I read a lot of concern on here about Avisail....I don't get it. I'm a huge proponent of his and think he's going to be an excellent bat. With that said, we all have different ideas of what needs to go right for us to succeed or is making us doubt any chance of succeeding...What are your 3 keys to this season? Here's my 3:

 

1. Robin Ventura needs to show that he can manage an ML team with talent. He had an excuse last year with the roster being what it was but I think it was more than obvious that he was making many poor in-game decisions that had nothing to do with a lack of talent. He needs to step up this year or folks are going to be calling for his head early and it will disrupt the clubhouse.

 

2. Tyler Flowers showed flashes of the offense he achieved in the minors last season. Our stats gurus on here were quick to point out his absurd BABIP during his streaks, but from the eye test he was making more consistent contact and seeing the ball well during those stretches....no surprise that more contact leads to a better offensive contributor. We really need Tyler to feel comfortable most of the season if the Sox are going to make some noise.

 

3. Carlos Rodon and how management decides to manage his innings. The kid has the ability to be dominant and make an immediate impact on our club leading to easier victories out of the 4th spot in the rotation. I was a fan of bringing him along in the pen out of ST and ease him into a starting role....we know that isn't happening now. My next hope is that we milk those 130-140IP during the regular season being, outside of a possible BP role, we don't need him in the playoffs with our top 3 starters. We need every win we can get and I don't want to see him handled with kid gloves...give him a job and an innings limit and let him do his thing.

Those last 2 don't worry me that much. This team could easily get a very weak performance from Tyler Flowers, nothing but a September bullpen stint from Carlos Rodon, and still win the division.

Avisail becomes a legitimately good hitter.

 

The top 3 in the rotation stay healthy.

 

The bullpen is at least league average.

Avisail becomes a legitimately good hitter.

 

The top 3 in the rotation stay healthy.

 

The bullpen is at least league average.

I'll echo this, with the health of Sale/Quintana/Samardzija being the most important.

Avisail becomes a legitimately good hitter.

 

The top 3 in the rotation stay healthy.

 

The bullpen is at least league average.

 

I was just going to say Avi has to have a great year. I think you got the three most important right there.

I was just going to say Avi has to have a great year. I think you got the three most important right there.

You know? with what we've added to the lineup and the rotation, there's room for this team to be competitive even if he struggles.

I read a lot of concern on here about Avisail....I don't get it. I'm a huge proponent of his and think he's going to be an excellent bat. With that said, we all have different ideas of what needs to go right for us to succeed or is making us doubt any chance of succeeding...What are your 3 keys to this season? Here's my 3:

 

1. Robin Ventura needs to show that he can manage an ML team with talent. He had an excuse last year with the roster being what it was but I think it was more than obvious that he was making many poor in-game decisions that had nothing to do with a lack of talent. He needs to step up this year or folks are going to be calling for his head early and it will disrupt the clubhouse.

 

2. Tyler Flowers showed flashes of the offense he achieved in the minors last season. Our stats gurus on here were quick to point out his absurd BABIP during his streaks, but from the eye test he was making more consistent contact and seeing the ball well during those stretches....no surprise that more contact leads to a better offensive contributor. We really need Tyler to feel comfortable most of the season if the Sox are going to make some noise.

 

3. Carlos Rodon and how management decides to manage his innings. The kid has the ability to be dominant and make an immediate impact on our club leading to easier victories out of the 4th spot in the rotation. I was a fan of bringing him along in the pen out of ST and ease him into a starting role....we know that isn't happening now. My next hope is that we milk those 130-140IP during the regular season being, outside of a possible BP role, we don't need him in the playoffs with our top 3 starters. We need every win we can get and I don't want to see him handled with kid gloves...give him a job and an innings limit and let him do his thing.

 

I think those 3 are luxuries. I don't think Robin needs a particularly good year. Frankly, a great bullpen can make anyone a good manager, so if he gets career years in there he'll look so smart.

 

For me, these are the real keys if sox are to jump from a realistic 8-9 win jump to a full 15 win jump to a possible wild card at 88 win:

 

1. Be remarkably healthy - this team has pretty much zero positions that an injury can occur and the team have an acceptable backup. On this end, and maybe this is greedy to include here, but one of the biggest things that could help this year is Erik Johnson and Beck making huge jumps in Triple A so that we can have that additional depth to bring up if we need burn from a long man in bullpen.

