A lot of new faces this year. The AL Central is going to be very competitive. A good closer, a hopefully better than last year pen should make the difference. I think how Danks performs will be the clincher. Think 2005 John Garland.

A lot of new faces this year. The AL Central is going to be very competitive. A good closer, a hopefully better than last year pen should make the difference. I think how Danks performs will be the clincher. Think 2005 John Garland.

 

Danks is the wild card. If he pitches well we can be insane to face. Noesi as the 5th is just fine.

 

A lot of people complained about his velocity drop since his injury, he needs to now pitch instead of throw. The change up is going to make or break it for him. I hope his changeup is above avg

Danks is the wild card. If he pitches well we can be insane to face. Noesi as the 5th is just fine.

 

A lot of people complained about his velocity drop since his injury, he needs to now pitch instead of throw. The change up is going to make or break it for him. I hope his changeup is above avg

 

I think he's gonna have some good games, but just as many absolute disasters. The problem with his velo loss isn't that he CAN'T be good, it's that he has to be on-point practically every pitch in order to be good. He'll have that stuff some days, but he'll have to re-invent himself to avoid being a problem more often than not, IMO.

I think he's gonna have some good games, but just as many absolute disasters. The problem with his velo loss isn't that he CAN'T be good, it's that he has to be on-point practically every pitch in order to be good. He'll have that stuff some days, but he'll have to re-invent himself to avoid being a problem more often than not, IMO.

 

That's pretty much exactly what Danks did last year. He was really good about 70% of the time, and really bad about 20% of the time. 10% of the time he was somewhere in between.

 

Look at these 6 starts:

 

5/2 vs. CLE: 5.0 IP 8 ER

5/18 @ HOU: 4.2 IP 7 ER

6/22 @ MIN: 5.0IP 6 ER

7/20 vs HOU: 4.1 IP 7 ER

8/5 vs. TEX: 4.2IP 9 ER

9/3 vs. MIN: 4.2IP 7 ER

 

 

In those 6 starts, he pitched 28.2 innings with 44 ER (13.81 ERA). In his other 26 starts (21 of those were "quality starts"), he pitched 165 innings with 58 ER (3.16 ERA).

 

Obviously if you throw out every SP's 6 worst starts, their numbers look better, but Danks is on a whole different level. If he can limit the stinkers a bit better than he did in 2014, Danks is serviceable in the 4 spot ($ not withstanding). Interestingly enough, his worst starts came against Houston, Minnesota and Texas, three of the worst teams in the AL last year.

 

I don't expect big things from Johnny in 15, but I don't think he's going to that big of an issue. The $15.75M could obviously be better spent, but that's water under the bridge at this point.

That's pretty much exactly what Danks did last year. He was really good about 70% of the time, and really bad about 20% of the time. 10% of the time he was somewhere in between.

 

Look at these 6 starts:

 

5/2 vs. CLE: 5.0 IP 8 ER

5/18 @ HOU: 4.2 IP 7 ER

6/22 @ MIN: 5.0IP 6 ER

7/20 vs HOU: 4.1 IP 7 ER

8/5 vs. TEX: 4.2IP 9 ER

9/3 vs. MIN: 4.2IP 7 ER

 

 

In those 6 starts, he pitched 28.2 innings with 44 ER (13.81 ERA). In his other 26 starts (21 of those were "quality starts"), he pitched 165 innings with 58 ER (3.16 ERA).

 

Obviously if you throw out every SP's 6 worst starts, their numbers look better, but Danks is on a whole different level. If he can limit the stinkers a bit better than he did in 2014, Danks is serviceable in the 4 spot ($ not withstanding). Interestingly enough, his worst starts came against Houston, Minnesota and Texas, three of the worst teams in the AL last year.

 

I don't expect big things from Johnny in 15, but I don't think he's going to that big of an issue. The $15.75M could obviously be better spent, but that's water under the bridge at this point.

 

Those 6 starts accentuate why it is exactly that Danks is so mediocre. Outings like that are a loss almost every single time and short outings like that absolutely destroy the bullpen too. If it's the first game of a series, you're then using your bullpen to try and eat through 4-5 innings. That's not a good situation no matter who's pitching them.

 

Short starts do happen. I'm hoping that Danks or Noesi can prove to be an average pitcher this year, and then that Rodon turns in a great performance for the Sox starting in May or so. If so, the Sox may very well have the best rotation in the AL.

I have moved past counting on Dank's a long time ago. Maybe he can be a serviceable innings eater in the number 5 spot but there is no chance on Gods green earth does he become the lead story of our pitching staff or even close to the guy we thought he would be two years ago. He doesnt have it anymore...face reality here people.

I agree, I haven't been this psyched after an offseason since going into 2006. Really like what HahnCo has done with this team since mid-2013, impressive turnaround.

 

As for Danks, I think the best case - and I don't think this is outlandish - is that he hits some improvement this year in his second full season back. If he does, either you have a strong guy (relatively as 4th/5th starters go), with Rodon hopefully knocking and you can maybe trade Danks at some point with 1.5 years left on his contract.

 

I think the 2B/UTIL INF race will be fun to watch in ST, and of course seeing how Rodon looks.

 

I am very much looking forward to this season. Which of course means that on the first play of spring training Jose Abreu will run knee first into Chris Sale's labrum and both will be done for the year.

I am very much looking forward to this season. Which of course means that on the first play of spring training Jose Abreu will run knee first into Chris Sale's labrum and both will be done for the year.

 

It would all be OK. It was almost 10 years ago that we thought Mark Buehrle fractured his foot and everything that Williams and company did leading into 2005 was all for naught.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/22/sports/sp-bbnotes22

It would all be OK. It was almost 10 years ago that we thought Mark Buehrle fractured his foot and everything that Williams and company did leading into 2005 was all for naught.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/22/sports/sp-bbnotes22

 

Dont forget about 2007. Toby Hall hurt his shoulder in spring training and everyone freaked out. 90 losses later, they were right.

While I think the success of Danks is important, I think this season hinges a lot more on the development of Avisail into an asset. He needs to be a 2-3 WAR player this season, likely 3 if they wanna be a playoff team.

Danks is the wild card. If he pitches well we can be insane to face. Noesi as the 5th is just fine.

 

A lot of people complained about his velocity drop since his injury, he needs to now pitch instead of throw. The change up is going to make or break it for him. I hope his changeup is above avg

Danks is not the wild card more like the Joker he is just not very good anymore post surgery.

W/R/T 2015: I am cautiously optimistic.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/10899...44367-658620023

 

Really high ranking for the Tigers, IMO.

 

Royals 10th, Indians 13th, White Sox 14th, that's probably a fair assessment. The White Sox shouldn't be in the 20's anymore. Any of the four top teams in the AL Central could win it, any of them could finish 4th as well.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/10899...44367-658620023

Royals 10th

That is an absolute joke ... Royals 10th w/o Shields, Butler, and Aoki? (not to mention 13-6 vs the White Sox last year) ... team is immediately back to the doormat of the AL Central.

Dont forget about 2007. Toby Hall hurt his shoulder in spring training and everyone freaked out. 90 losses later, they were right.

 

I still get a little nauseous when I think of Robin's infamous spring training slide into home. 1997 or thereabouts.