2012 Projected Standings (via Clay Davenport)

each and every game on the 2012 schedule 100K times. I add up all the runs scored and allowed from every game. Hard part is projecting playing time. I think I have a good handle on it for hitters, but for starting pitchers I am just going with a five man rotation for every team until I have a better grasp of the depth charts starting pitching wise for every team. So I probably get some slop there but not too much.

For example on the A’s opening game I have Felix Hernandez facing Brandon McCarthy. Seattle wins this game 50.42% of the time. The Mariners score on average 3.5628 runs and the A’s score on average 3.2834 (on this game) runs. So I add up the runs allowed and runs scored for all 162 games to come up with RA and RS numbers.

Hope that makes sense.

it will be really close between Oakland (679), Seattle (675) and probably Texas (677).

so, yeah, maybe

It’s a possibility. So is 80 like you said. :)

When you say a “two-win swing” that means +1 for the Angels and -1 for the A’s. But I’m not talking about the Angels. I’m only talking about the A’s W-L record, which is what this FanPost is all about.

I was tricked at first with the Gio and Cahill trades, but when you look more carefully the guys we got back really aren’t that much younger. And then the various signings since then, plus the indications that service clocks won’t be delayed on the new pitchers who are 22 or 23.

I’ve sort of come to embrace the limbo at this point. I absolutely love going to games at the Coliseum and especially since the Angels and Rangers are so powerful right now, it’s not like we would win anything even if we signed Fielder and kept Gio and Cahill. So I’ll just enjoy the remaining years at our decrepit home.

Also with every lingering delay I keep hoping that Lew will sell the team to an owner that can actually get something done (in Oakland or SJ or somewhere else in the Bay Area) instead of simply complaining to the media about their inability to get something done. Also, as OaklandSi has pointed out from her conversations with city of Oakland officials, A’s brass has refused to meet with anyone from City government for a few years now. I believe this is bad policy for the fans because if there is a way to get traction in Oakland and move something forward, why not keep that door open? I would prefer someone at the top who could successfully navigate this complex process, which Wolff has proved incapable of doing to this point.

While I am not really happy about the constant bullshit from MLB and the Giants, I’ve basically just decided to look at the positives and not worry about it anymore. Fine, we’ll be mediocre for the next few years while this limbo continues. If we had a new stadium and increased revenue tomorrow I believe we would still be competing for 3rd place in our division, so whatever. I’ll just kick back at the Coliseum and enjoy the baseball.

However, there is a difference in being bad with a hope of improving (i.e. an actual rebuild) or being bad with a bunch of mediocre veterans on one-year contracts. I really hope we are not going down that road for 2012-13. So I hope that the limbo does not mean the “let’s win 74 games strategy” is back. I hope it means let’s plan to win 90 games in 2014-15. A rebuild is needed with or without a new stadium.

That is, puffing up expectations helps sell tickets, and so that’s what they did for the past four or five seasons. But maybe they got too much blowback for the team “underperforming” year after year so they decided to try it the other way this time.

because he’s really a better 2Bman and he’s reaching the age where his best years are in the rear view mirror. But the other two are “Beane classic targets” that we didn’t get in on.

He fills the same role as Crisp, except he gets caught stealing way more, has less power, and is more durable – which I don’t think is a virtue on this team. I’m not unhappy about the thought of Reddick or Cowgill getting some extended time in CF.

Oh yeah, nothing. Low OBP, poor CS%, subpar fielding. Woo hoo.

The question is whether the poll will take the form of a poll. There’s currently a poll on that point.