NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Reddy @ Nov 3, 2017 -> 09:26 AM) Well right, but if people are always going to be gullible and prone to spreading BS, then we should regulate the ads that get placed on those platforms. The purchased ads were spread virally BY those people, and ended up being shown to half the electorate. That's much bigger than .1% of the problem or whatever he said. To only a very limited point, and that won't really solve the issue. The real solution is properly supporting education, stopping the editing of history books to make people feel better, and teaching kids and teenagers skills for modern world effectiveness. Hell, I'm all for a class where they simply have to learn how all the main logical fallacies work. Regulation can help a bit here, but mostly, you need a public better educated on not just history and political science (though those help), but on how to critically evaluate information presented to them. In the information age, this is absolutely key.

FutureSox report on Palka, including videos, reports from multiple analysts. Pretty much the full picture in there.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 11:10 PM) I'd argue it's close down the middle, edge towards Republicans. No way. Current version of the board is heavily left-leaning. As Tex said it wasn't that way before, but it sure is now. QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 2, 2017 -> 02:52 PM) https://twitter.com/axios/status/925847425037713408 Apple CEO Tim Cook: Russia-bought ads are only "0.1% of the issue." Bigger deal is social media being used to divide I agree. The purchased ads are much less of an issue than people being just plain gullible and spreading B.S. themselves on social media.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 03:51 PM) I am well aware of murder rates in the USA and around the world. As am I aware of the place firearms have in those murders in the Americas which have a much higher rate of murder. In the post you quoted, I said violence rates. I have also said multiple times that muslim extremism isn't an issue an America. Muslim extremism is a problem in the middle east. Terrorism, the topic I started with all this, is far more likely to occur in the middle east. It is far more likely to occur in countries where the United States have unjustly toppled regimes. The countries that have a lot of terrorism are far more likely to have citizens who look to immigrate. Given America's place in causing plenty of this unrest and the adversarial relationship with these countries, I think there is merit to the idea that we should consider our immigration policy when it comes to people that are coming to America from adversarial states and actors. Oh I certainly think that nation of origin should be a factor in overall rates of immigrants. And that is already true, even before Trump's attempts at bans.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 03:10 PM) You say there are more murders in the US than all of those countries other than India. There are more people in the USA in all of those countries other than India. I am more concerned with the rate of violence. That's usually an indicator with more relevance and faithful representation. If you really believe the middle east is safer than the US I don't know what to tell you. Murder rates by country you say? None of the 26 top countries by murder rate are majority Islam - most are in South or Central America None of the top 63 are even in the Middle East (the outlier from above to here is South Sudan, which is a war crime zone) There are 125 countries with lower murder rates than the United States - that is over half the world Among wealthy or "first world" nations. the only ones with a higher murder rate are Russia, and if you want to stretch the definition perhaps Brazil and South Africa The rate of deaths due to Islamic Terrorism in the United States is a miniscule fraction of all murders of course, but it is ALSO a small fraction of terrorism by non-Islamic actors Here's the source on international murder rates Fact is, much of the world is safer than the United States in terms of risk of intentional homicide. Also clear is that Islamic Terror is barely a blip risk-wise in this country. (also worth noting from the earlier post, India's rate is about 40% lower than the US, though they do have higher rates of some other crimes)

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 12:54 PM) Um, keep going back. This has been happening for most of the country's history. It's been a more prominent feature of our foreign policy "recently," but "recently" probably means Teddy Roosevelt and after. JFK did the same thing, by the way, sending troops into Vietnam and overthrowing the existing regime there. When I said about 70 years in my post, I was focused on the Middle East. To me, the even that really swung western chess play into full gear in the Middle East was the creation of the Israeli state in the late 1940's. That's when the US went from small regional players to a substantially controlling stake, which rode through the Cold War and continues today.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 12:08 PM) I don't think we should be in the middle east at all. I understand your argument but if I am an official right now in charge of dealing with this issue, I don't opt to put Americans security in jeopardy because of the past two administrations disruptive foreign policy ripping apart stability in the middle east. Replace the bolded with "past 70 years of American foreign policy", and you are correct. In addition of course to yet other things not even influenced by the West.

Get caught up on October's news on the farm, including transactions, front office changes in the majors and minors, fall and winter league updates, news links and more. We do these weekly during the season, but will be monthly in the offseason.

