Is 2006 the year the Sox pass the 100 mark?

[RME JICO]

I believe your binary is a bit off but wouldn't 2 be 01?

I guess you don't know binary, 01 is 1, 10 is 2, 11 is 3, 100 is 4, 101 is 5, etc. Thats the whole corny ass joke, 10 is not 10 in binary, it is 2.

Edited January 6, 2006 by RME JICO

[SoxFan1]

I guess you don't know binary, 01 is 1, 10 is 2, 11 is 3, 100 is 4, 101 is 5, etc.  Thats the whole corny ass joke, 10 is not 10 in binary, it is 2.

I guess I must have mixed up 10 and 01. I studied binary for a sememster and 1/2 last year in a Cisco Certification Computer class I took. Oh well.

[TLAK]

The Sox added Thome, Mackowiak, and Vazquez, while losing Rowand and some ass and trash. There is no way they are going to be worse in 2006. Also, they have a more favorable schedule than in 2005. So they may not get as many bounces next year, but they are going to win a lot more games convincingly.

 

I would not class Frank Thomas, Carl Everett, Orlando Hernandez, Geoff Bloom, Timo Perez, Damaso Marte, Willie Harris and Luis Vizcaino as 'ass and trash'. I'm surpised this @#$% comes from you because your other posts are almost always well thought out. Your Winshare post put the new team 0.76 wins, not even one game, above the 'ass and trash' team. I also fear Rowand may prove to have been the heart of that team.

 

Further, I don't think you can predict the toughness of the 2006 schedule using the 2005 records, just the Central could be a lot harder. The Royals acquired some good vets and can you guarantee Detroit and Minny have the same injuries as last year? Will Cleveland play only half the year again? The 'ass and trash' went 52-22 in the division last year, I think that will be tough to match.

 

It really pains me to see guys dis a big part of the best team in baseball as 'ass and trash'.

[GoodAsGould]

I would not class Frank Thomas, Carl Everett, Orlando Hernandez, Geoff Bloom, Timo Perez, Damaso Marte, Willie Harris and Luis Vizcaino as 'ass and trash'.  I'm surpised this @#$% comes from you because your other posts are almost always well thought out.  Your Winshare post put the new team 0.76 wins, not even one game, above the 'ass and trash' team.  I also fear Rowand may prove to have been the heart of that team. 

 

Well ass and trash is a bit harsh but... Frank Thomas really didnt play much at all, Everett sucks Thome is a big upgrade, El Duque really was dissapointing besides one relief appearance in the playoffs, same story with Blum sucked besides that 1 hit, Timo blows period, Marte was the weakest link and worse than his era indicated, Willie wasnt even on the major league team a lot of the season..... Vizcaino might hurt losing he was damn good in the 2nd half if I remember right.

[Milkman delivers]

I would not class Frank Thomas, Carl Everett, Orlando Hernandez, Geoff Bloom, Timo Perez, Damaso Marte, Willie Harris and Luis Vizcaino as 'ass and trash'.  I'm surpised this @#$% comes from you because your other posts are almost always well thought out.  Your Winshare post put the new team 0.76 wins, not even one game, above the 'ass and trash' team.  I also fear Rowand may prove to have been the heart of that team. 

 

Further, I don't think you can predict the toughness of the 2006 schedule using the 2005 records, just the Central could be a lot harder.  The Royals acquired some good vets and can you guarantee Detroit and Minny have the same injuries as last year?  Will Cleveland play only half the year again?  The 'ass and trash' went 52-22 in the division last year, I think that will be tough to match.

 

It really pains me to see guys dis a big part of the best team in baseball as 'ass and trash'.

 

I would. They were all pretty useless last year overall. And they've been replaced with better players.

 

We know you hate what KW is doing, but c'mon.

[TLAK]

Well ass and trash is a bit harsh but... Frank Thomas really didnt play much at all, Everett sucks Thome is a big upgrade, El Duque really was dissapointing besides one relief appearance in the playoffs, same story with Blum sucked besides that 1 hit, Timo blows period, Marte was the weakest link and worse than his era indicated, Willie wasnt even on the major league team a lot of the season..... Vizcaino might hurt losing he was damn good in the 2nd half if I remember right.

Isn't it amazing such a poor team won 99 games?

[GoodAsGould]

Isn't it amazing such a poor team won 99 games?

 

How is it a poor team because someplayers werent great....... reason we won were because Buehrle, Garcia, Garland, Contreras, B-Mac, Cotts, Hermy, Jenks, Politte, Konerko, Podsenick, Dye, Iguchi, Pieryznski..... and Widger

[SoxFan1]

How is it a poor team because someplayers werent great....... reason we won were because Buehrle, Garcia, Garland, Contreras, B-Mac, Cotts, Hermy, Jenks, Politte, Konerko, Podsenick, Dye, Iguchi, Pieryznski..... and Widger

THAT SHOULD NOT BE IN GREEN!

