Update: Here's Baseball Prospectus's Complete Projected Standings

Last night I mentioned that BP released it's projected standings for the 2009 season and I was just waiting to find them online before I could comment. Well, here they are. I know the Sox and their fans will probably take it as a slight that we're picked to finish dead last in the Central, but I really don't think that's the case. The Central is very tightly packed, the Sox are only projected 5 games behind 2nd place Minnesota and 10 games behind projected champ Cleveland. Look at the rest of the divisions. The Orioles are projected to finish 32 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. The Pirates are projected 30 games behind the Cubs. A 10-game swing is not that unreasonable, last year five American League teams posted 5-game or greater differences from their Pythagorean record, and two more had 4-game differences.

Now, that said, this does underscore that even casual, national observers can tell that the Sox have some serious holes to plug. Spring Training kicks off Sunday in Glendale and the Sox still have not addressed some of their problems. While it's nice to think all of them can be fixed internally, the Sox's recent player development history makes me believe otherwise.

Anyways, when combined with yesterday's predictions from Cleveland, the running sum of combined AL Central predictions is:

1. Minnesota (average preditced position: 1.5)
2. Cleveland (2.0)
3. WHITE SOX (3.5)
4. Detroit (3.5)
5. Royals (4.5)
   

Let the Pre-Season Predictions Begin!

Well, we're still a few days away from the first practice pitch of Spring Training, but several folks are jumping on the prediction bandwagon early. I've read some reports that say Baseball Prospectus picked the Sox dead last in the Central in 2009 based on their PECOTA predictions, but I can't find a good, free site that legally publishes those numbers. If someone knows of a place I can see the 2009 PECOTA predictions without paying for them, I could comment, otherwise, I'll have to wait until sometime in the next few weeks to buy Baseball Prospectus 2009.

Also, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has published its predictions (still seems a bit early, especially in a division like the Central with so many roster spots up for grabs, but whatever) and they've put their money on the Twins. They've got the Sox in second, Tribe in third, Tigers fourth, and Kansas City bringing up the rear. I'll try to keep an eye out for other predictions and see if we can't keep a running summary of the many, many expert opinions that will soon flood the baseball talk landscape.