I wanna talk about the AL East

[DSpivack]

Originally Posted by BleacherBandit

As someone who hasn't been following this offseason with any particularity, please tell me how the Rays have more offense and/or pitching than the Blue Jays?

I thought the Marlins trade / picking up RA Dickey made Toronto the clear pick for '13.

We were talking about the Jays a bit last night after Soxfest, and I completely forgot that they traded for the knuckleballer. Johnson-Dickey-Buehrle. Not bad.

[SoxSpeed22]

Tampa has the best pitcher in David Price. They also have more upside in their starters with Moore, Hellickson Niemann, and Cobb. They also manage to get a lot out of no-name relief pitchers, while the Jays pen may be suspect. Injuries will have a pretty big say in the division. Baltimore was the healthiest team last year, but that could change. I think Tampa is the team to beat in the division.

[SCCWS]

Originally Posted by BleacherBandit

As someone who hasn't been following this offseason with any particularity, please tell me how the Rays have more offense and/or pitching than the Blue Jays?

I thought the Marlins trade / picking up RA Dickey made Toronto the clear pick for '13.

Don't forget, Red Sox stole Toronto's manager. They replaced him with a retread in John Gibbons who was .500 in his first 4 years.

[mahagga73]

Originally Posted by WLL1855

For what it is worth, I just got back from Vegas and some sports books had Toronto at 4/1 for the World Series.

The same place had the Sox at 22/1 and the Cubs at 20/1 so who the heck knows.

No way. The Cubs ahead of the Sox at 20/1, wow. I would take 20/1 odds the Cubs don't make the playoffs much less the series. The Rays will win the division at 95 wins, the Jays second with 93, Yankees 91 wins, Boston 89, Orioles 84. A very good division. I really think the White Sox are going to finish with about the same record as the team currently stands. Maybe a few more wins if the pitching holds. Maybe contend for the wild card and get it done this time. 4 to 1 odds might be a little high for the Jays.

[PKalltheway]

Originally Posted by blandman

There's probably a dozen teams in the AL better than anyone in the NL Central.

I'm not so sure about that. The Reds won 97 games last year, and have improved themselves (offensively, at least) by adding Shin-Soo Choo. Sure, they fell flat in the Division Series, but anything can happen in a short series. As it stands right now, I wouldn't take many AL teams over Cincinnati. Honestly, I'd say only Detroit and Washington have more complete teams in all of baseball at this point.

As far as the AL East goes, I wouldn't be surprised if only the division winner went to the playoffs. I can see three playoff teams coming out of the AL West, if only for the presence of the abysmal Astros. The A's, Angels and Rangers will all feast on them since they'll play them 18 times each.

[DumpJerry]

Originally Posted by blandman

There's probably a dozen teams in the AL better than anyone in the NL Central.

Last time I checked, a dozen=12. There are 15 teams in the AL.

A little over the top there, no?

[blandman]

Originally Posted by PKalltheway

I'm not so sure about that. The Reds won 97 games last year, and have improved themselves (offensively, at least) by adding Shin-Soo Choo. Sure, they fell flat in the Division Series, but anything can happen in a short series. As it stands right now, I wouldn't take many AL teams over Cincinnati. Honestly, I'd say only Detroit and Washington have more complete teams in all of baseball at this point.

As far as the AL East goes, I wouldn't be surprised if only the division winner went to the playoffs. I can see three playoff teams coming out of the AL West, if only for the presence of the abysmal Astros. The A's, Angels and Rangers will all feast on them since they'll play them 18 times each.

They had 36 games against the Cubs and Astros, and the teams in their division on the whole weren't all that good against the rest of the league.

Originally Posted by DumpJerry

Last time I checked, a dozen=12. There are 15 teams in the AL.

A little over the top there, no?

Can't someone make a slight exageration and people still get the point? It's the weakest division in baseball, and the good teams are pretty average.

[CoopaLoop]

Originally Posted by SoxSpeed22

Tampa has the best pitcher in David Price. They also have more upside in their starters with Moore, Hellickson Niemann, and Cobb. They also manage to get a lot out of no-name relief pitchers, while the Jays pen may be suspect. Injuries will have a pretty big say in the division. Baltimore was the healthiest team last year, but that could change. I think Tampa is the team to beat in the division.

I don't think there is a whole lot of upside in Hellickson and Niemann

[Domeshot17]

Originally Posted by mahagga73

No way. The Cubs ahead of the Sox at 20/1, wow. I would take 20/1 odds the Cubs don't make the playoffs much less the series. The Rays will win the division at 95 wins, the Jays second with 93, Yankees 91 wins, Boston 89, Orioles 84. A very good division. I really think the White Sox are going to finish with about the same record as the team currently stands. Maybe a few more wins if the pitching holds. Maybe contend for the wild card and get it done this time. 4 to 1 odds might be a little high for the Jays.