 

2. Stars need to be stars - Jose Abreu needs a year as big as last year. Sale needs a year as big as last year with more innings. Samardjiza/Q, again, need no dropoff here. We just do not have a deep team to overcome lack of starpower.

 

3. Bullpen - Robertson needs to be shutdown, Duke needs to be last year Zach Duke, and Putnam/Petricka need to be their June/July selves. Frankly, this I am hopeful for. We killed our bullpen with innings in april-may last year, and throughout the year, with some of our crap starters. Putnam/Petricka were overused, Belli was overused, and then they'd explode.

 

But one thing I've been thinking about is how crucial this year is for our minor leagues. Will 2017 be another 2013? We need to see Anderson, Hawkins, Trey, May, Thompson, etc either be good or turn it around. If Davidson turns around, it would be crucial to future of sox moves. If they don't, we need a bunch of the arms to hit so that we can trade them off.

You know? with what we've added to the lineup and the rotation, there's room for this team to be competitive even if he struggles.

 

Of course they can still be competitive, but if Avi puts it all together, think of how much better the Sox lineup becomes. You'd have to expect slight regressions from a few players and he makes the most sense to be the guy to balance that out.

Those last 2 don't worry me that much. This team could easily get a very weak performance from Tyler Flowers, nothing but a September bullpen stint from Carlos Rodon, and still win the division.

 

 

You're really high on this team....I like it!

 

I think Flowers is important because the bottom 3rd of the lineup, plus a sort of unknown in Gillaspie, scares me a bit and I think that Tyler offers us the best chance of being the impactful player out of the bunch. I expect a rough season from Alexei.

 

Rodon I chose because I think he could easily earn us an extra 5 wins which would be HUGE in a fairly balanced AL this season.

Proven hitters live to their potential

Samardzija isn't eaten alive at USFC

Win games against the division

I think those 3 are luxuries. I don't think Robin needs a particularly good year. Frankly, a great bullpen can make anyone a good manager, so if he gets career years in there he'll look so smart.

 

For me, these are the real keys if sox are to jump from a realistic 8-9 win jump to a full 15 win jump to a possible wild card at 88 win:

 

1. Be remarkably healthy - this team has pretty much zero positions that an injury can occur and the team have an acceptable backup. On this end, and maybe this is greedy to include here, but one of the biggest things that could help this year is Erik Johnson and Beck making huge jumps in Triple A so that we can have that additional depth to bring up if we need burn from a long man in bullpen.

 

2. Stars need to be stars - Jose Abreu needs a year as big as last year. Sale needs a year as big as last year with more innings. Samardjiza/Q, again, need no dropoff here. We just do not have a deep team to overcome lack of starpower.

 

3. Bullpen - Robertson needs to be shutdown, Duke needs to be last year Zach Duke, and Putnam/Petricka need to be their June/July selves. Frankly, this I am hopeful for. We killed our bullpen with innings in april-may last year, and throughout the year, with some of our crap starters. Putnam/Petricka were overused, Belli was overused, and then they'd explode.

 

But one thing I've been thinking about is how crucial this year is for our minor leagues. Will 2017 be another 2013? We need to see Anderson, Hawkins, Trey, May, Thompson, etc either be good or turn it around. If Davidson turns around, it would be crucial to future of sox moves. If they don't, we need a bunch of the arms to hit so that we can trade them off.

 

Totally agree on the minor leaguers and hadn't thought of that. Definitely key, especially knowing Sale seems to hit the DL for 2-4 weeks every season with elbow tightness.

 

1. Robertson is great

2. Eaton stays healthy

3. Garcia has 23+ HR's and hits .280.

1) We experience good health

2) 2B isn't a dumpster fire.

3) Noesi pitches like he did last year with the Sox, not like he did with the Rangers and Mariners.

I think Flowers is important because the bottom 3rd of the lineup, plus a sort of unknown in Gillaspie, scares me a bit and I think that Tyler offers us the best chance of being the impactful player out of the bunch. I expect a rough season from Alexei.

I think there's a much bigger chance that Flowers sucks than is an impact player. He doesn't have the skill set to sustain a high BABIP and that is going to regress next year. His current steamer projection is for a 75 wRC+. Needless to say that is terrible.

 

1) We experience good health

2) 2B isn't a dumpster fire.

3) Noesi pitches like he did last year with the Sox, not like he did with the Rangers and Mariners.

I don't think this one is a huge problem as it will likely just result in the introduction of Rodon.

