2005 future plays

blueedwards · Feb 24, 2005

marlins to win the n.l. +1800 (bet365 & wwts)
cubs to win n.l. central +194 (pinnacle)
twins to win a.l. central +110 (bet365)
padres to win n.l. west +400 (bet365)

astros under 85 wins (pinnacle)
red sox under 96 wins (olympic)
rangers under 81 wins (cris)

all plays for $500 except the twins...i pounded that for $1,000

like any of these? get it now before the line changes.

MadCapper · Feb 24, 2005

blue edwards said:
astros under 85 wins (pinnacle)

like any of these? get it now before the line changes.

Astros are 83.5 at Pinnacle.

blueedwards · Feb 24, 2005

yes, a few of these have already changed. i put the twins, padres and cubs bets in today so, i think those are good for now. i made the play on the marlins two weeks ago and the season total wins bets were made last week..hadn't checked them in a while.

looks like the rangers line is lower by 1/2 a win as well. marlins are now 12:1

MadCapper · Feb 24, 2005

I posted Tigers over 73.5 right when Pinny released the line....Olympic has Tigers now at 80....HUGE MIDDLE!

blueedwards · Feb 24, 2005

my favorite play is the twinkies to win the division. i don't know what bet365 is thinking...they have +110 when everyone else has -130 or higher. the twins will pound on the central division...they may be the only team in that division to finish above .500.

bet365 took a $1,000 bet on it too...usually they have lower limits.

get it now boys...

MadCapper · Feb 24, 2005

Good call for that price.

I like the trobe for +310 or so...

Kojak · Feb 24, 2005

Blue,

I don't share your same enthusiasm on the Twins. I see 3 teams in this division who are getting better in White Sox, Indians, and Tigers. I don't think Tigers will make it till the end but I fully expect Sox and Indians to be there and one of them will take out Twins. Sox would be my call . Best of luck.

trytrytry · Feb 24, 2005

MadCapper said:
Astros are 83.5 at Pinnacle.

I played Houston over 83 games seemed too easy, I might have
missed something on them...not a big wager something to watch this year I guess.

sherman · Feb 25, 2005

good luck blue.....

blueedwards · Feb 25, 2005

Kojak said:
Blue,

I don't share your same enthusiasm on the Twins. I see 3 teams in this division who are getting better in White Sox, Indians, and Tigers. I don't think Tigers will make it till the end but I fully expect Sox and Indians to be there and one of them will take out Twins. Sox would be my call . Best of luck.

no question the tigers are better. the indians made some nice additions but...i',m not sure its enough to get them over the hump. they could finish above .500 but, they will not be there in the end.

strongly disagree on the white sox. this team will finish in 4th place this year. they lost carlos lee, jose valentin and magglio ordonez. and...guess what...frank thomas isn't healthy, again. will pauly konerko have a year like 2004 or 2003? no one knows. carl everett is 61 years old and jermaine dye is as fragile as a ming vase. they have two quality starters in burhle and garcia...the rest of them blow. they are banking on guys like john garland, juan uribe and some second baseman from japan to get them past the twins?

please.

i expect this team to lose early and often.

blueedwards · Feb 25, 2005

trytrytry said:
I played Houston over 83 games seemed too easy, I might have
missed something on them...not a big wager something to watch this year I guess.

i played the under due to the age of this team and the fact that the top two teams (cards and cubs) should really pound the astros this year. the health of pettitte and berkman are also in question.

Kojak · Feb 25, 2005

Blue,

I see we both are from Chicago but I must say originally from St. Louis so a diehard Cards fan with no loyalty to Chicago Baseball teams. White Sox though I think you are off on. I was in St. Louis during the 80's when the team played small ball and I must say teams were not prepared for it. Living in Chicago I can say that you also follow the teams but this team has the best from top to bottom (not individual starter) of any team in the division. They do not have a premier closer (Nathan for example) but they have the deepest and most diverse bullpen in the division. They will not hit over 200 home runs like they did last year but will steal near 150 bases as a team with addition of Posednik and they still will have power to boot with Konerko, Thomas (if healthy), Uribe (should hit 25+ based on ly's numbers), Crede, Dye (if healthy) and Rowland. Pyrzinski may even hit 20+. But what they will be much improved is defensively. Guillen's team won't beat themselves, will play strong defense, will play aggressive small ball, and if they have a lead this bullpen like Cards last year won't blow it. Twins lost entire left hand side of infield with Guzman and Koskie though they will have Mauer for full year but this team does not offer a fifth starter near the quality of Garland and in fact after Santana and Radke nothing but question marks. This will be the Sox year and I would not be surprised if the Indians or Tigers are second behind them. I guess we agree to disagree but best of luck.

