Simmons Rates the AL - What Team has the best chance?

[BriMc]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/060816

More quality from The Sports Guy. There's not a better sports writer working today.

[shemp]

I see his point about the A's, in particular, with respect to the Angels. But they've won the season series against NYY, are tied with Bos, ahead of Min, ahead of LAA, 1 game off with Det -- the only team he's rated above them that has whipped them was CHI and that was one series in the midst of their longest losing streak of the year. Maybe, in Oakland, there is some there there, and it's time to figure it out rather than expect an early exit.

As much as I like the LAA, they haven't handled the A's and they'll probably need to play .700 and get some help to make the post season. Go's A's, dammit.

[offTopic]

The "Reggie Cleveland All Stars" never fails to make me laugh. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[kolotoure]

The Angels won't make the playoffs with a semi-healthy GA and AK playing

[WayAbvPar]

[ QUOTE ]
Bartolo Colon morphed into Andre The Giant to the point that I kept waiting for him to have a bench-clearing brawl against four midgets at once; he lasted 56 innings before shutting it down this season, probably to get stomach-stapling surgery … and they don't really miss him at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Simmons. Even when he is wrong about something, he is at least entertaining.

[AllinDan]

Don't you have to be in position to MAKE the playoffs before deciding who you'd rather face? Angels rely on washed up veterans and their manager is a whiny cheater.
[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Oakland

/homerism

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
There's not a better sports writer working today.


[/ QUOTE ]

sure if you dont read the hardball times or baseball prospectus.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line: They overachieved in the first half because of Papelbon (who was simply out of his mind) and Big Papi (who probably swung 6-7 games in Boston's favor it had no business winning). Now the Sox are underacheiving. It's probably a 92-win team at best. And I could spend the next 3,000 words ranting and raving about the unacceptable performance of the Henry/Theo regime since they won the World Series -- the catastrophic Renteria/Clement signings; lowballing Pedro/Damon, then half-heartedly renewing talks at the last second; overvaluing Beckett (a genuine disappointment) and Crisp (a colossal disappointment); undervaluing their own prospects (Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez) in the Beckett trade; freezing at this year's trading deadline; dealing Arroyo without knowing about the health of Wells and Foulke; allowing 40-year-old Mike Timlin to pitch in the WBC (he's a walking corpse now); letting Roberts and Cabrera go; handing Beckett that unconscionable $30 million extension (I yelped out loud when I saw the headline); and we haven't even mentioned last winter's soap opera with Theo yet -- but I don't want to ruin my chances of getting a key to the office next season. So let's just say that everyone did a swell job and I fully support every moronic decision that was made. Now where's my key?

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usual crap slinging written by the donkeys here.

[kolotoure]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't you have to be in position to MAKE the playoffs before deciding who you'd rather face? Angels rely on washed up veterans and their manager is a whiny cheater.
[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Oakland

/homerism

[/ QUOTE ]

Which washed up vets do we rely on? and how is Mike a cheater?

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line: They overachieved in the first half because of Papelbon (who was simply out of his mind) and Big Papi (who probably swung 6-7 games in Boston's favor it had no business winning). Now the Sox are underacheiving. It's probably a 92-win team at best. And I could spend the next 3,000 words ranting and raving about the unacceptable performance of the Henry/Theo regime since they won the World Series -- the catastrophic Renteria/Clement signings; lowballing Pedro/Damon, then half-heartedly renewing talks at the last second; overvaluing Beckett (a genuine disappointment) and Crisp (a colossal disappointment); undervaluing their own prospects (Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez) in the Beckett trade; freezing at this year's trading deadline; dealing Arroyo without knowing about the health of Wells and Foulke; allowing 40-year-old Mike Timlin to pitch in the WBC (he's a walking corpse now); letting Roberts and Cabrera go; handing Beckett that unconscionable $30 million extension (I yelped out loud when I saw the headline); and we haven't even mentioned last winter's soap opera with Theo yet -- but I don't want to ruin my chances of getting a key to the office next season. So let's just say that everyone did a swell job and I fully support every moronic decision that was made. Now where's my key?

[/ QUOTE ]

usual crap slinging written by the donkeys here.

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Fwiw, BP predicts the Sox to win 91.4 games. I can understand grievances with the editorial, but from a quantitative view he seems to be in line with the generally-agreed-upon experts.