1 Win the AL Central

2 Win the AL Pennant

3 Win the World Series

1) We experience good health

2) 2B isn't a dumpster fire.

3) Noesi pitches like he did last year with the Sox, not like he did with the Rangers and Mariners.

Hector Noesi (Sox): 4.85 FIP

 

John Danks: 4.76 FIP

 

Not sure I get why you're so high on Noesi, but hate Danks with a vengeance.

Hector Noesi (Sox): 4.85 FIP

 

John Danks: 4.76 FIP

 

Not sure I get why you're so high on Noesi, but hate Danks with a vengeance.

 

Probably difference in salary. Neither is good and if the Sox are winning, both are likely to be replaced.

1. Sale/Q/Samardzija/Robertson stay healthy

2. Robin stays out of the way

3. Melky shares some of his magic potion with the rest of the clubhouse

Hector Noesi (Sox): 4.85 FIP

 

John Danks: 4.76 FIP

 

Not sure I get why you're so high on Noesi, but hate Danks with a vengeance.

 

If Danks was making 500K, I wouldn't hate him.

Some damn Cubs fan is trying to tell me Alexei isn't a good hitting SS after I said he is one of the top SS's in the game

If Danks was making 500K, I wouldn't hate him.

Why do you hold injuries against him? I've never understood this with people.

Hector Noesi (Sox): 4.85 FIP

 

John Danks: 4.76 FIP

 

Not sure I get why you're so high on Noesi, but hate Danks with a vengeance.

Personally I like Noesi above Danks based on the strides I saw him make last year. Do believe Danks can still improve.

Some damn Cubs fan is trying to tell me Alexei isn't a good hitting SS after I said he is one of the top SS's in the game

 

Lol, Ya those Silver Sluggers don't mean s*** maaaaannnnn

I read a lot of concern on here about Avisail....I don't get it. I'm a huge proponent of his and think he's going to be an excellent bat. With that said, we all have different ideas of what needs to go right for us to succeed or is making us doubt any chance of succeeding...What are your 3 keys to this season? Here's my 3:

 

1. Robin Ventura needs to show that he can manage an ML team with talent. He had an excuse last year with the roster being what it was but I think it was more than obvious that he was making many poor in-game decisions that had nothing to do with a lack of talent. He needs to step up this year or folks are going to be calling for his head early and it will disrupt the clubhouse.

 

2. Tyler Flowers showed flashes of the offense he achieved in the minors last season. Our stats gurus on here were quick to point out his absurd BABIP during his streaks, but from the eye test he was making more consistent contact and seeing the ball well during those stretches....no surprise that more contact leads to a better offensive contributor. We really need Tyler to feel comfortable most of the season if the Sox are going to make some noise.

 

3. Carlos Rodon and how management decides to manage his innings. The kid has the ability to be dominant and make an immediate impact on our club leading to easier victories out of the 4th spot in the rotation. I was a fan of bringing him along in the pen out of ST and ease him into a starting role....we know that isn't happening now. My next hope is that we milk those 130-140IP during the regular season being, outside of a possible BP role, we don't need him in the playoffs with our top 3 starters. We need every win we can get and I don't want to see him handled with kid gloves...give him a job and an innings limit and let him do his thing.

 

I agree with mostly everything here but I disagree with Robin, he's the least of my concerns. I think he's a great manager.

 

1.) Bullpen has to be at least average, realistically it has to be above average with today's penchant for yanking starters after six innings on many occasions (it would be GREAT if Sale, Shark and Q could go 7 or 7 1/3 on most nights).

2.) Defense has to be at least average.

3.) The offense must not be offensive.

Abreu needs to have the same numbers as last year. I realize it doesn't take 9 guys to all hit the cover off the ball, but we need to hit. Look at our infield, it's Gillaspie, Lexi, Micah and Abreu. Is that a Central division winning foursome? Not if Lexi has an off year, Gillaspie sucks and Micah hits .225.

Outfield looks good with Melky, Eaton and Garcia. We probably can count on all of them.

LaRoche should be a good DH you would think.

Flowers is not an average hitter. I'd take last year's numbers, though.

GO SOX!

 

Conclusion: If we have good starting pitching, good bullpen and reasonable defense, we should be fine. Sox should be division favorites right now because of 3 starting pitching studs, excellent closer, reasonable set up guys.

Edited December 15, 201411 yr by greg775