Anybody optimistic about the season?

[Hendrix]

Last year was extremely disappointing, as was the off season. That said:

Boston underperformed 2 years ago with 69 wins, and then won the World Series last year. Yeah they had some signings like Napoli, but the majority of the difference between 2 years ago, and last year was that they didn't suffer as many injuries, and their pitching staff didn't perform well below expectations (like they did in 2012).

Last year Bautista, Reyes, Lawrie, and Rasmus missed 212 games between them, and were very important pieces to our team. Their losses thinned us out, and the vast majority of the season was spent with guys like Izturis, Bonifacio, Derosa, Davis, and Kawasaki playing major roles on this team. If healthy this year, our team really isn't the same team as last year. Our 1-5 if healthy can be pretty great this year. Additionally our pen is pretty nice.

The big thing is starting pitching. But, there is some guys in there that have had very quality seasons in the past. I don't expect them to make a turn around like Boston did in the rotation, but it's quite plausable that they are quite a bit better than last year if each pitcher has a decent year.

If our starting pitching can be atleast decent I think it's plausable that our hitting, and relief pitchers pull us up to a very good record.

[torontoaces04]

Nope, not at all.

[RapsFanInVA]

Only in the sense that there's no way we can be any worse than we were last season. .500 feels right for this team.

[akakalakin]

Gibbons wrote Morrero on the lineup card, nope

[Santoki]

Can't say that I'm optimistic. Hopeful, but not optimistic.

[dagger]

If we're basing it on today's pathetic pitching performances (13-0 Tigers after five innings), Schad, Graham, myself and others will be scouring 2015 mock drafts for top 5 picks. It looks worse than many of you seem to think.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

No. Keeping my expectations super low, so if they do better/well I will be surprised. Cheers! ! ! !

[Lateral Quicks]

I think our bullpen and offense could be right up there with the best in the league. If we get average starting pitching, I think we'll be playing meaningful games into August at least. The way things are going, that isn't looking too good right now, but there's always room for optimism

[MikeM]

We'll be better than last year. I think we could win 85 games. Only way we can get to 90 is if we start strong and make a couple pushes through the trade market.

[Randle McMurphy]

No, even assuming a healthy Hutchison all season, the rotation needed to be better. Also still have no idea why they think Ryan Goins is any kind of an answer at 2B.

They project to be good (81-85 wins in the ALE), but not good enough.

[Brinbe]

Not even a little bit. Feels like they're gonna be worse than they were last season.

[LLJ]

At least last year they had the injury excuse. I have a feeling we're just gonna be mind numbingly mediocre this year and we won't have the injury excuse. The starting pitchers probably don't have enough in them for all of them to have near career years. The pen looks good but I have a feeling it's gonna be another one of those years where what was good last year won't be good this year, and what was bad last year won't be good this year either.

[rarefind]

We can't sustain any injuries. It is baseball, guys will get hurt. We can barely field a 5 man rotation, you legitimately need 8 starters you can roll out there and expect to keep you in a game. How confident are you guys that 2 of the 3 of Reyes, Bautista and Lwrie will play more than 120 games this year? It's not so much that our current roster is going to get us in trouble, it is going to be what happens when guys go down.

And I'm one of the few guys who feels that our 2b situation isn't as terrible as it seems with Izturis still kicking around if Goins can't hit to keep himself in the lineup everyday.

[akakalakin]

still cannot fathom why people are not demanding the immediate removal of AA at minimum, I would suggest much more

[There There]

If everything goes right, and I literally mean just about everything, as it did for Boston last year, then this team has 90+ win upside and will compete in the AL East.

But that means

- no sustained injuries to anyone in our lineup 1 through 8
- Dioner Navarro performing like 2013 Dioner Navarro, for a full season
- Morrow pitching like 2010-2012 Morrow, for a full season
- Hutchison taking the next step after looking like he belonged in his short stint pre-injury
- Dickey remaining healthy for a full season
- One of Stroman/Sanchez being ready by July/August to solidify the rotation down the stretch
- No major drop off from Rasmus' production
- A healthy Melky being both capable defensively and an offensive force again
- Sierra being a capable platoon partner for Lind.

I'm sure I could go on, but that's the kind of Ifs that this team is banking on to compete in this division.

And it's why I am so disappointed in Anthopoulos for basically not getting anything done and mitigating some of these potential concerns.

Santana should have got done... When the one year deal became a reality, there was zero excuse for them not to get his name signed immediately and it's a significant failure on the part of this organization that it didn't.

After failing to get Santana and failing to boost the depth of quality starting pitching, Anthopoulos could have tried to mitigate it by getting 1) a second baseman who can hit and 2) a platoon partner for Lind who actually has a recent history of being a lefty masher.


Instead, we are still looking at Goins at second and a bench which will likely, at least out of the gate, consist entirely of Sierra/Izturis. ( I won't count Kratz since managers are loathe to use backup catchers for anything other than replacing the starting catcher if need be ).

Even if we don't bring 8 relievers north, the third bench option would likely be someone like Kawasaki/Pillar.... Basically, Gibby's hands are tied with regard to any sort of in game situational hitting/running.

Had those two things got done, you'd be looking at a lineup which, 1 through 9, could rival any team in this league.

