I like what Rick is doing, but this still looks like a 70 win team to me.

I think they will win between 72-77 games. I want to see big years out of the young new core. The White Sox have a lot of trade pieces though and that actually really excites me. Alexei Ramirez, Gordon Beckham, Adam Dunn, John Danks, Mitchell Boggs, Ronald Belisario, Matt Lindstrom, Nate Jones, and Scott Downs are all guys that could be moved to further enhance the system throughout the year. Pretty exciting possibility actually.

 

 

We're not going to get much for Dunn or Danks in all probability, but we can save money and invest it elsewhere...or use it to improve the 2015 team.

 

Getting the best possible deal for Ramirez is going to be a huge key, especially with teams hesitating on Stephen Drew until after the June draft seemingly.

 

DeAza could also fetch something decent, the veteran relievers....Paulino could emerge big-time as a "sell high" candidate (like Humber in 2012, but we waited too long and he lost any value he'd built up). Finally, it would be nice to figure out a way to save money on Keppinger somehow, and/or move Gillaspie, although that's going to be a minimal return as well.

Edited March 1, 201412 yr by caulfield12

I'll take the under. But not by a lot.

I think they will win between 72-77 games. I want to see big years out of the young new core. The White Sox have a lot of trade pieces though and that actually really excites me. Alexei Ramirez, Gordon Beckham, Adam Dunn, John Danks, Mitchell Boggs, Ronald Belisario, Matt Lindstrom, Nate Jones, and Scott Downs are all guys that could be moved to further enhance the system throughout the year. Pretty exciting possibility actually.

That's how I see it.

The one thing that would snap this is what happens seemingly frequently: in June/July, we're 5 below, Tigers are 5 above. We're only 5 games out....

I'll go with 70. I love what Rick is doing, but there will be growing pains with prospects and some performing vets traded at the deadline.

I think they'll hover around .500 all year. Wind up with 77-82 wins

Under ,we'll get some good surprises and bad ones too. Still too overly right handed in the lineup with a lot of people here expecting our LH hitters like Dunn, Gillaspie, De Aza and Danks not to make much if any contributions going forward.

Edited March 2, 201412 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Under, but not by much. It's not easy to improve by 13 games when all of your biggest acquisitions are so young.

Under

Under. But over 70.

I think pitching's going to take the longest to rebuild. Too many retreads and low ceilings in the mix for me to be confident.

Under. But over 70.

I think pitching's going to take the longest to rebuild. Too many retreads and low ceilings in the mix for me to be confident.

 

I think you are steering your own boat.

I think you are steering your own boat.

He has a point if you acknowledge that only 2 of our starters are locks for 200 innings. Johnson could suck, Danks could suck and the new guy could suck. All very possible.

I think you are steering your own boat.

2 reliable starters, plus Danks (we'll see) plus Paulino (who's never had an above average season in the majors) plus a high ceiling pitching prospect Johnson who I think will do well. Beyond that, we have little, except for perhaps Rienzo.

The pen has Jones plus a mediocre Lindstrom and then retreads and low ceiling younger guys, with the exception of Webb. Some of those guys will be fine, but it's not top shelf by any means.

 

Our farm has really 1 high ceiling starter anywhere near the majors, Danish. Beck looks decent but the low K ratio is concerning.

 

A lot of work to do on the staff.

 

Offensively, we added 3 new hitters, all 3 of whom could be above average and 2 of which could be a lot better than that. Plus Davidson.

Edited March 7, 201412 yr by GreenSox

I have to be optimistic in March. Put me in at 84 wins. No idea how.

 

 

Usually, when we're expected by our own fans to do s*** (2007, 2013), we suck. But when our White Sox faithful think we're going to suck (2005, 2008, 2014?), we perform well. Put me at over.

73 wins

2 reliable starters, plus Danks (we'll see) plus Paulino (who's never had an above average season in the majors) plus a high ceiling pitching prospect Johnson who I think will do well. Beyond that, we have little, except for perhaps Rienzo.

The pen has Jones plus a mediocre Lindstrom and then retreads and low ceiling younger guys, with the exception of Webb. Some of those guys will be fine, but it's not top shelf by any means.

 

Our farm has really 1 high ceiling starter anywhere near the majors, Danish. Beck looks decent but the low K ratio is concerning.

 

A lot of work to do on the staff.

 

Offensively, we added 3 new hitters, all 3 of whom could be above average and 2 of which could be a lot better than that. Plus Davidson.

 

So the rotation includes 2 reliable starters, a guy who has shown very good stuff before, plus another high ceiling prospect. That's 4 of 5. They have the #3 overall pick in a draft that is top heavy with great arms. They have Danish in the low minors, Beck (who, having not struck out a lot of people last year, still has a great arm) is close, and Snodgress has good stuff too. This is not mentioning a slough of great bullpen arms plus the ability to identify and bring in the best arms available.

