Projected Standings for next season

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

I don't even know if I'm going to post mine. Reason? Everybody here and on ESPN completely disregarded the White Sox in 2005, and went straight to the Indians and Twins... even the Tigers! Sorry, but I thought White Sox all along. GASP! Low and behold? World Series Champs!

I predicted the White Sox to win the division before last season.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

I don't even know if I'm going to post mine. Reason? Everybody here and on ESPN completely disregarded the White Sox in 2005, and went straight to the Indians and Twins... even the Tigers! Sorry, but I thought White Sox all along. GASP! Low and behold? World Series Champs!

People were also all about the Nationals for a time when they were on a streak. I calmly said to myself: "They'll cool; the Braves are going again." Everybody doubted that... and it happened.



But... I'm a nice guy. Here are my projections:

You're right we're wrong... all hail Muffin. Feel better now?

[soxboy7]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

How does anyone pick the Twins? I can kind of see someone stretching and picking the tribe...but the Twins? Did I miss something? Have they improved themselves anywhere near as much as the Sox have? People picked them last year as well and I posted this same type of message. If you pick the Twins to win the central, you don't know baseball. Simple as that.

[Blzer]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

Yeah... I am!



I didn't mean you guys as much as the guys at ESPN. They completely disregarded Chicago. I couldn't believe it!

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

NL East

1. Braves
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Nationals
5. Marlins

Oh, no. Turn off the lights, Braves fans! #15 is not happening!

[AI_Franchise]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

the yanks have serious pitching ?'s..so i'm not sure about division champs..hopefully i'm wrong though.

[ehh]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

All I know is the Mets still aren't gonna win the NL East.

[ehh]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

the yanks have serious pitching ?'s..so i'm not sure about division champs..hopefully i'm wrong though.

Our pitching CAN'T be in worse shape than it was last year and we still won the division. Plus the Red Sox won't be as good as they were last year.

[Havok410]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

The Twins improved most of the holes on offense (Luis Castillo at second, Batista and Rondell White for power) and they still have their great pitching staff intact. Not too mention Hunter is back healthy and Mauer has another year under his belt. I say they win the division and the Whitesox take the wild card. Here are my EARLY predictions :

AL East

1. Yankees
2. Blue Jays
3. Red Sox
4. Orioles
5. Devil Rays

AL Central

1. Twins
2. White Sox (Wildcard)
3. Indians
4. Tigers
5. Royals

AL West

1. A's
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners

NL East

1. Mets
2. Braves
3. Nats
4. Phillies
5. Marlins

NL Central

1. Cardinals
2. Cubs
3. Astros
4. Brewers
5. Reds
6. Pirates

NL West

1. Giants
2. Dodgers (Wildcard)
3. D Backs
4. Padres
5. Rockies

These predictions will probably change as more moves are made.

[soxboy7]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

But is their pitching staff better than the Chicago's? No. Is their hitting better? No. Not even close. Is their defense better? Maybe, but even if it is its not much better. The Twins aren't even better than Cleveland. In fact a healthy Detroit Tigers team is better than the Twins. Honestly, the Twins are not a good team. You're in for quite a let down if you believe otherwise.

[Havok410]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

But is their pitching staff better than the Chicago's? No. Is their hitting better? No. Not even close. Is their defense better? Maybe, but even if it is its not much better. The Twins aren't even better than Cleveland. In fact a healthy Detroit Tigers team is better than the Twins. Honestly, the Twins are not a good team. You're in for quite a let down if you believe otherwise.

Pitching is actually pretty close.

Santana > Buerhle

Silva = Garland (Don't believe me? Look up the stats. Garland has more K's and more innings but Silva has a better ERA and alot less walks.)

Contreras > Radke (But who's the more proven pitcher? Personally I think this matchup is very very close)

Garcia > Lohse (But these two were actually pretty close to each other last year)

Vazquez is probably better then any No.5 starter that the White Sox will have but a 4.50 era isn't actually great either.

Overall the Sox have the better staff but like I said earlier it's pretty close. And both of these teams have very talented prospects in the majors already (Scott Baker, Liriano, McCarthy, Jenks). The Bullpens are even...both are great.

The Sox do have a better offense but once again on paper it's closer then you think. Batista and Rondell White will add much needed power to the Twins lineup while Thome will add power to the Sox. The Twins have a better defensive squad.

C - Mauer > Pierzynski (Mauer is improving every year)

1B - Konerko > Morneau (Morneau can break out though...he has alot of talent and a few years under his belt but Konerko is way better)

2B - Castillo > Iguchi (Both are good though)

3B - Crede = Batista/Cuddyer on Offense but Crede is the better defesive player

SS - Uribe > Bartlett/Punto/Rivas (Which Uribe will show up this year though?)

OF - Both good. The keys will be Lew Ford and Brian Anderson. Defensively Twins have the upper hand though.

