been nothing but positive, even gushing, reports on his ethic as a pro. Should be a "had" not "has". That's an important distinction. THen there are the subjective thing. Not sure why they are still talking about Cease as a reliever, when the only indicator pushing that way is health and that is just lazy attribution. Zavala as "medium power" seems wrong to me, a few other things, but those are subjective. But the other stuff above is just wrong. None are egregious really, but together they make the list look sloppy and poorly researched.

Not a fan of BP's rankings. This top ten, much like other recent articles has a good 2-3 just plain factual errors, as well as some subjective stuff that just doesn't match the reality on the ground. BP doesn't have the guys going to games anymore like they used to, and it shows. Plus they like to get cute, playing Pepsi (or RC?) to BA's Coke. I would put BA, MLBP, FG and FutureSox (admittedly the last one I am BIASED on) lists at higher value than BP's.

Yes. Go to futuresox.podomatic.com, and download as many episodes as you'd like! You can subscribe there too.

After a couple months off, the FutureSox podcast machine is coming back to life. In this episode, our host Clint Cole interviews Dylan Cease and Gavin Sheets, getting into some great conversation about their 2018's and where things are headed in 2019. All the links, info and content are right here. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving! Clint already has 4-5 more players lined up for offseason interviews, and we've got more coming.

See who was added, who was lost to a waiver claim, and perhaps most importantly who is now left exposed to the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. Who are you most concerned about losing, if anyone?

We have feelers out to all the prime suspects. FS will report as we hear from them (and are allowed to report it).

If that was perjury, then Kavanagh perjured himself multiple times. Again though, let's not get too derailed. On the case at hand, this idea that the world is full of women looking to throw around false accusations is laughable on it's face. The frequency of false reports for these sorts of accusations is some level of very low, which is the only logical conclusion anyway because of what is at stake for the accusers. So let's not assume that this particular woman is likely to be lying, when the history of such actions AND the history of the team's front office both indicate it's likely the other way around.

The base assumption is the Sox will leave at least one slot open for the Rule 5 Draft.

Swetnick's report is not false. This is exactly what I am getting at that people are missing or just ignoring. There is a difference between a made up or false story, and a story that has yet to be corroborated and may not be provable in court or a hearing. So that example only proves my point. The other one, the crazy lady from Kentucky, didn't even send the letter. She just jumped at the chance out of anger to try to hit Kavanaugh. Now this is a true example of an actual false report, so I stand corrected in this case. Also worth noting this one seemed pretty obvious in hindsight. But the other three women that accused Kavanaugh? None are "false" stories, as far as anyone can prove or tell. Which in the end is showing exactly what is important here - that most accusations are not false.

Bolded is outright false. No such thing happened. But I think it's an important point here on what a false or made up story is, versus not enough to prosecute. They are different things. Statistics on, for example, sexual assaults, need to be seen for their context. Lots of reports on that sort of thing to police are not prosecuted, not because they are false reports, but for various other reasons (not enough evidence for a chance at prosecution, uncooperative witnesses or even victms, etc.). That doesn't make those false reports. I am not sure what study SS2K5 was referring to, but the number of actual false reports in that area (sexual assaults) is single digits in any legitimate study I've seen reported. It is just really hard to ever come to a solid number though because different PD's will have different word salads used to characterize what they consider, say, "unfounded". Back to the main topic here, no one knows how much of what this person reported is true or not, All we know is she is risking her entire medical career to say it, so at the very least, we shouldn't be dismissing it out of hand.

Houston's version of Yolmer, Marwin Gonzalez, is a free agent to be. They have an actual need for a bench infielder for 2019. The Sox don't with Yolmer and Rondon on the roster, and both have more upside remaining. Houston and the Sox are playing different games in the offseason because they are working from different hands.