[Felix]

I'm going with 95-99, more specifically 97 wins. I don't think our team will be as good as we were last year.

[TLAK]

I would.  They were all pretty useless last year overall.  And they've been replaced with better players.

 

We know you hate what KW is doing, but c'mon.

I'm pretty much past that and while hopeful for next year, don't think the season will be a slam dunk (it wouldn't be if the old team had stayed intact either). That trash remark just hit a nerve.

[Milkman delivers]

I'm pretty much past that and while hopeful for next year, don't think the season will be a slam dunk (it wouldn't be if the old team had stayed intact either).  That trash remark just hit a nerve.

 

I can understand how the trash mark would set someone off. Nobody wants to say Thomas is garbage. The guy is a sure-fire HOFer. The problem is that his production last year (because he was injured and just might never be healthy again) just kind of sucked. Everett was the worst DH in baseball. With McCarthy in the pen, Vizcaino is easily replaced. Marte doesn't seem to be replaced yet, but he was our last arm out of the pen and he couldn't co-exist anymore. El Duque is replaced easily by a seemingly durable Vazquez and Rowand by a supposed similar player in Anderson. Timo and Blum were pretty bad, and Willie was hardly on the roster at all.

[RME JICO]

I would not class Frank Thomas, Carl Everett, Orlando Hernandez, Geoff Bloom, Timo Perez, Damaso Marte, Willie Harris and Luis Vizcaino as 'ass and trash'.  I'm surpised this @#$% comes from you because your other posts are almost always well thought out.  Your Winshare post put the new team 0.76 wins, not even one game, above the 'ass and trash' team.  I also fear Rowand may prove to have been the heart of that team. 

 

Further, I don't think you can predict the toughness of the 2006 schedule using the 2005 records, just the Central could be a lot harder.  The Royals acquired some good vets and can you guarantee Detroit and Minny have the same injuries as last year?  Will Cleveland play only half the year again?  The 'ass and trash' went 52-22 in the division last year, I think that will be tough to match.

 

It really pains me to see guys dis a big part of the best team in baseball as 'ass and trash'.

Sorry, it is an Army term derived from Ash and Trash that I probably use too often. It means other missions, or secondary missions. I don't want to take away from what any of the players did in 2005, but Rowand was the main starter to go. If you look at the starting roster, you basically take out Rowand, Everett, and El Duque, and put in Anderson, Thome, and Vazquez. Outside of Rowand, the others were not as high profile, injured, or played a secondary role and were "replaceable".

 

Frank Thomas - Best Sox player of All-time, but injuries reduced him to only cameos

Carl Everett - serviceable bat with an attitude

Orlando Hernandez - clutch pitcher who is now over the hill

Geoff Blum - Nice mid season pick up, unbelievable HR

Timo Perez - No Comment

Damaso Marte - Had electric stuff, but fell off considerably

Willie Harris - Very serviceable IF, but not enough starting spots to make him a starter

Luis Vizcaino - Batting practice pitcher that ate some innings

 

In reference to the schedule prediction, I took into account off season acquisitions by all teams, that is why I put TOR over the .500 mark as a winning team. I don't think winning 50% of games vs winning teams, and 75% of games vs losing teams is out of the question, and I actually believe it is somewhat conservative.

Edited January 6, 2006 by RME JICO

[Felix]

Luis Vizcaino - Batting practice pitcher that ate some innings

Thats not exactly fair. Vizcaino gets no respect on these boards, and I understand, I maen, I watched him pitch, but he was a lot better than you guys think. He had control issues, with a 1.47 WHIP last year, but he did a good job keeping runners from scoring with his 3.73 ERA. He ate innings, and did well out of the pen by keeping the ball in the park (only 8 homeruns).

[RME JICO]

Thats not exactly fair.  Vizcaino gets no respect on these boards, and I understand, I maen, I watched him pitch, but he was a lot better than you guys think.  He had control issues, with a 1.47 WHIP last year, but he did a good job keeping runners from scoring with his 3.73 ERA.  He ate innings, and did well out of the pen by keeping the ball in the park (only 8 homeruns).

Yeah, I guess you are right, but it seemed like he couldn't hold anything, and someone would have to bail him out. So I think his ERA would have been higher, and more proportionate to his WHIP if the pitchers after him didn't get his guys out.

[GoodAsGould]

Yeah, I guess you are right, but it seemed like he couldn't hold anything, and someone would have to bail him out.  So I think his ERA would have been higher, and more proportionate to his WHIP if the pitchers after him didn't get his guys out.

