NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 03:14 PM) There is nothing insane about claiming the Obama administration was surveiling anyone. That's par for the course for them. As for Trump saying things without evidence and getting called on it, what's at stake here? Nothing but Donald's ego. I don't care about his ego. How can you say this with a straight face? First, illegal surveillance of political foes is not par for the course for them or any President. Anyone since Nixon. And nowadays the safeties around that are so profound... yeah, it's pretty insane to suggest, and just as insane to say it's "par for the course". Second, his suggestion created a flurry of activity in Congress and within LE branches of government. That's use of critical resources for a complete waste of time. That's less time to be used on actual problems. That is a direct, clear impact. Neither of these get into the "soft" effects. A President accusing another of illegal surveillance? That takes a jackhammer to the foundations of the executive branch, erodes trust in the entire populace, and emboldens foreign governments to mess with Trump because he's obviously a lunatic.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 02:56 PM) Assuming this is a swipe at me, you couldn't articulate one bad thing that came from Trump's probable lie on the illegal immigrants. "It makes us look bad." I care about issues. I care about solutions. I don't care about what some reality star New York liberal tweets even if he is the president. Although it's good comedy at points I must admit. On illegal immigrants? He constantly lies about the extent of risk, with his "numbers" and vague fearmongering are there to try to back up his original and obviously illegal ExO. Or do you mean Mexico? Plenty bad already happening from that, with Mexico looking at doing all sorts of things that will hurt the US economy, plus his huge waste of money on a wall. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 03:05 PM) They're also bragging about cutting Meals for Wheels and after school programs for needy children in the same budget they're demanding billions for increased military spending and for the stupid wall. Yeah those are quite ridiculous. They cost so little, and do so much good. This administration is exceedingly good at shooting itself in the foot. Forgetting the moral argument for a moment, it makes them look like goons and will work AGAINST the people who voted for him in poor rural areas.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 01:45 PM) Uh... Tillerson says diplomacy with North Korea has ‘failed’; Pyongyang warns of war I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness of poking that beast. I am not against a new track, but Tillerson is basically saying that things will now be escalated militarily. That's the signal he's sending. And there is a metric f***ton of risk in doing that. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 02:15 PM) Tucker Carlson just told trump "the counties that voted for you will do far worse under your plan" and trump replied "Oh, I know" I'd love to see the full text on that. Where did you read it? Or see it?

So far, it would appear that choosing Winthrop as an upset team was a mistake.

Nova over WV UNC over Louisville UNC over Nova

The Republicans are in such a corner here, there's no way to really win. This new plan does nothing to lower overall costs to taxpayers, is harder on the poor and the elderly, and will see insurance go away for millions. You've got a conservative group who think even that is too close to ACA, and moderates who see the opposite, all in the same party. Compromise would mean, essentially, sticking with ACA. What is the winning scenario here for the GOP in Congress? And for Trump? How do they lower costs without throwing a ton of people out of coverge?

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 08:10 PM) That would be the guy. Disagree with his politics, but its nice to see someone take his duty seriously. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 08:30 PM) Personally I love it. We need more people like that. Yup. There are policy stands he makes that I agree or disagree with, but in terms of how seriously he takes the job and his obligations to whom he represents, he's a model guy for me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 03:35 PM) Netherlands Election exit polls are filtering out, and it looks like Geert Wilders' far-right anti-Islam party fell into a three-way tie for 2nd place with 19 seats in parliament. As recently as last week. his party was leading the incumbent VVD party. It's a possible sign that the tide of right-wing populism has been stemmed in Europe, but the big one to watch is still the upcoming French elections. http://www.dw.com/en/dutch-pm-ruttes-vvd-e...poll/a-37937959 If you like multi-party systems, the Dutch elections have several dozen parties running and over a dozen will get seats in parliament. They have a proportional representation system with a parliament, so you're voting for a given party rather than a particular candidate, and seats are allocated to a party based on their percentage share of the electorate. Turnout in the Netherlands will be well over 70%. I really like the German model. You get two votes - one for a candidate, one for a party. Party vote totals dictate number of seats, then the most popular candidates get those seats per party.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 01:56 PM) Both of these dudes are 25. I am fine giving them another couple months in AAA, but at this point they probably are what they are. In what is going to be a lost season, they better get some time in CF. I'm guessing they will split CF duties in Charlotte, alternating to a corner and/or DH for playing time.

Only mild surprise to me is Soto, who I thought had a shot at the last bullpen slot. Looks like now it's either Ynoa or Luebke. Chris Beck sure has fallen off the radar. Crumbles when facing MLB hitters, though in his defense he is also coming off an injury and lots of missed time.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 02:32 PM) Not only that but I believe it was during the goofy drill where they are allowed to fall roll roll for the follow through. Correct, though that aspect actually was brought up in the article. Just not the underweight ball.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 12:14 PM) Pretty good and detailed article on Kopech: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2697051...paign=editorial That 110 mph pitch continues to be mischaracterized in the press. It was an underweight baseball, which is key to understanding how he hit that velo. People keep leaving that out. Not looking at you Gooch, I mean the author of this and other articles.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 11:08 AM) Northside: I had asked you in another thread if the White Sox have made any significant changes to their minor league coaching staff to accomodate the influx of young positional talent. There have been some changes and additions this offseason in player development. A few big ones. Here is an article reviewing those.

By the way, in terms of transparency, I just want to give a shout-out to house rep Justin Amash (MI - R). Not only has he almost never missed a vote, but for every vote he makes, he writes a post on Facebook and his blog as to the reasoning why he voted how he did. There are other things I like about him too (he's very willing to buck his own party), but he does transparency really well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 09:21 AM) It is his "Mission Accomplished" moment as far as I am concerned. Yeah he was terrible about this.