 

The offense is still weak. There's no catcher and most of the guys brought in have done jack squat at the MLB level.

 

I think you're crazy if you think the pitching is holding this team back, and, like I said, you're steering your own boat.

Under, but not by much. It's not easy to improve by 13 games when all of your biggest acquisitions are so young.

 

I agree. Give it a year or 2 for the bats to come around, and we could see the team as contenders again. I'm expecting a 72 win season

I know its not popular but I really feel over 80 wins.

I know its not popular but I really feel over 80 wins.

 

I like the 80 to 82 win range this year. I think the pitching is going to be really good, and the offense will be improved. It won't be great, but it will be better than last year. I see some ability to actually generate some runs, plus a legit middle of the order bat in Abreu.

I think you're crazy if you think the pitching is holding this team back, and, like I said, you're steering your own boat.

The point is that there is very little pitching depth. Mr Great Stuff is in his 30s and it hasn't materialized.

We made much bigger strides offensively, more or our prospects are position players. Yea, I think long term, pitching is the bigger issue. On the other side, we're better at developing pitchers.

Usually, when we're expected by our own fans to do s*** (2007, 2013), we suck. But when our White Sox faithful think we're going to suck (2005, 2008, 2014?), we perform well. Put me at over.

 

I disagree. I felt very negative about the team heading into 2007 and 2013. 2013 was worse than I would have guessed but I didn't think we had a chance at the division.

 

2005 and 2008 I felt pretty good about. The thing is, I've rarely seen the sox get off to a slow start and then win the division. 2010 was closest to that. So if we start off terrible the writing is usually on the wall.

2 reliable starters, plus Danks (we'll see) plus Paulino (who's never had an above average season in the majors) plus a high ceiling pitching prospect Johnson who I think will do well. Beyond that, we have little, except for perhaps Rienzo.

The pen has Jones plus a mediocre Lindstrom and then retreads and low ceiling younger guys, with the exception of Webb. Some of those guys will be fine, but it's not top shelf by any means.

 

Our farm has really 1 high ceiling starter anywhere near the majors, Danish. Beck looks decent but the low K ratio is concerning.

 

A lot of work to do on the staff.

 

Offensively, we added 3 new hitters, all 3 of whom could be above average and 2 of which could be a lot better than that. Plus Davidson.

 

 

The point is that there is very little pitching depth. Mr Great Stuff is in his 30s and it hasn't materialized.

We made much bigger strides offensively, more or our prospects are position players. Yea, I think long term, pitching is the bigger issue. On the other side, we're better at developing pitchers.

 

I'd say Beck has a slightly higher ceiling than Danish, and of course is much closer to the majors. Your overall point (as I am reading it), that the farm lacks 1-2 slot starters, I agree with. I think Beck has a mid-rotation ceiling, but a pretty high floor too. Danish has a similar ceiling but a very low floor. I don't think either of them have a strong chance at being better than mid-rotation arms (though it isn't impossible for either). Fortunately, the 2014 draft is likely to bring the Sox a very high end pitcher at least.

 

Also worth mentioning that there are some lottery ticket arms with big tools but high bust potential as well: Montas, Olacio and Ortiz all fit that mold in my view. But in all likelihood, only one of those (give or take one) make the majors, and the chance they put the accompanying parts with the couple big tools to be solid starters is pretty small.

 

 

 

My really questionable math: Just by cleaning up the defense and incredibly poor base running should translate into 10 more wins. The loss of Peavy, -4 wins.

 

I'm not going to delude myself into thinking guys like Beckham and Viciedo are going to have breakout seasons. As excited as I am to see Johnson get his shot you can't expect him to have the veteran saavy of a guy like Peavy who can take the mound w/o his best stuff and still compete for 6-7 innings. I do like Johnny D to bounce back, though.

 

So 69-93 would be my guess. Hopeful for more, of course.

My really questionable math: Just by cleaning up the defense and incredibly poor base running should translate into 10 more wins. The loss of Peavy, -4 wins.

 

I'm not going to delude myself into thinking guys like Beckham and Viciedo are going to have breakout seasons. As excited as I am to see Johnson get his shot you can't expect him to have the veteran saavy of a guy like Peavy who can take the mound w/o his best stuff and still compete for 6-7 innings. I do like Johnny D to bounce back, though.

 

So 69-93 would be my guess. Hopeful for more, of course.

Serious Q in reply...why should we expect the defense and baserunning to be "cleaned up"? In many cases we have either the same guys in those positions who were bad last year, or potential downgrades (Rios down to Garcia, Davidson supposed to be pretty rough at 3b, Eaton was below average in CF last year although maybe injury and short time to blame). They're younger and that could very well raise the risk of silly mistakes even higher.