October 15, 201213 yr Earlier in the thread people were talking about trading one of the bad OBP guys. Can Carlos Sanchez play SS? Will he hit enough? If the Sox could get a nice return for Alexei, is it worth it to go with Sanchez and save money to re-sign guys?
October 19, 201213 yr It appears the 7th best team in the AL will be playing the 5th best team in the NL for the World Championship. Marty is probably going to want an asterisk by this one.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 18, 2012 -> 10:20 PM) It appears the 7th best team in the AL will be playing the 5th best team in the NL for the World Championship. Marty is probably going to want an asterisk by this one. No asterisk, however unlike you I don't think it's good strategy to strive to be the 7th best team in the league going forward.
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) No asterisk, however unlike you I don't think it's good strategy to strive to be the 7th best team in the league going forward. Yeah, because clearly that is what KW wanted. To be 7th best.
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) No asterisk, however unlike you I don't think it's good strategy to strive to be the 7th best team in the league going forward. When did I ever say that? The goal is to win the division, and then 11 playoff games. You don't have to win 125 games in the regular season to do that.
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) No asterisk, however unlike you I don't think it's good strategy to strive to be the 7th best team in the league going forward. They should strive to be the best team in their division because that's all that really matters. Who really cares if they are the first best team or the 10th best team in the AL?
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) No asterisk, however unlike you I don't think it's good strategy to strive to be the 7th best team in the league going forward. I doubt anyone is saying let's shoot for 7th best every year. What Dick (and many others here) is saying is that the Tigers (the 7th best team in the AL) going to the World Series is proof that anything can happen in the playoffs. The fact of the matter is that the AL Central is not a strong division. Typically, there are couple teams better than the best team from the AL Central. Had the Sox been the 7th best team in the AL, they could have been in the position the Tigers are in right now. Harping on the fact that the Sox were the 8th best team in the AL is useless. That's not what mattered. What mattered was that the Sox couldn't hold the division at the end. But throughout the season, the Sox played some good baseball and beat some good teams. They ended up falling short because they had trouble beating teams within their own division. The goal for teams going into the season is to make it to the playoffs. What matters first is winning the division, and that's what teams strive for from day one. If the Sox win the division next year (or any year for that matter), being the best in the AL or the 3rd best or the 7th best is secondary.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:57 PM) Yeah, because clearly that is what KW wanted. To be 7th best. They would have won the division if they were the 7th best team in the league.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:58 PM) They should strive to be the best team in their division because that's all that really matters. Who really cares if they are the first best team or the 10th best team in the AL? The other side of that is, if you don't make the postseason, it's no achievement to finish 10th (or 8th.)
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:09 PM) The other side of that is, if you don't make the postseason, it's no achievement to finish 10th (or 8th.) Thank you captain obvious.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:27 PM) Thank you captain obvious. Tell your partners in crime that. There's a party going on in here for being the 8th best team in the AL.
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:30 PM) Tell your partners in crime that. There's a party going on in here for being the 8th best team in the AL. I haven't seen anyone celebrating. Got any links? You're the only person here that thinks their placement against the other 13 teams in the American league matters at all. Until they get rid of the divisions and just start sending the top 4 teams to the playoffs in each league, it doesn't matter. Edited October 19, 201213 yr by Iwritecode
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:30 PM) Tell your partners in crime that. There's a party going on in here for being the 8th best team in the AL. Do you think Dave Dombrowski should be sent off for producing a middle-of-the-pack team just like KW did? 7th out of 14 is pretty damn mediocre.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:39 PM) Do you think Dave Dombrowski should be sent off for producing a middle-of-the-pack team just like KW did? 7th out of 14 is pretty damn mediocre. The White Sox were the 8th best team in the league and failed to make the postseason.
October 19, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:51 PM) The White Sox were the 8th best team in the league and failed to make the postseason. QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:27 PM) Thank you captain obvious.
October 19, 201213 yr Author QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 03:04 PM) I doubt anyone is saying let's shoot for 7th best every year. What Dick (and many others here) is saying is that the Tigers (the 7th best team in the AL) going to the World Series is proof that anything can happen in the playoffs. The fact of the matter is that the AL Central is not a strong division. Typically, there are couple teams better than the best team from the AL Central. Had the Sox been the 7th best team in the AL, they could have been in the position the Tigers are in right now. Harping on the fact that the Sox were the 8th best team in the AL is useless. That's not what mattered. What mattered was that the Sox couldn't hold the division at the end. But throughout the season, the Sox played some good baseball and beat some good teams. They ended up falling short because they had trouble beating teams within their own division. The goal for teams going into the season is to make it to the playoffs. What matters first is winning the division, and that's what teams strive for from day one. If the Sox win the division next year (or any year for that matter), being the best in the AL or the 3rd best or the 7th best is secondary. Where you stand in the league is an excellent barometer to how good of a team you have.
October 20, 201213 yr QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 05:12 PM) Where you stand in the league is an excellent barometer to how good of a team you have. So the Tigers are't very good, and the Yankees are great.
October 22, 201213 yr Good post. If you look at Viciedo's numbers from late April through May in Charlotte in 2011, he's shown the capability to take a lot more walks. Part of it has to do with where he's hitting in the batting order. As long as Williams is nominally in charge, there's no way he trades Dayan at this point in his career. I'm not saying he's going to go David Ortiz-post Twins, but I've always been a big believer in his hitting talent, and his defense (especially considering his arm and how many opposing runners would take advantage of Pods and Pierre) this year has been a net plus for a LFer, compared to a negative. Like the rest of the outfield, he's had a few key defensive miscues in the last 4-6 months, but, overall, he's been just fine defensively. And yeah, you'd be looking at someone like Colby Rasmus, who can play CF and allow DeAza to slide over to LF where he's obviously more comfortable. And Rasmus, as we know, has his share of detractors. In fact, their OPS numbers are pretty similar. The main advantage you get out of that is improving the defense in two places, possibly. I will say it again--you can make good arguments for keeping ANY of the five, but if you keep ALL of them, you have an offense that can't win in 2013. Viciedo had a .300 OBP, and if you have him in the lineup with guys who have OBPs of .326, .296, and .287, you will continue to have the 8th best team in the AL.
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