 

You just described Marte... Vizcaino really got out of his own problems and was a very important member of our bullpen last season that is under-apreciated...

[Rowand44]

There needs to be a warning sign on juggs posts, my head is killing me.

Edited January 6, 2006 by Rowand44

[RME JICO]

You just described Marte... Vizcaino really got out of his own problems and was a very important member of our bullpen last season that is under-apreciated...

No way. You had to be watching someone else then.

 

In his first 4 appearances in 2005, he allowed 9 runs in 6 innings of relief. In his first 17 appearances he had 2 losses and 3 Blown saves. Then in July he had 3 losses while pitching in a total of 2 IP for those 3 losses. That July span is what I remember most. You can even tell that he was used a lot less from then on. Also, he basically just pitched in garbage innings from then on as well. There was a stretch in Aug-Sep where he pitched in 14 losses out of 16 games.

 

The Sox thought they were going to get this:

3.75 1.18 .228

 

and instead they got this:

 

3.73 1.47 .275

 

ERA about the same, but WHIP and Opponent BA went through the roof.

Edited January 6, 2006 by RME JICO

[GoodAsGould]

do you even remember why he had those 9 runs allowed in the begining.... because Ozzie mismanaged the bullpen and hung him out to dry..... idonno how you even count that against him.

 

Vizcaino started off pretty slow but in the 2nd half he pitched much better and was an innings eater....

[chitownsportsfan]

Over 70% of you guys predicting over 95 wins. Pesonally, I think that is crazy, not that crazy, but still crazy.

 

The pitching staff comes back to earth as does the defense; the offense is slightly better: 93 wins is good enough for a playoff berth and then anything can happen

[chitownsportsfan]

And as Jico implied, ERA isn't that good of measure of a pitcher. Not as bad as RBI for hitters, but still not very accurate.

 

WHIP is better

K/BB is good

K/9 is good

DIPS is great

ERA is blah

 

 

Personally, I think ERA+ is a pretty good measure of pitchers worth. ERA+ is adjusted for park and league averages, which makes season's like Garland's, Garcia's, Count's and Buehrle's seem that much better.

 

The Sox were second in MLB in defensive efficiency though, no doubt that helped all those guys' ERA+'s

[Rowand44]

Over 70% of you guys predicting over 95 wins.  Pesonally, I think that is crazy, not that crazy, but still crazy.

 

The pitching staff comes back to earth as does the defense; the offense is slightly better: 93 wins is good enough for a playoff berth and then anything can happen

It's crazy to imagine that a team who won 99 games last season and has improved in the offseason will win 95 games next year?? Yup, sounds pretty f***in crazy to me.

[Rowand44]

And as Jico implied, ERA isn't that good of measure of a pitcher.  Not as bad as RBI for hitters, but still not very accurate.

 

WHIP is better

K/BB is good

K/9 is good

DIPS is great

ERA is blah

Personally, I think ERA+ is a pretty good measure of pitchers worth.  ERA+ is adjusted for park and league averages, which makes season's like Garland's, Garcia's, Count's and Buehrle's seem that much better.

 

The Sox were second in MLB in defensive efficiency though, no doubt that helped all those guys' ERA+'s

Those are all secondary stats to era when it comes to looking at a pitchers effectiveness. If you think k/9 is more important then era then..wow.

[Felix]

It's crazy to imagine that a team who won 99 games last season and has improved in the offseason will win 95 games next year??  Yup, sounds pretty f***in crazy to me.

Well, the team got very lucky last year, and its unlikely that they will be as lucky next year.

[Heads22]

I went with 90-94.

 

Chances are someone might get hurt this year.

[Balta1701]

Well, the team got very lucky last year, and its unlikely that they will be as lucky next year.

When you win 99 out of 162 games during that long of a season, eventually it's more than luck.

 

We got lucky when catchers interference wasn't called on AJ in Game 3 against the Angels. We got unlucky when that ball was bounced off the wall in game 3 against the Astros and was ruled a home run when it should have been a double.

 

We got lucky when Mark Buehrle's foot popped and it turned out to not be seriuos. We got unlucky when we got a monster DH back, and he wound up back on the DL. We got lucky when this 17th round draft pick suddenly discovered that no one could hit him. We got unlucky when he stopped throwing his changeup. Etc.

 

That team was a very well built team. Yes, it had some luck. But it had both good and bad luck. And most of the good luck was either made by the team or implied by the plan the team was built around (i.e. we were lucky people stayed healthy, but on the other hand we had 3 starting pitchers well under 30 and a total of 6 starters ready to go, we had 2 backup closers, we had a young team overall which helped them stay healthy longer, etc.)