This is simply because the odds are influenced by the way people bet. It's trendy to throw a bet on the Cubs to win it all while in a Vegas. It will be atleast 40:1 by the all star break

[DumpJerry]

Originally Posted by blandman

Can't someone make a slight exageration and people still get the point? It's the weakest division in baseball, and the good teams are pretty average.

An argument losses credibility when there is hyperbole used to make the main point. If you said something along the lines of you think the NL Central is the weakest division, your point would not lose credibility. Keep in mind that before the season ends in October, proclamations of how "weak" one division is relative to another is 100% subjective. Most of the big teams are one injury away from mediocre season (lose the stud starter or best hitter, etc.). That cannot be predicted.

[blandman]

Originally Posted by DumpJerry

An argument losses credibility when there is hyperbole used to make the main point. If you said something along the lines of you think the NL Central is the weakest division, your point would not lose credibility. Keep in mind that before the season ends in October, proclamations of how "weak" one division is relative to another is 100% subjective. Most of the big teams are one injury away from mediocre season (lose the stud starter or best hitter, etc.). That cannot be predicted.

The Central was the weakest division last year, not only because of the bottom, but because the top teams were pretty average. The Cards got obviously worse this offseason, and the division lost the Astros to beef up their records with. Both the Cards and Milwaukee have serious pitching problems, and the Reds have serious injury concerns in their rotation. Not to mention they're letting Broxton close now so that Chapman gets a shot at the rotation. It could work, but they are far from a sure thing (which is significant considering the dropoff in division talent after the Reds).

As for what you said about exaggeration, that's pretty dismissive and says a lot more about you than me. It was an obvious exaggeration. It didn't need to be called out.

[mzh]

Originally Posted by blandman

The Central was the weakest division last year, not only because of the bottom, but because the top teams were pretty average. The Cards got obviously worse this offseason, and the division lost the Astros to beef up their records with. Both the Cards and Milwaukee have serious pitching problems, and the Reds have serious injury concerns in their rotation. Not to mention they're letting Broxton close now so that Chapman gets a shot at the rotation. It could work, but they are far from a sure thing (which is significant considering the dropoff in division talent after the Reds).

As for what you said about exaggeration, that's pretty dismissive and says a lot more about you than me. It was an obvious exaggeration. It didn't need to be called out.

Hold on- the Reds rotation, which missed a total of 1 start last year, has injury concerns? And serious ones? Yeah there are concerns about how Chapman will hold up as a starter. At this point I'm surprised that you haven't been hired by any Major League teams given your apparently incontrovertible knowledge of who is a lock to get hurt.

[DumpJerry]

Originally Posted by blandman

The Central was the weakest division last year, not only because of the bottom, but because the top teams were pretty average. The Cards got obviously worse this offseason, and the division lost the Astros to beef up their records with. Both the Cards and Milwaukee have serious pitching problems, and the Reds have serious injury concerns in their rotation. Not to mention they're letting Broxton close now so that Chapman gets a shot at the rotation. It could work, but they are far from a sure thing (which is significant considering the dropoff in division talent after the Reds).

As for what you said about exaggeration, that's pretty dismissive and says a lot more about you than me. It was an obvious exaggeration. It didn't need to be called out.

When you buy Lottery tickets you pick your numbers, right? After all, that crystal ball of yours is amazingly accurate!

[blandman]

Originally Posted by mzh

Hold on- the Reds rotation, which missed a total of 1 start last year, has injury concerns? And serious ones? Yeah there are concerns about how Chapman will hold up as a starter. At this point I'm surprised that you haven't been hired by any Major League teams given your apparently incontrovertible knowledge of who is a lock to get hurt.

yourself. I didn't say anyone in particular was a lock to get hurt. I said they have injury concerns. Based on injuries to the rotation last year. Between Latos having a dead arm for half the season and Cueto having back spasms, I didn't think this would be quite as controversial.

Originally Posted by DumpJerry

When you buy Lottery tickets you pick your numbers, right? After all, that crystal ball of yours is amazingly accurate!

The Lotto asks me to divine the numbers before the drawings, actually.

[PKalltheway]

Originally Posted by blandman

yourself. I didn't say anyone in particular was a lock to get hurt. I said they have injury concerns. Based on injuries to the rotation last year. Between Latos having a dead arm for half the season and Cueto having back spasms, I didn't think this would be quite as controversial.

"Injuries to the rotation last year?" Nobody in the rotation got hurt last year! They only missed one start! The only time someone got hurt was when Cueto went down with back spasms in Game 1 of the Division Series.