DH - Thome = Rondell White (Who knows which Thome shows up or if he even stays healthy? This is a toss-up)

Bench - Tie...Macoviak and Ozuna = Lecroy/Punto/Rivas


These two teams are dead even IMO. Along with the Indians this should be a great race and all three teams should win over 80 games. My prediction - Twins win 90, Sox win 88, and Indias win 84. I picked the Twins because this is the same team that won 3 straight divison titles from 2002-2004 (last year injuries killed them on offense) except with less holes.

P.S. - Alot can still change this offseason. So this is just a very early prediction and injuries can kill any of the three teams.

[soxboy7]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

You obviously know whats going on with the Twins but you are giving the Twins the benefit of a very large doubt in many cases here. Thome = Rondell White...Are you kiddin me? Crede = Batista...Did you watch baseball last year? Konerko and Morneau are not allowed in the same breath right now. Morneau has done very little thus far yet Twins fans CONTINUE to talk about him like a HOFer. The same goes for Mauer. AJ is established, if Mauer put up numbers ven close to his we can talk.

You can try to match up the starting pitchers anyway you want, but no one but Santana would be good enough to be part of the Sox staff. Silva would be coming out of the pen, yet the Twins are going to depend on him. I honestly can't be alone in my thinking here. There is no way the Twins can be picked over the Sox. Especially if were just doing it by looking at the teams on paper.

[Havok410]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

You obviously know whats going on with the Twins but you are giving the Twins the benefit of a very large doubt in many cases here. Thome = Rondell White...Are you kiddin me? Crede = Batista...Did you watch baseball last year? Konerko and Morneau are not allowed in the same breath right now. Morneau has done very little thus far yet Twins fans CONTINUE to talk about him like a HOFer. The same goes for Mauer. AJ is established, if Mauer put up numbers ven close to his we can talk.

You can try to match up the starting pitchers anyway you want, but no one but Santana would be good enough to be part of the Sox staff. Silva would be coming out of the pen, yet the Twins are going to depend on him. I honestly can't be alone in my thinking here. There is no way the Twins can be picked over the Sox. Especially if were just doing it by looking at the teams on paper.

1. I'm not a Twins fans but I like them and follow baseball pretty closely.

2. Did you see Thome play last year? When he wasn't hurt? He barely produced while Rondell hit .313 last year. But like I said...it depends which Thome we see. The one from two years ago would obviously be alot better then White.

3. I Said Batista and Cuddyer (the TWO twins 3B's). Cuddyer hit for a better avg. last year then Crede did his whole career. And Batista can still hit 20-25 HR's. Obviously defensively it's a whole different story. And yes I know what he did in the playoffs...

4. I said Konerko is WAY better. They aren't even close right now. But Morneau has the same power talent that Konerko had coming up. Again it's just "Talent" but it's worth mentioning.

5. Did Pierzynski ever steal 13 bases? Nope. Who has the better defensive "SKILLS"? Mauer. Mauer has a ton more talent then Pierzynski has/had. And he already has a full season of hitting .290 + under his belt. Pierzynski's is alot more experienced. That's about the only thing he has over Mauer. And he is more proven which make then equal.

6. Silva and Radke would easily start over Vazquez and possibly even over the inconsistent Garcia. I don't see how you can overlook Silva's 3.44 ERA. Which would of been 2nd on the Sox last year. The guy walked 9 batters ALL YEAR.

7. I'm not just looking at them on paper. People said the same thing about the Sox in the past and the Twins ended up winning the division. Last year was probably the first year that the Twins were preseason favorites to win the division but it was unwarrented because they barely made any off-season moves that year and the hype was mostly based on the 3 straight division title that the Twins won. Last year, an Injury to their best player, Torri Hunter , took them out of the playoff hunt. Before that injury they were right in the thick of now. Now they retain the same pitching staff, add a considerable amount of offense, and still remain a solid defensive squad.

8. Once again, I think that these teams will be neck to neck the whole year and one or two major injuries will probably cause one of the teams to miss the playoffs. My pick of the Twins is just a toss-up prediciton. I would'nt be surprised if the Sox won the division but there is no way that they dominate like last year.

P.S. Losing Aaron Rowand's solid all around game may hurt the team if Thome doesn't have a big bounce back season.

[Misfit]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

Our pitching CAN'T be in worse shape than it was last year and we still won the division. Plus the Red Sox won't be as good as they were last year.

And Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small will be?! The Yankees rotation is like Russian Roulette at this point, as is a lot of the arms in their pen. Not that the Red Sox are any better. I am by no means hopping on the Toronto bandwagon, but I wouldn't be surprised if any of those three teams finished first in the East.

[RahKhem]

Re: Projected Standings for next season

If the Whitesox can stay as healthy as they did rotation-wise last year, they should be a favorite, but I really don't think that NONE of their starters will not miss a start next year.