1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:

 

Didn't he just Monday say......

Edited March 30, 20224 yr by Dick Allen

1 minute ago, Dick Allen said:

Didn't he just Monday say......

 

Leury (as DH), Harrison AND Engel at the bottom of the lineup…yuck!

But we should trust this front office.  Because they’ve clearly earned the benefit of the doubt this offseason (so far).

They really picked up some sh***y players. Bordering upon idiocy. I will be waiting on Romy to come up soon. I do think Sheets will be better than a Polka clone.

8 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Leury (as DH), Harrison AND Engel at the bottom of the lineup…yuck!

But we should trust this front office.  Because they’ve clearly earned the benefit of the doubt this offseason (so far).

This is your starting LHP lineup, with Vaughn playing instead of Leury.

17 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Didn't he just Monday say......

This is laughable because decent hitters come here and fail. The mediocre ones are not worth remembering at all.

3 hours ago, pcq said:

They really picked up some sh***y players. Bordering upon idiocy. I will be waiting on Romy to come up soon. I do think Sheets will be better than a Polka clone.

We would be better off with Gus “The Polka King” Polinski and Tom Paciorek in RF.

Edited March 30, 20224 yr by caulfield12

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

 

Um?  

He so full of shit.  Ugh, my brain hurts.

3 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

 

Bahahahaha more water carrying. I’ll trust them when they make the acquisitions necessary to fill holes on the team and get beyond the first round of the playoffs.

Edited March 30, 20224 yr by The Beast

2 hours ago, The Beast said:

Bahahahaha more water carrying. I’ll trust them when they make the acquisitions necessary to fill holes on the team and get beyond the first round of the playoffs.

So if they win 85 games but make the ALCS that would be more validating than winning 105 and losing in the ALDS?

I have no idea how anyone puts more weight into a best of 5 series than a 162 game season

18 minutes ago, CeaseAndExist said:

So if they win 85 games but make the ALCS that would be more validating than winning 105 and losing in the ALDS?

I have no idea how anyone puts more weight into a best of 5 series than a 162 game season

Ask SF Giants fans if they prefer to be the Dodgers last season...losing in the NLCS?  Or winning the division but getting knocked out early?

Edited March 31, 20224 yr by caulfield12

10 minutes ago, CeaseAndExist said:

So if they win 85 games but make the ALCS that would be more validating than winning 105 and losing in the ALDS?

I have no idea how anyone puts more weight into a best of 5 series than a 162 game season

I think we would all agree that both are valid indicators. Just beating the poor teams is nice and gets you a pile of wins, but beating good and great teams makes you a great team.

18 minutes ago, CeaseAndExist said:

So if they win 85 games but make the ALCS that would be more validating than winning 105 and losing in the ALDS?

I have no idea how anyone puts more weight into a best of 5 series than a 162 game season

Making the ALCS and going past a play in game or ALDS is a a step up in my mind. I also want to see improvement against above .500 opponents this year instead of them just beating the underachieving teams.

49 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Ask SF Giants fans if they prefer to be the Dodgers last season...losing in the NLCS?  Or winning the division but getting knocked out early?

The Giants have 3 real titles recently, the Dodgers have 1 Covid title. As a Giants fan I would enjoy another great season of many. 

13 hours ago, SonofaRoache said:

The Giants have 3 real titles recently, the Dodgers have 1 Covid title. As a Giants fan I would enjoy another great season of many. 

Yeah, I get caulifield's sentiment, but that was such an atrocious example.

15 hours ago, CeaseAndExist said:

So if they win 85 games but make the ALCS that would be more validating than winning 105 and losing in the ALDS?

I have no idea how anyone puts more weight into a best of 5 series than a 162 game season

It feels more like we're headed to winning 85 games and losing in the ALDS (or a play-in game).  

13 minutes ago, PorkChopExpress said:

It feels more like we're headed to winning 85 games and losing in the ALDS (or a play-in game).  

This team is going to win more than 85 games.  We still play 76 games against the ALC.  Detroit and Minny should be decent, but Royals and Tribe will be bad.  Hopefully we win enough games to get that top 2 seed.  AL East should beat up on itself.  

I am not really worried about winning this division.  I think we'll mostly coast to a division win of 10+ games. I am worried about how we stack up in a short play-off series against TOR/NY/TB/BOS/LAA - in that order.  This lineup is going to get carved up against elite RHP. 

1 hour ago, SleepyWhiteSox said:

Yeah, I get caulifield's sentiment, but that was such an atrocious example.

Not really.  The Giants have three titles, but 2010-12-14.  Dodgers much more recent.  Giants set franchise record in wins, amazing take the division and break Dodgers' string but everyone thinks it's fluky.   Team proceeds to lose as predicted to Dodgers early, but LAD also goes down to the Braves in the NLCS.  I guess the slight advantage goes to Giants simply because LA is expected to win it all each and every season, which is totally unrealistic in baseball.