blueedwards · Feb 25, 2005

kojak, the fact that you brought up joe crede in your agruement proves that you are a fan. crede is a complete bust...no different than joe borchard or jim parque.

also, you should expect nothing from frank thomas this year. the only guy i like is aaron rowand. of course, i have been wrong before but...i think its gonna be a long year on the south side.

Kojak · Feb 25, 2005

blue,

You are wrong about me being a Sox fan as I am a diehard Cardinal fan ask some of the ones here that followed me during playoffs and W.S. In regards to Crede, I just mentioned he has some power nothing more and nothing less. I am not impressed with other parts of his game. I also agree that Sox struggle developing players as they are great at the upper levels of the minors that fall flat on their face at the major league level. But I think you are underestimating this team's pitching and defense which was horrible with Valentin,Lee, and Ordonez. Dye,Posednik,Uribe, and Idguchi are major upgrades defensively. Sox season comes down to possibly Frank Thomas coming back in late May and hitting like the Frank of old or someone else stepping up as scoring enough runs will be this team's achilles heel on paper but it won't be pitching and defense. Twins have done it past 3 seasons and respect job management team does up there but competition has caught up and then some and they will have to fill some holes during season to win. Are you kidding me with a left side of infield of Cuddyer and Juan Castro?

viking611 · Feb 25, 2005

Coming from another Cardinal fan, I believe the Sox have the best rotation in that division 1-5. Garland will be their number 5 and he had 12 wins last season. Not going to find too many teams that have double digit wins out of all 5 starters. They lacked that 5th guy last year and will have 5 quality starters now. Sox will win the division with Twins and a very young, improving Indians team battling for second.

Hobbes · Feb 25, 2005

The Sox were pretty solid last year defensively, by pretty much every metric I have seen they were above average in the AL. They might be a little better this year, but we are talking a handful of runs prevented, not dozens. The offense will likely be worse and offset any gains made by the D. Maybe the pitching will be better, but Hernandez has all types of injury concerns and Contreras has one and a half seasons of MLB time, and last season was less then stellar. Who knows, maybe they get a bunch of career years and win the division but I don't see any particular reason to expect them to do so.

Cuddyer could easily be better offensively than Crede this year, and while the MIN shortstops won't be very good it's important to note that Guzman was a borderline starting SS (regardless of what the Nationals might think), so the dropoff there won't be that big. Throw in the extra help MIN should get from the young kids and I don't see how they have regressed at all.

blueedwards · Feb 25, 2005

thats why they call it gambling. it will be an interesting year.

by the way, look for huge years out of morneau and mauer. i think the twinkies need to make a deal for a starter to get them out of the first round of the playoffs and i hope they have the $ to make a deal.

FairWarning · Feb 26, 2005

Kojak and Blue - We should get together for a Sox game sometime this summer. I only live 70 minutes away from The Cell.

FWIW - I like the Tigers as a sleeper. starting to come together as a team and now have a closer. Will be interesting to see what they get for Urbina.

j-saul · Feb 27, 2005

Mr. Blue. At +110, Twins seem a good play. I think you could word that bet differently...Santana +110 to stay healthy for the year over Santana out with injury. It's that simple. Likes your chances, he's a stud. GL Shalom, RX Rabbi

viking611 · Sep 16, 2005

viking611 said:
Coming from another Cardinal fan, I believe the Sox have the best rotation in that division 1-5. Garland will be their number 5 and he had 12 wins last season. Not going to find too many teams that have double digit wins out of all 5 starters. They lacked that 5th guy last year and will have 5 quality starters now. Sox will win the division with Twins and a very young, improving Indians team battling for second.

good prediction viking and kojak :103631605