Just to add some context around May and Engel... May has half a season in AAA (83 games), where he hit .266, drew walks at just a 4.6% rate, didn't show any power, and struck out 22.4% of the time. That's after only playing about 60% of a season in AA the year before due to a concussion - so he's been moving up a little fast as it is. He's a fringy prospect leaning heavily on speed (plus) and glove (above average or better), but his hit tool is a question mark, there's no power and he has a below average arm. He's a guy you want to make sure gets very comfortable hitting, because that will need to carry him. You don't want to rush him any more than he's already been rushed. Engel is even less ready. He's only got 41 games in AAA, where he hit .242 and struck out in a whopping 31% of his PA (though he did walk and show more power than May). He's got a big ceiling but has struggled specifically with consistency at the plate - the definition of a prospect you want to let get well-settled before moving him up. Let them develop.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 08:09 AM) Maybe not, but I don't think Leury is anything more than a AAAA player and I would be highly surprised if he was a long term piece in this rebuild. May and Engel probably won't become MLB regulars either but I'd rather give them a shot since they've never had one. Leury is what he is at this point. If you want May and Engel to get the best possible shot for their future, then you want them getting starting time, and at a level that neither has shown much mastery over yet (AAA). There' no need to rush them.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 07:55 AM) This looks right to me. I'd much rather see May or Engel make the team over Leury but I doubt that will happen, at least initially. Neither are MLB-ready in my view. I think the smart move in a rebuild is to allow both of them to get solid in AAA first. Leury gains nothing from being in AAA anyway.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 06:41 PM) The most transparent adminstration ever. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/obama-...-foia-requests/ Has anyone really been referring to them as particularly transparent? This has been a maddening slide during his administration, which continued a slide under Bush. The general performance of both parties' leaders in this area has been s***ty to say the least. Obama and his admin were terrible about being transparent.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 10:09 PM) As intentionally contrarian as raBBit is being, he has a point with the drone program. It's absolutely disgusting and reprehensible, and gets relatively little critical coverage. I agree it's a problem, however, I disagree that it gets relatively little coverage. Maybe I'm tuned into reading the stories more, but I've read quite a few on the topic in mainstream outlets.

Updated after Tilson injury news... LINEUP SS Anderson 2B Saladino 1B Abreu LF Cabrera 3B Frazier DH Davidson RF Avisail CF Bourjos C Narvaez BENCH Soto (C, as a platoon with Narvaez) Sanchez (middle INF) Liriano (OF) L Garcia (UTIL) ROTATION Quintana Rodon Shields Gonzalez Holland BULLPEN Robertson Jones Jennings (L) Putnam Petricka Covey Ynoa or Luebke (L) - I can't decide

There's a significant possibility there could be a Kansas vs Iowa State game, in Kansas City. KU likely gets there, ISU would need to beat Purdue probably, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. That would be a nutso crowd.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 12:18 PM) Booker seems like an intriguing prospect. If his glove work , routes and arm are all as good as the article says along with his speed and outstanding stolen base percentage he seems like one to follow closely. If he develops he might be the closest thing the Sox will have to a true center fielder/lead off type . There are other true CF's in the system. Engel and May for example. But among the seven in the article, he's the one most clearly a CF, though others (Call for one) might be able to stick there too. For Booker, the question is, will he be able to do enough with the bat to get on base enough. If yes, he will jump up the boards.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 10:47 AM) Granted, I don't know the history as well for the earlier ones, but the one I know for sure is starting with FDR and not trying to get us into WWII, while actively plotting with Churchill to get us into WWII. That is why I went with decades. Though it would be easy to argue that lies trying to get us into WWII, Vietnam, and maybe even Iraq are bigger than anything Trump has said so far. I think the reason Trump stands out is he lies for no reason, while most of the most famous Presidential liars through history lied with cold calculation. I can't give Trump that kind of credit, at least not yet. I think he is more pathological about it. That's certainly a key point - Trump doesn't lie as part of pushing some policy or effort over the line, he lies for some combination of protecting his own ego and egging on his hard core followers. But I think with Iraq - and I can't believe I am semi-defending Bush here - it's not a matter of the big lie. It was that Bush was a weak executive who was pushed into the new world order mindset but his own cabinet, who then bullied CIA into trying to find justification for what they already wanted to do, and that's when they stumbled onto Curveball and his info. Bush was given that info, probably assuming the CIA had done what the are supposed to do, which is be skeptics. Instead, they were cheerleaders over edgy information - it was all backwards. Bush lied, but I think he did it without truly realizing what was going on. To be clear - I still lay plenty of blame on Bush for the debacle that was Iraq, but I also blame Rumsfeld and Cheney, and the CIA and their management, and Congress. Trump just sits on the can at 5am and spews out information that is outright, clearly and obviously, false. And then his administration goes to work trying to make blue look like red. It's bizarre and scary and dangerous. He lies at a level and frequency unprecedented for a President.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 10:36 AM) The President flat out lying to the American people lost real meaning decades ago. Granted Trump is taking it to new heights, but it is the same thing as always, the party in power makes excuses for it, while the party out of power is outraged. I really hate this perspective. First, Presidents have lied for centuries, not decades. Second, Trump is doing it to a point that is not just higher, but has outright launched into the stratosphere. None of Obama, Bush, or anyone before them has done anything remotely close to what he and his administration are doing. It is NOT the same, nor is it just some next step. It's extreme.