OK, we'll probably need another one of these after some moves are made near the end of ST, but in the meantime...

 

Assuming the team is pretty much as-is, with no major trades... where do you think the Sox will finish in 2008? How many wins, and in what place? And will the make the playoffs?

 

I'll be boring and vote for the 3 categories that I'm assuming will run away in this:

 

81-85, 3rd, no.

Somewhere between first and fifth. And until I see how the players they have, many of whom are young, do in their tests this year, I'm not willing to be any more specific than that. This team could win anywhere between 70 and 100 games. And frankly, a lot of the difference will fall on the coaching staff in how they use players and how well they teach them.

Edited March 19, 200818 yr by Balta1701

84-78 3rd place. They start nicely, but fade late. Pitching falls apart in August and Sept as Danks and Floyd fade away as the workload catches up with them. Offense rebounds nicely, but is really inconsistant with 100 plus K's from Thome, Swisher, Fields, Konerko, Dye, Anderson/Owens in CF and the second base combo of Uribe/Ramirez.

84-78 3rd place. They start nicely, but fade late. Pitching falls apart in August and Sept as Danks and Floyd fade away as the workload catches up with them. Offense rebounds nicely, but is really inconsistant with 100 plus K's from Thome, Swisher, Fields, Konerko, Dye, Anderson/Owens in CF and the second base combo of Uribe/Ramirez.

this is where our minor league organization kills us....if we start out hot, and look like an 84-87 win team near the break....we have absolutely no chance to go out and make ourselves better midseason through trade because we have nothing to deal, at least not the type of prospects teams typically want for impact type guys at the tradedeadline

 

it would be nice if we were looking like a mid 80 win team to be able to trade for a proven guy that might make us 90 win team and push us perhaps into the WC or division

 

as for my prediction...i say 81-84....basically just like it was during 01, 02, 03, 04

Edited March 19, 200818 yr by daa84

Somewhere between first and fifth. And until I see how the players they have, many of whom are young, do in their tests this year, I'm not willing to be any more specific than that. This team could win anywhere between 70 and 100 games. And frankly, a lot of the difference will fall on the coaching staff in how they use players and how well they teach them.

Yeah, that's kind of what I mentioned in starting the thread. This could significantly different, if we do this poll on March 31st or so - after any final trades, roster moves, lineup decisions, etc. become finalized. But I was curious about where we are currently. We could look at this and a later poll as a sort of before and after.

 

Does anyone think there's a trade opportunity out there that will make us better than Detroit or Cleveland? 3rd place is a lock IMO.

93 wins, playoffs, first place. Mark it down.

This division is going to beat up on itself. The only team that hasn't improved is the Twins. Sox are in 3rd.