Win total over/unders starting to come out

[swerb]

http://beyondthebets.com/2012/02/19/bet ... mlb-teams/

Tigers 94
Royals 78.5
White Sox 77.5
Indians 75.5
Twins 74

[bookelly]

4th place? Fuck that.

[andrew6586]

Made a bet with cousin that the Tribe would win over 72 last year. He thought I was nuts. This year I'm saying above .500

[googleeph2]

Good value. Nice sometimes that Cleveland is under the national radar.

Unless of course oddsmakers suddenly forgot that they play a weighted schedule, and the Indians should handle most of the non-Det teams in the division-

[Toxicadam]

I peg the Tribe at 72-74 wins. I would bet the under.

Our position player depth is really poor and our bullpen will not be as good.

[skatingtripods]

Our position player depth is really poor

I disagree with this immensely. I think position player depth is a strength of this year's team.

Making the ML roster on the bench are Donald, Marson, Duncan, and one of Cunningham/Spilborghs. Possibly Hannahan if he doesn't win the 3B job. All of those guys have had success against LHP, which is really all we need our bench to do. Donald will be able to play five positions. Hannahan can play 1B/2B/3B. Duncan LF/RF/1B.

Second level of depth has Lopez, Pie, LaRoche, Cunningham/Spilborghs, Neal, Phelps, Crowe, Carrera.

Not set-the-world-on-fire type guys, but guys with ML experience. We won't have Luis Valbuena in LF or have slap hitting Carrera playing 50 games.

I'm very happy with the depth this year. They're way more prepared than they were last year. Obviously none of these guys can replace a Choo, Cabrera, Santana, etc., but what team actually has bench players capable of replacing players of that level of importance?

[googleeph2]

Toxicadam, where do you see the Indians finishing in their division?

[Cerebral_DownTime]

78-84 at best. The offense still looks like shit on paper.

[ArtGold]

I'd say the Indians seem to be pretty competent overall. No area seems to be a significant plus, but it seems that we have a decent mix of guys who can field and get on base. Power seems to be lacking, but I think we still can be a middle of the pack scoring club.

So, I'd say 80 wins this season, with a decent chance of even being an above .500 club.

[Jumbo]

I think the Indians should be fine for the over, but there's enough downside that winning in the low 70s isn't a huge surprise. (I'm a little more optimstic, and I think they are good for 84-86 wins).

The number that doesn't make any sense to me is the White Sox at 77.5 wins. They're trying the rebuild-and-contend strategy, and we all know how well that works. So, I think they're due for a big decline this year. Even if they don't collapse, they only went 79-83 last year...and then lost Buehrle and traded Quentin. Add to that the general age of the roster with the poor farm system, their historical willingness to White Flag Trade, and I'd be shocked if they won 78 games.

My off the cuff predictions:
Detroit: 96-66
Cleveland: 86-76
Kansas City: 77-85
Chigago: 70-92
Minnesota: 64-98

[skatingtripods]

The number that doesn't make any sense to me is the White Sox at 77.5 wins. They're trying the rebuild-and-contend strategy, and we all know how well that works. So, I think they're due for a big decline this year. Even if they don't collapse, they only went 79-83 last year...and then lost Buehrle and traded Quentin. Add to that the general age of the roster with the poor farm system, their historical willingness to White Flag Trade, and I'd be shocked if they won 78 games.

White Sox also traded Santos. Thornton being the closer weakens the entire bullpen.

I don't think they'll come close to 77 or 78 wins.

[peeker643]

They've also got a rookie manager as the one trying to put all that together.

[motherscratcher]

They've also got a rookie manager as the one trying to put all that together.

And that rookie manager will be having naightmare flashbacks everytime they play in Arlington. I think the White Sox are cellar dwellers.

Detroit 93-69
Cleveland 85-77
KC 81-81
Mini 77-85
Chicago 69-93

Nice and symetrical like.

[peeker643]

Bump

[skatingtripods]

I couldn't have been more wrong. This is why I stick to betting college football.