7 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

This team is going to win more than 85 games.  We still play 76 games against the ALC.  Detroit and Minny should be decent, but Royals and Tribe will be bad.  Hopefully we win enough games to get that top 2 seed.  AL East should beat up on itself.  

I am not really worried about winning this division.  I think we'll mostly coast to a division win of 10+ games. I am worried about how we stack up in a short play-off series against TOR/NY/TB/BOS/LAA - in that order.  This lineup is going to get carved up against elite RHP. 

Are the Royals and Tribe better or worse than last year?  Because we only went 9-10 against the Royals and 10-9 against CLE, and that 10-9 felt much worse because we struggled to hold a lead against them so often.  Both of those teams seem to have an extra gear when they play us and take extra pleasure in beating us.  We went 13-6 against MIN last year, but I don't see that happening again since our recent history against them would suggest otherwise.  We went 12-7 against DET, and we tend to do well against them, but I think they've improved.  So when people talk about the "weak" Central Division, and how we'll coast to another division title, it just feels like over-confidence.  I hope you're right.        

1 minute ago, PorkChopExpress said:

Are the Royals and Tribe better or worse than last year?  Because we only went 9-10 against the Royals and 10-9 against CLE, and that 10-9 felt much worse because we struggled to hold a lead against them so often.  Both of those teams seem to have an extra gear when they play us and take extra pleasure in beating us.  We went 13-6 against MIN last year, but I don't see that happening again since our recent history against them would suggest otherwise.  We went 12-7 against DET, and we tend to do well against them, but I think they've improved.  So when people talk about the "weak" Central Division, and how we'll coast to another division title, it just feels like over-confidence.  I hope you're right.        

Twins the wild card, Detroit one year away and the Royals likely two...then the Indians will continue to overachieve with Francona until they trade their remaining studs.  One major pitching injury to the Sox and things get fairly interesting.

Just now, PorkChopExpress said:

Are the Royals and Tribe better or worse than last year?  Because we only went 9-10 against the Royals and 10-9 against CLE, and that 10-9 felt much worse because we struggled to hold a lead against them so often.  Both of those teams seem to have an extra gear when they play us and take extra pleasure in beating us.  We went 13-6 against MIN last year, but I don't see that happening again since our recent history against them would suggest otherwise.  We went 12-7 against DET, and we tend to do well against them, but I think they've improved.  So when people talk about the "weak" Central Division, and how we'll coast to another division title, it just feels like over-confidence.  I hope you're right.        

I am not too concerned about last years records.  I don't think the Royals or Cleveland did much of anything to improve.  The Twins will be better than they were last year but the Sox will feast on their pitching.  How many of those games we did play against the the Royals and Tribe without Eloy and Robert?  Eloy was a shell of himself even when he did play last year. I think a .600 record against the central is doable (45-31).  Go .500 in the other 86 games, and there is 88 wins.  I suspect the Sox will play better than .500 baseball against non ALC teams.  

2 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

I am not too concerned about last years records.  I don't think the Royals or Cleveland did much of anything to improve.  The Twins will be better than they were last year but the Sox will feast on their pitching.  How many of those games we did play against the the Royals and Tribe without Eloy and Robert?  Eloy was a shell of himself even when he did play last year. I think a .600 record against the central is doable (45-31).  Go .500 in the other 86 games, and there is 88 wins.  I suspect the Sox will play better than .500 baseball against non ALC teams.  

Turning the same point around, how many of those wins against Cleveland were without Bieber and others in their rotation who got hurt?

For reference, they were 44-32 against the Central last year, so your prediction means they’ll be one game better this year.

2 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Turning the same point around, how many of those wins against Cleveland were without Bieber and others in their rotation who got hurt?

For reference, they were 44-32 against the Central last year, so your prediction means they’ll be one game better this year.

I will take 2 superstar caliber offensive players over a guy who might make an extra couple starts against the Sox, even if those games become harder to win.  Considering the lineups the Sox rocked for large portions of last season, I think matching or slightly exceed last years performance against the ALC is reasonable assumption.  Disagree if you wish. 

3 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

I will take 2 superstar caliber offensive players over a guy who might make an extra couple starts against the Sox, even if those games become harder to win.  Considering the lineups the Sox rocked for large portions of last season, I think matching or slightly exceed last years performance against the ALC is reasonable assumption.  Disagree if you wish. 

Indians' rotation should be much tougher this year with two youngsters progressing in second half...all comes down to Bieber, Plesac and Civale returning to form.  And Clase has quietly become a Top 5ish closer...at least by ASB.  Ramirez was terrible for two months and Naylor seriously injured, so it all evens out except for manager.

Edited March 31, 20224 yr by caulfield12

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Indians' rotation should be much tougher this year with two youngsters progressing in second half...all comes down to Bieber, Plesac and Civale returning to form.  And Clase has quietly become a Top 5ish closer...at least by ASB.  Ramirez was terrible for two months and Naylor seriously injured, so it all evens out except for manager.

Guardians. Yeah, I don’t like it either.