I am not worried about the Twins, but the royals

[maggsmaggs]

They have some young talent and with Beltran satying and healthy Sweeney, they could be good. If they get any pitching they will be improved.

[witesoxfan]

f*** that. I'm still scared of the Twins. They actually have a half decent offense, a solid rotation, and a pretty damn good bullpen, even after losing Hawk and Eddie.

 

Right now, I'd be surprised as hell if the Twins and Royals are scared of us. We just lost our stud down the stretch, our second best reliever, our second basemen AND leadoff hitter from the second half of last year as well as our CFer and #5 hitter from the second half last year.

 

We will have to make some pretty damn good moves to even be a blip on the radar IMO.

[SoxFanForever]

I'm sure they are shaking in their boots.

[Chisoxfn]

I'd say the Sox are the 3rd best team in the division and if they stay put, they could end up as the 4th best because Cleveland has the ability to make a rise.

 

What exactly have the Twins lost. They've lost two closers/stud relievers, but they added Silva and Joey Nathan, both very solid relievers and they have Jesse Crain a stud closer prospect ready to come up, plus they had a lot of other solid relievers and it wouldn't shock me if they add a veteran at one point or another. They got a little worse, but not that much.

 

With Shannon Stewart, he really sparked them and this year he gets to play a full season with them. They will lose Jacque Jones, but will probably get something in return for him and he was out for parts of last season. Mix that with Stewart playing half the season and I think they stay about the same, plus they have a few good outfielders and I guess now Dahman Mohr will get more playing time.

 

Starting pitching wise they lose Milton, but he didn't do jack for them last year, so I don't consider it a loss at all. They do lose a hell of a catcher and Mauer, while good isn't necessarily ready, but Matt LeCroy can whack the ball and was a catcher and I'd guess he gets the bulk of the playing time and Mauer gets more time in the minors. They will lose some production, not as much as some think. The biggest loss will be the way Aj handled the pitchers.

 

So they lose a bit in catcher and a bit in the pen, and the only staring pitching loss is the Kenny Rogers is probably gone, but he isn't that great. They still have a lot of time to make moves and basically the nucleus of that club will be back.

 

Now lets look at the Sox:

Pen: Lose Gordon, Sully - No Replacements Found Yet

Rotation: Lose Colon - No Replacements Found Yet

Infield: Lose Alomar - Harris will be a bit of a loss, but I feel he could put up similar production and could become a shocker so I consider this a minimal loss

Outfield: Lose Everett - Great production, although he is replaceable with cheaper options, but when you now have a lot of other ???'s you now have to put a lot of faith in Reed, Rowand and Borchard.

 

Basically the Sox have lost two very good relievers, a hell of a starter and a productive outfielder and a solid 2nd baseman (I don't like him that much) and have Uribe to replace Graffy and thats a bit of a loss, simply because Graffy was so clutch.

 

The Royals haven't really lost anyone and they are adding Matt Stairs (This guy put up a very HIGH OPS last year and is a much better player then Michael Tucker, whom they lost). Are rumored to be adding Santiago and Mondesi too, two more productive players. Plus they get some of their pitchers healthy again.

 

Ya, I'd say the Sox are by far the team getting worse as of now.