http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=264976

 

Will the Sox be under or over 76.5 wins?

Over

The Sox will win exactly 76.5 games.

Over.

 

I'm gonna say winning record.

I'm the first to go with "under". I hope to hell I'm wrong!

I actually had 76 wins in my head for some reason. That sounds about right to me with the pitching losses.

I'll take the over but barely.

That seems like very fair over/under....ill go over at 77 just cuz its the sox and ill always remain hopeful

 

we won 79 last year, and ill include my less than scientific opinion of how I see the changes affecting our win total

 

The bad....

Our bullpen is worse (no santos) (- 1.5 wins)

SP likely worse (without buerhle, but some of that countered by sale) (-2 wins)

Downgrade from quentin to viciedo (at least IMO - gonna be hard for tank to post OPS of .838) (-1.5 wins)

Can expect reasonable regressions from konerko, humber (-2 wins)

 

The good...

Can expect reasonable progressions from dunn, rios, beckham, and danks, peavy (+5 wins)

Hopefully de aza is an upgrade over pierre (+1 win)

 

 

The division was horrendous last year, but I expect the royals to continue to improve, tigers improve, twins HAVE to be better than last year, and indians probably a tick worse - IMO anincrease in teh competition level should account for about a game or two

 

Now these are pretty conservative changes, obviously if Dunn were to somehow go back to pre-2011 form, thats worth probably 4-5 wins alone, and if rios can replicate 2010, that would be worth another 2-3.

 

Unfortunately this team is extra-ordinarily ill-equipped to deal with injury, given the utter lack of depth in the organization. So knock on wood that we stay healthy.

Edited February 23, 201214 yr by daa84

The Sox will win exactly 76.5 games.

 

+1

I'm optimistically saying the Sox will win 86 games. They won't make the playoffs, but they'll be better than what people think right now and have a lot of positives to look forward to for 2013.

I'm saying over. 82-84 wins.

Interesting to see KC at 78.5 (12 of those against us)

Under.

I will say over, but by no more than 4-5 games.

Seems about right. I'd guess 75 to 77 wins.

The Sox will win exactly 76.5 games.

 

 

I'm optimistically saying the Sox will win 86 games. They won't make the playoffs, but they'll be better than what people think right now and have a lot of positives to look forward to for 2013.

 

86 might be a reach, but I fully expect them to outdo their expectations and then disappoint in 2013.

I think that 76.5 is a good place to put us right now. I am going over.

 

Seems like in years when we aren't expected to do much, we overachieve. And then in years when are expected to do well, we underachieve.

 

 

 

Under, emphatically. This season is going to be Glenn Close ugly.

Under.

Lousy baseball team.

Greg, will you give ANY credit to either Ventura or Williams if the White Sox finish with over 85 wins this season?

 

Don't become so consumed trying to prove we suck and that Ozzie was a demigod that you're predetermined to only look for flaws and problems when there's some positives to look forward to with any new baseball season and spring training upon us.

 

Sure, this is probably more likely a 77-85 team than an 85-77 team at this point...but, as you're constantly reminding us, we might not be in the headlines as much? And how many of the Ozzie Guillen-related headlines from the last 3 years have generated any revenue for the White Sox or brought additional fans to the ballpark? If anything, his actions/behavior have turned off a lot of the fans who were willing to give him a ton of rope until last season, many simply due to 2005 and 2008 still.

 

I still argue getting rid of the dysfunctional environment and inhouse sniping is worth 2-3 wins alone in the first couple of months.

Edited February 23, 201214 yr by caulfield12

The sad thing is, if we do overachieve this year, there will be a legitimate debate as to whether it was because of Robin or Not Ozzie.

Or if the hitters do well, is it because of Ventura's presence, getting rid of Walker or the more "stress-free" clubhouse/F.O. environment?

 

Because of the lack of expectations, guys like Beckham, Rios, Dunn and Peavy might shine again and we'll all be saying....yeah, but what about when they're expected to do well (like in 2011)? Can they perform when there's more pressure placed upon them, instead of putting up Albert Belle 2nd half "me-stats" when nobody's watching?

 

Guess any positives will be worth fighting over and PR-spinning compared to 2011's debacle.

Does the .5 come from games where fans were only half interested?

 

 

1/2 of a win? This team is better than what we were led to believe obviously

 

 

 

86 might be a reach, but I fully expect them to outdo their expectations and then disappoint in 2013.

 

 

Why 2013? Losing more of the regular players maybe?