NorthSideSox72

It's the offseason, so the regular News & Notes column becomes less frequent. The latest one just went up, with about a month's worth of news, transactions, etc. The News and Links part at the bottom in particular is jam-packed. Get up to date here!

What on earth are you talking about? The return was literally the #1 prospect in baseball at the time (or 2 or 3 for some folks), and one of the top 2-3 pitching prospects in baseball at the time, and a borderline T100 outfielder, AND also a guy who throws 100 as a throw-in. The return for Sale was enormous. No one "settled for a throw-in".

What he said. Also there are still some 4A types the Sox still have control of that they can stash in Charlotte as insurance too.

I see no reason to throw money at relievers this offseason. There is a wave of really intriguing relief arms at or approaching the upper levels right now, some of whom will be the core of a bullpen on the next contending team. I'd like to see all of them get good playing time. Now obviously if some dumpster dive player seems like a good cheap gamble, I'm not saying you don't consider it. I just don't think it should be something to go out looking for.

This is fun. There is a serious crowding problem around AA and I am not sure what to do with them all. But here is my big board at this point: MLB: Engel, Cordell, Delmonico, Palka (plus Leury in utility) - I am betting Avisail isn't around anymore AAA: Jimenez, Tilson, Basabe, Polo in 4-man roto (I have read hints they might put Basabe in AAA) AA: Rutherford, Gonzalez, Call, Booker in roto (plus FIsher on bench, Adolfo DL until May/June) A+: Robert, Walker, Frost, Dedelow in roto, Nolan Brown on bench (Robert and Walker to play every day) A: Dawkins, Romy Gonzalez, Sowers (Destino on bench) Think about how much worse the crowding would be if Fisher hadn't imploded and Adolfo stayed healthy.

Really hard to say that because they are all sort of percentage chances of being CF's (except a few who are clearly not). If I broke up those ten names into groups (these are just my very subjective projections): CAN STICK: Robert (but need to see more to be sure), Basabe, Gonzalez (I might be in the minority here), Booker (but his arm is fringy) CAN PLAY THERE AS 4-OF OR OCCASIONALLY: Rutherford, Walker (but need to see more), Call, Cordell NOT A CF: Eloy, Adolfo

Would be ideal if you could get a reliable number, but how do you do that? You'd have to require people every year to bring their car to a facility to have it checked for mileage. That could make for an expensive program and kind of a pain. It's the most fair I agree, just not sure it is practical. I'd actually be in favor of more toll roads. Like, all highways being toll roads. And get rid of the gas tax.

We conclude our positional rankings series with probably the deepest well of talent in the White Sox system - the Outfielders. Here are the top ten outfielders on the Sox farm. How did people like this positional rankings series? Is it something we should do annually? Did you find it added value the same way T30 lists do, or not as much?

Have you actually read or seen the changes to NAFTA with Canada? Pick your favorite news site, they all had articles listing the handful of changes. A few things that both sides wanted, and there was the Milk thing added in addition to Canada getting some similar consessions from the US on other products. The rest of NAFTA stays as is. All the Tariffs, angry words, and burning bridges, just to get stuff they could have gotten with a few phone calls.

Our second to last entry in the series is also probably the second deepest. Here are the Top Ten Starting Pitching Prospects in the Sox system. How would you have ranked them? Anyone we missed that should be there?

It is and has been becoming that, sadly, yes. It wasn't always that way and won't necessarily be in the future. That undercurrent was always there, but now it's the rudder, at least for the time being. You do realize the "renegotiation" of NAFTA was changing or modernizing like 5 or 6 things that both sides wanted, with 98% of the agreement simply staying as it was, yes? And that he's not changed anything around NATO, despite all his bluster? Most politicians weren't even trying to talk games like Tariffs and Travel Bans because they are idiotic and self-destructive. It's not that others were afraid of something, it is that they would prefer not to accelerate the next recession's arrival in exchange for a year or two of corporate profit bumps.

Basabe in the lineup today, no other Sox. Seems like Rivera is the only Sox hitter getting regular PT. Robert probably would be if he was healthy. But Basabe must be Taxi Squad (Tuesday and Saturday).