QUOTE (BamaDoc @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 02:30 PM) Could one argue that if Zavala and Collins both start in Birmingham, they could share catching and be the primary dh on the other night. They both get full bat development. One other thing might be on the day a player is going to dh, you could do extensive defensive drill work as you know he won't be catching. I could see that defensive work being useful and normally not able to be done due to wearing out the player. If after 6 weeks if one is clearly ready to move up, as the job share isn't working or has served its purpose, then you could move the most deserving up. It may also allow your minor league catching guru/rover to work with the two biggest catching prospects without having to travel. For a short period I think that's fine. For longer, I'd say no, because both of them need work on aspects of their defensive game. They need to be behind the plate nearly every day. I think the smart move is to do more or less what they did last year, but a level up. Collins in AA and Zavala in High A to start. Ideally, Collins does well, and in June you move both up a level. If Collins stalls and Zavala is good, move him up and parallel them for a short while. Either way, you can get Zavala to AA pretty quick, and that's fine.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Oct 27, 2017 -> 09:52 AM) Pujols? He went from A to the Bigs. Pete Incavigila famously went from the draft straight to the majors in 85/86. Pretty sure Seby Zavala is neither Pujols or Incaviglia.

I am, and have been since his first pro looks, one of the biggest Zavala backers out there. Certainly I was that guy among the FutureSox crowd. I think he's got an MLB future, likely as a backup. And I am saying, skipping AA to go to AAA, let alone MLB, is just a ridiculous idea. The guy played half a season in High A. Let him do AA this year, and he may even have to start the year back in A+ for a bit so he and Collins can get full time play. I'd say mid-late 2019 is a best case target for Zavala reaching the majors.

Here's our preview of which White Sox prospects are playing in which winter league, some of which are already underway (Eloy is kicking ass). Includes some reasoning for why each player is likely there.

Saturday was the Bowman Hitting Challenge. Zavala came in tied for 3rd out of 27 participants.

Seby Zavala so far in his 4 AFL games: 6-for-12, 2 2B, 3:2 BB:K. As a catcher he's thrown out 3 of 6 attempting to steal. Others: Tito Polo (5 G): 4-for-20, 1:7 BB:K, 3 SB (2 CS) Danny Mendick (5 G): 4-for-19, 0:6 BB:K, playing mostly shortstop Dylan Covey (2 starts): 8 IP, 13 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K Jace Fry (3 games): 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K Connor Walsh (3 games): 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HRA Matt Foster (3 games): 3 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HRA

We did the hitters last week. This week it's time to look at the top statistical performers on the White Sox farm, by various measures, among pitchers. It's also split into starters and relievers. It's a long article but there is a ton of info. Also I got punchy writing that many words so I buried a few bad puns in there for fun - extra credit if you can find them.

The White Sox own (most of) the Winston-Salem Dash (High-A). One of their two rookie affiliates, the AZL White Sox, are a "complex" team that is team-owned and plays at Camelback. And of course the DSL team is also a complex league team. The other four affiliates - Charlotte (AAA), Birmingham (AA), Kannapolis (A) and Great Falls (Rk) are independently owned. The trend is for teams to buy their affiliates, but it is happening slowly. Not sure of all the benefits and negatives to be honest.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Oct 10, 2017 -> 04:38 PM) Pitchers playing "Marco Polo" with the ball against Tito Polo. 3K in for ABs. QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Oct 10, 2017 -> 04:46 PM) Yeah, Tito is wearing a sombrero today. Gonna need a photoshop image of Tito Polo wearing Marco Polo clothing but with a sombrero.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 10, 2017 -> 12:20 PM) It says Basabe has 17 SB and 13 CS with a 77% success rate. I think that CS should read 6 Thanks for digging that up, you are correct. Fixed.

First game is underway. Tito Polo and Danny Mendick in the lineup.

The AFL begins on Tuesday. Y2Jimmy0 previews the season from a White Sox perspective, looking at each of the seven South Siders on roster. With the regular seasons over, this is the only White Sox game in town for a while!

How did the prospects end up performing on the farm in 2017? Here's a look at the top ten (or so) prospects in each of a bunch of offensive categories across the farm this season. Stats of course are a resource of limited value in evaluating prospects, but it can give some clues, with context. NOTE: There are eligibility rules in the intro We will do a Pitchers article next week.

Now being reported that Christiana Duarte was indeed killed in the shooting. Duarte's girlfriend is hospitalized after taking a bullet that entered her face and exited her neck.

Turns out one of the few people still missing / unaccounted for is Christiana Duarte, sister of White Sox prospect Michael Duarte. I put a tweet on the FutureSox feed about it (actually a few). At last reports, late last night, she is still missing. They thought they found her, but it was actually a friend of hers that had her phone and ID for some reason (the friend was shot in the face and is in critical condition at a hospital).

Seems difficult to believe a guy with this profile would suddenly convert to Islam and join up with ISIS in his 60's. Plus ISIS, as others noted, claims all manner of stuff they didn't do. But it's not impossible I suppose.

With our final Season in Review, here is a high level recap of the Charlotte Knights. They looked likely to dominate based on their Opening Day roster, but injuries and flux overwhelmed the club.