Quote:
Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop
No.
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Then I strongly disagree. That's an incredibly pessimistic view.
This is what "Everything falling into place" would look like.
James Shields pitches like he has the past two seasons (3.10 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 230 IP, 220 Ks)
Jeremy Guthrie pitches at the level he pitched at after coming to KC, or right around there (3.50 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 200 IP)
Ervin Santana bounces back and pitches at his peak level (3.30 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 200 IP, 180 K)
Wade Davis improves as a starter after pitching in the bullpen (3.75 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 200 IP, 175 K)
Bruce Chen/Mendoza/whoever else give them quality work from the 5 spot.
Mike Moustakas hits for an entire season life his first half of 2012 (.280/30/90 RBI/.500 SLG/.820 OPS/125 OPS+)
Billy Butler repeats his 2012 power outbreak (.300/30/100/.500 SLG/.880 OPS/140 OPS+)
Alex Gordon does roughly what he has the past two seasons (.295/18/70/.475 SLG/130 OPS+)
Sal Perez produces his numbers over a whole season (.300/20/80/.475 SLG/.800 OPS/120 OPS+)
Eric Hosmer bounces back (.290/25/100/.475 SLG/.825 OPS)
It also would include the bullpen being just as good as the past two years, Cain staying healthy a full season, Escobar producing at a steady rate, even if his average is less shiny.
That team is going to do better than 80 wins. I wouldn't put a high likelihood on all those things happening, but if they do, this is much more than an 80-win team (last year's squad, which only had 2.5 of the things listed individually above, would have won 80 games just by being 2-3 wins lucky according to Pythag rather than 6-7 games unlucky).