Four of those five pitchers have hit 99 or higher on the gun, by the way.

OK. Makes sense to start something like that, but the amount isn't going to cover it in the long run and that's state, not federal. Maybe that is better in the end, to start pushing infra down more to the states, but that's a whole other can of worms. Thanks for the link. Will be very curious to see how this goes.

Toeing the other side of the rubber, here are the top five right-handed relief pitching prospects in the system at present. These are five legitimate power arms, and we didn't even get to list a few guys we liked because there just wasn't room. One of the deeper groups in the system. Tomorrow: Starting Pitchers

Less than 50% is still a very, very large number. Tolls cover only a very tiny portion. And what EV tax are you talking about?

I think this is a really important point that will need to be addressed. A combination of generally better fuel efficiency across basically all cars, and the rapid growth of EV's and PHEV's, means the revenue from gas taxes is dropping and that process will only accelerate. It means we need to re-think how we pay for infrastructure, at least the part that had previously been done by relying on gas tax money.

Interestingly, most of those items are not promises kept - they are data points. For example, the economic gains (which are very substantial no doubt, and very real) are all but one not related to any promise Trump made. The one thing he did promise was big growth by GDP. He was saying he wanted 4-5% sustained. So far he's hit that in one quarter, so in that snapshot he succeeded. The rest is a laundry list of numbers - good numbers but not numbers he ever discussed specifically as campaign issues (and some of which he probably has zero clue are even a thing). The economy is roaring. Anyone denying this deserves the same level of derision people get for pretending the planet isn't warming. One can argue who exactly is responsible for that growth to which extent (much like Global Warming), and certainly there are signs it may be peaking right now with some warning signs becoming prominent. But for now, the economy has reached the overall goal in terms of overall GDP growth or at least gotten close to it (his numbers were variable depending on the week or month of the campaign).

We've got four position slots left in the series. We open the week with Left-handed Relief Pitchers. Relievers are a tough bunch to rank in part because some of who will end up the best relieves are currently starters. But even with that, the Sox system is pretty deep in relief talent. None of these pitchers are overall top prospects because many will end up as specialists, and those players are almost never in the Top 30 given their relatively low value even if they are very good. Regardless, there are some talented arms in this bunch. Tomorrow will be RHRP. Then SP and OF to finish it off (those two groups will be top tens, instead of top fives).

This nails two of the biggest policy frustrations I have right now, and this is coming from someone who is not fiscally liberal. First: Trump and his buddies have massively increased deficits and added to the debt WHEN THE ECONOMY IS ROARING, which is patently stupid. No economist thinks this is a good idea, nor anyone with a real grasp of how the economy and government debt work. When this run slows down or reverses - which it will because that's how reality works - the deficits will explode from being too high to being outright dangerous. And this is being done by the party who constantly moans about mounting debt! Then the other aspect here, the idea that the GOP has pushed since Reagan that taxes are just too damn high. Back then it was probably true. But right now the tax burden on everyone, but especially the wealthy and corporations, is dramatically lower than it was even during the roaring 90's, let alone the sky-high rates of the 80's. The whole idea that the deficits are a spending problem is assinine (not that there aren't some spending problems too, but that is not the major problem here).

I agree that keeping those channels more open, even to garbagy content, is important. The bolded sentence I don't agree with as these sites all appear to, indeed, be garbage, so this isn't "dissent" as much as ranting. But even that should be allowed to keep ranting, as far as I am concerned. I agree generally with you and SS and others saying this is a problem. Not a legal one, but an ethical one.

Facebook can do this of course, but I'm not a fan. I'd rather, if Facebook is concerned about Fake News, if they provided some tools to users that evaluated sites based on objective factoring data about their content. Put a little rating box on their page or something, with where they are on scales for fake news etc. But cutting them off seems like a terrible idea.

The legal issue isn't really in question. I'm just curious what the reasons were for ending the groups entirely.

Do we know why they were taken out? They all seem like pretty ridiculous sites, but I don't see anything in a quick Google search that suggests they were dangerous or aggressive. The reasons are key here.

I NEED COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Fixed.