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Off-season grades


rventura23

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QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 03:38 PM)
this makes me nervous.  We win the world series after everyone counts us out.  Then we are rated highly like the 3 years before we win.  Every year that we were picked to be good and win the division, we have fallen flat on our face.

yeah, it scares me, too. 2001, we were the organization of the year with the top minor league system. We were predicted to do well once again and we had a boatload of injuries and blew up.

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They are a logical pick to win the Comedy Central next year, you'd be an idiot not to pick them.

 

Well, I think the Central's top 3 teams can go toe to toe with the AL East's and AL West's teams. Detroit should be better, as should the Royals. The Central is no longer a division of the Twinkies and a bunch of also-rans. It's possibly the best division in the American League next year.

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QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 05:21 PM)
Well, I think the Central's top 3 teams can go toe to toe with the AL East's and AL West's teams.  Detroit should be better, as should the Royals.  The Central is no longer a division of the Twinkies and a bunch of also-rans.  It's possibly the best division in the American League next year.

It definitely has some of the top rotations (Sox, Tribe, Twinkies), compared to the other Divisions (Yanks, Sawks, Jays) or (A's, Angels, Rangers).

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I hope I'm not in the minority when I say that I think Toronto's offseason was overrated.

 

Sure, they made a bunch of sexy moves...but when it comes down to it, they became much worse defensively...Koskie is way better than Glaus defensively, and Hudson is a GG caliber defensive 2Bman. The Sox proved this year that a pretty big factor in winning 1 run games is pitching and defense, along with "Ozzieball" and clutch hitting...the Jays defense has worsened, thus their pitching staff will allow more hits, thus allowing more runs, so their pitching staff will probably be slightly overrated if anything, they added some pretty big power bats in the middle of the lineup thus taking away from the smallball factor, and clutch hitting varies from year to year. I think they're an improved team for sure atleast, and probably a wild card contender...I'm just not sure how big of a threat they really are.

 

They're a team I'm going to keep an eye on this year.

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QUOTE(DukeNukeEm @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 04:55 PM)
Its not that hard to think the White Sox deserve an A this offseason.  They are a logical pick to win the Comedy Central next year, you'd be an idiot not to pick them.

I said it in the Neyer thread, it'll be tighter this year than last, as the Twins should be back to usual, and will be improved with Castillo in the lineup.

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QUOTE(AirScott @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 02:33 AM)
I said it in the Neyer thread, it'll be tighter this year than last, as the Twins should be back to usual, and will be improved with Castillo in the lineup.

 

Eh the twins I dont really give them much credit. Morneau and Hunter are in a feud, Hunter's thug buddy Jones is gone, and they still have no names playing at RF, 3B, and SS.

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The Central was the weakest division in a fairly well balanced American League last year. The White Sox finished 36 games over .500, picking up 30 of them against the division. This was the key to last season and division play will probably be the key to 2006.

 

Here are the numbers, divisional totals first then Sox record V AL-Central opposition. The Sox divisional record was astounding. It will take a heck of a year to match it.

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QUOTE(TLAK @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 06:25 AM)
The Central was the weakest division in a fairly well balanced American League last year. 

I don't agree with this. IMO it was better then the West, and the only thing that brings us down against the east is how much better the Drays are then the Royals. The central was the only division in the AL where 3 teams finished above .500 plus having the team with the best record in the al. All 3 division were pretty damn good and I don't think it's correct to say the Central was the worst division, jmo.

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QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 08:02 AM)
I don't agree with this.  IMO it was better then the West, and the only thing that brings us down against the east is how much better the Drays are then the Royals.  The central was the only division in the AL where 3 teams finished above .500 plus having the team with the best record in the al.  All 3 division were pretty damn good and I don't think it's correct to say the Central was the worst division, jmo.

I agree, the Central had the best team in the AL (Sox), the best team not to make the playoffs (CLE), and the best 3rd place team (MIN). The West gets a break because they only have 4 teams. So it is not fair to compare the West to any other Division unless you remove one team (KC), and when you do that, the Central is better.

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For what its worth, another SI writer had high praises for our moves, specifically the Vazquez deal.

 

The five best -- and worst -- moves of the offseason

 

2. White Sox trade for right-hander Javier Vazquez

Not content to stick with what won them their first championship since 1917, the White Sox made two splashy moves. The first sent Aaron Rowand to the Phillies for Jim Thome. The second added Vazquez to an already accomplished starting rotation in exchange for the easily replaceable duo of El Duque and Luis Vizcaino and outfield prospect Chris Young. Vazquez is a quality starter who should benefit from the tutelage of pitching coach Don Cooper.

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I like how Paul "turned down big money [$65 million from Baltimore] and returend for less [$60 million] to return to Chicago".

 

In terms of who teams acquired, I agree that Toronto and Chicago are probably about equal this off-season, but I'd give the edge to Chicago since they did not overpay free agents like Toronto did.

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QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 01:38 PM)
I agree, the Central had the best team in the AL (Sox), the best team not to make the playoffs (CLE), and the best 3rd place team (MIN).  The West gets a break because they only have 4 teams.  So it is not fair to compare the West to any other Division unless you remove one team (KC), and when you do that, the Central is better.

 

Why would you remove KC though why not remove the white sox or indians in which case the West would be better..... Actually if anything remove the team in the middle which is the Twins to compare them.

 

Whitesox > Angels

Indians > A's

Detroit

KC

 

 

so they are about =.

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QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 10:46 AM)
Why would you remove KC though why not remove the white sox or indians in which case the West would be better..... Actually if anything remove the team in the middle which is the Twins to compare them.

 

Whitesox > Angels

Indians > A's

Detroit

KC

so they are about =.

 

The reason why I removed KC was because they were way out of the norm of even a bad team, and if the West added say an expansion team, I am sure they would be last in that Division.

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I think the Twins are back to being an underrated team.

 

Starting 5 of Santana-Radke-Silva-Lohse-Liriano, still a very solid pen, and a pretty solid lineup all around. I still think they should have reacquired Koskie, traded Lohse to whomever for some more prospects, and gone with an infield of Morneau-Castillo-Bartlett-Koskie from 1b-3b...but I do not make the decisions for the Twins.

 

They will also get Kubel back from his ACL tear, and his addition is huge...you are looking at Stewart-Hunter-Ford-Kubel in the OF, which is very solid and underrated offensively, especially if Ford can bounce back to anything near his 2004 campaign.

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