As it is, there is just so much that needs to fall into place. So I'm not optimistic that they'll be playing baseball into October, but I do think 84-88 wins will be attainable.

[akakalakin]

If everything goes right, and I literally mean just about everything, as it did for Boston last year, then this team has 90+ win upside and will compete in the AL East.

But that means

- no sustained injuries to anyone in our lineup 1 through 8
- Dioner Navarro performing like 2013 Dioner Navarro, for a full season
- Morrow pitching like 2010-2012 Morrow, for a full season
- Hutchison taking the next step after looking like he belonged in his short stint pre-injury
- Dickey remaining healthy for a full season
- One of Stroman/Sanchez being ready by July/August to solidify the rotation down the stretch
- No major drop off from Rasmus' production
- A healthy Melky being both capable defensively and an offensive force again
- Sierra being a capable platoon partner for Lind.

I'm sure I could go on, but that's the kind of Ifs that this team is banking on to compete in this division.

And it's why I am so disappointed in Anthopoulos for basically not getting anything done and mitigating some of these potential concerns.

Santana should have got done... When the one year deal became a reality, there was zero excuse for them not to get his name signed immediately and it's a significant failure on the part of this organization that it didn't.

After failing to get Santana and failing to boost the depth of quality starting pitching, Anthopoulos could have tried to mitigate it by getting 1) a second baseman who can hit and 2) a platoon partner for Lind who actually has a recent history of being a lefty masher.


Instead, we are still looking at Goins at second and a bench which will likely, at least out of the gate, consist entirely of Sierra/Izturis. ( I won't count Kratz since managers are loathe to use backup catchers for anything other than replacing the starting catcher if need be ).

Even if we don't bring 8 relievers north, the third bench option would likely be someone like Kawasaki/Pillar.... Basically, Gibby's hands are tied with regard to any sort of in game situational hitting/running.

Had those two things got done, you'd be looking at a lineup which, 1 through 9, could rival any team in this league.

As it is, there is just so much that needs to fall into place. So I'm not optimistic that they'll be playing baseball into October, but I do think 84-88 wins will be attainable.

that is some kind of wishful thinking, yet 84-88 wins would still be a failure considering

[Michael Bradley]

I think the team is better than they were last year, and probably better than most people think overall, but no, I'm not optimistic when it comes to the playoffs. Goins is starting at 2B, they didn't make a single pitching upgrade, they are going to run one of the few good young SP's they have (Hutchison) into the ground instead of limiting his innings, Lind will get far too many AB's against LHP, and they don't have a back-up CF. These holes should have been fixed in the off-season and were certainly fixable given what was out there (Santana, Maholm, Drew, Jeff Baker, etc).

I actually think this will be one of the bizarro years where the pitching does well and the hitting hits the skids. Assuming Seitzer hasn't Gary Denbo'd the roster already, I think we'll be fine with Bautista, Reyes, Encarnacion, Lind (against RHP), and maybe Melky if he is healthy, but there are two blackholes potentially (CA/2B) and we still don't know what we will get Rasmus and Lawrie. There is pretty much no depth offensively either, so one injury is going to hurt.

I'm not a fan of "if everything goes right". There was no planning this off-season and no contingency signings in case of injury. They flat out stuck with what they had last year; the same exact team that lacked depth. If everyone stays healthy, then there is some upside with this team, but there will be injuries.

[Hendrix]

If we're basing it on today's pathetic pitching performances (13-0 Tigers after five innings), Schad, Graham, myself and others will be scouring 2015 mock drafts for top 5 picks. It looks worse than many of you seem to think.

Not even a little bit. Feels like they're gonna be worse than they were last season.

It seems fairly pessamistic to me to be thinking about a top 5 pick, or putting up a worse season than last year at this point.

The starting players we lost are actually addition by subtraction considering how bad they performed last year. So, the only way I can see us being worse is if players actually underperform/get injured more than they did last year. Which would take some pretty monumental levels of injury/underperforming considering it was brutal last year.

[PowerPlant1]

No, even assuming a healthy Hutchison all season, the rotation needed to be better. Also still have no idea why they think Ryan Goins is any kind of an answer at 2B.

They project to be good (81-85 wins in the ALE), but not good enough.

can't even see them winning 81-85 with all the uncertainty in the rotation. goins makes no sense now, he needs more seasoning. the rationale is the supposed 'gold glove' defense the jays are going to get out of him. along with a .100 batting average and .100 OBP. but seriously, is goins defense that much of an upgrade over someone like kawasaki? can't stand izturis who inexplicably is ahead of kawasaki on the depth chart. this despite the fact that kawasaki had an OBP last year of around .330 and was a sparkplug on the team when reyes went down. Is kawasaki that bad a defender to not even be considered for 2B? is he worse overall at the position than izturis? kawasaki isn't great but out of all the options that exist now, i like him best.

of course, ideally they should have retrieved a 2B like drew or traded for kinsler.

[There There]

Goins doesn't need seasoning... he is terrible offensively and likely always will remain as such, no matter how many more at bats he gets in AAA.

His role should be as a super utility defensive replacement, end of story.

And although Kawasaki would be better at the plate, it's debatable if he would be of any more value overall because he doesn't have nearly as much defensive value.

What I don't understand is why the job was just handed to Goins.

It's **** asinine to just give him the starting job with no evidence that he can be even close to replacement level at the plate.

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