Remember when the AL Central was basically kiddie ball with nice uniforms? I do, because it was really only four or five years ago. The central was where dominant baseball went to die, with the pesky Twins routinely rallying to win the division.
However, in 2005, the Chicago White Sox joined the Red Sox as teams to vanquish close to 100 years of futility by winning the World Series, and then, the year after, the Detroit Tigers experienced a resurgence of their own, going all the way to the Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. Last year, the Cleveland Indians were only a game away from making it three years in a row a team from the Central represented the American League in the Series, only to choke their chance away to the Red Sox.
Well, things look to be much the same this year. The Central is stacked once again, and may very well be the best, most competitive division in baseball. This promises to be a blood bath all the way to the end of the season, and there is no clear favorite at this time, in my opinion, as to who, exactly, will be coming out alive.
Kansas City Royals: Okay, let's not spend too much time on the Royals, shall we? I understand there are some nice things happening in K City, and I understand why so many fans in thata area, who have roughed it out for the last, oh, 25 years, are excited about Alex Gordon, but Kansas City just doesn't have the players to compete, and in this division that might spell close to 100 loses this year.
They did sign Jose Guillen and Gil Meche was a decent acquisition last year who proved to be worth at least some of the millions he was signed for, but the truth is, after that, the Royals are hoping Brian Bannister can hold down the fort and Zack Grenike can have the same type of season he had last year. The bullpen is filled with a lot of young, inexperienced, questionably talented pitchers, and the lineup is just not deep enough to score with any kind of consistency. This is simply the worst division to be a bad team in, and Kansas City is certainly that.
Chicago White Sox: At first, I was thinking about putting the Sox as my sleeper team. I mean, this is a group that went to the World Series only three years ago, has a decent amount of talent, grossly underachieved last year, and made some nice moves in the offseason. So why am I picking them to finish just above the lowly KCity? Mainly because there is something about this team that just rubs me the wrong way.
The lineup should be formidable. Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, and Jermaine Dye all return and should put up their usual numbers. It still remains to be seen what the Sox have in store for Joe Crede at third, but if healthy, Crede should be able to put up numbers comparable to the ones he had in 2006. AJ Pierzynski still wins the award for "Player Would Most Like To See Fall Down A Man Hole", but, for a catcher, he is still putting up decent numbers. The acquisition of Orlando Cabrera was a terrific signing, as Cabrera is an underrated bat and a terrific defensively player, and Nick Swisher just seems like a winning caliber player.
But can you truly have confidence in this team's pitching staff over the long haul? I am a fan of Mark Buehrle - I'm a sucker for under 30 lefties with winning records - but Javier Vasquez has been a career of promise and not a lot of delivery, Jose Contreras seems to be on the wrong end of done, and John Denks and Gavin Floyd could be nice pitchers, but neither one of the young prospects showed enough last year to get anyone excited.
The bullpen should be pretty good with Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink joining Bobby Jenks at the back end, but how many times are they going to be handed the ball with a lead, and how far into the season will we go before someone starts to use the words "over used"?
Really, though, one of the main reasons why I don't like this team is because of their manager. Ozzie Guillen is a headcase. He is probably the most unstable person on the White Sox bench, and if your scoring at home, when your manager is an emotional question mark, that aint good. Last year, his team seemed to no longer want to play for him. His act seems to be getting old for everyone involved, and in a division like the Central, where there are nothing but good to great teams, adversity, and losing streaks are gonna arise. When that happens, and Ozzie goes into one of his public tirades and calls out veteran players for being less than manly, I could just imagine the team going south very, very quickly.
Minnesota Twins: Last year, I liked the Twins to be worse than everyone was predicting, and I turned out to be right. This year? I think the Twinkies are gonna surprise some people.
Now, before you FedEx me about three dozen "you're a moron" messages, let me first say that, yes, I understand that Johan Santana is no longer on the team and, no, I am not predicting a world series victory for the Twins. I am, however, predicting that the Twins have enough, both offensively and pitching wise, to surprise some people.
Maybe it's just me, but I happen to like the lineup the Twins will be putting out there everyday. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer are proven, legit, big time players in this league, and each one can put up numbers each and every year. Delmon Young might have his problems, but playing baseball has never seemed to be one of them, and Young has the talent to be a middle of the order bat the likes of which the Twins have not seen in years. Michael Cuddyer is a below the radar type of hitter who always seems to produce, and Carlos Gomez will play solid defense and be a nice top of the order hitter for this team.
The Twins play great defense, get timely hitting, and smack a few more homers than anyone seems to be ready for, and I honestly don't believe much will change this year.
Obviously, it will all come down to pitching. This is where my arguement either seems brilliant or falls apart miserably. How about we go for brilliant right now?
Francisco Liriano is back, and is healthy. Can he regain the form he showed two years ago when he and Santana formed perhaps the best one-two punch in baseball? Even if he regains a little bit of the form, he will be a force to be dealt with. I believe the young man will have a very nice year returning from injury, and will establish himself as a top of the rotation starter very quickly. After that, Boof Bonser not only has the best name in baseball, he also has a decent amount of talent, and he could slide into that two hole in the rotation. The main guy, however, will be Livan Hernandez. No, Livan isn't winning a Cy Youn award, but he is durable, he is an inning's eater, he is a veteran presence on the team, and he is still a guy who seems to pitch his best in the big spots. Also, keep your eye on Kevin Slowey, who does nothing but throw strikes and looks like the best option for the # 5 spot in that rotation.
The bullpen will once again be solid, with Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain handing the ball to one of the best in Joe Nathan, and Mark Gardenhire is simply one of the best managers in baseball. The Twins aint winning a world series, but they make the Central even more interesting this year.
Cleveland Indians: They were a game away from going to the World Series, A GAME!!!!!!!!!! And now they are coming in second? Well, that has more to do with the team that I believe will come in ahead of them than it does with what kind of team they are.
The Indians have all the makings for another big team. The lineup is, well, impressive. The names just roll off the tongue: Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, and Ryan Garko. They have speed, they have power, they have guys who hit in the clutch, and no one seems to shrink from the responsibility. The rotation is equally formidable: The Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia, the at times unhittable Fausto Carmona, the veterans Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook.
The kink in the armor is almost certainly the bullpen. Joe Borowski is enough to make grown men weep in fear and while Rafael bentacourt may eventually take over that closer roll, there just isn't a lot of depth out there. In a division that promises to be so close, the games that bullpen blows may very well make the difference between winning and going home for the winter.
Detroit Tigers: On paper, this looks like the best team in baseball. They underachieved last year, almost made the playoffs anyway, and made the biggest splash in the offseason. Everything seems to be lining up for this team to take home some hardware come October.
Adding Miguel Cabrera at this point is almost unfair. Look at this potential lineup: Curtis Granderson, Edgar Renteria, Carlos Guillen, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Cabrera, Maglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, and Jacques Jones. In case you're having a hard time reading, that is a 3-4-5-6-7 in the lineup that NO ONE in baseball can match. The run scoring ability here is limitless. Can you imagine being an opposing pitcher, looking at this lineup and wondering how, exactly, you're going to make it through in one piece? Like the old saying goes, if the left hand don't get yah, the right one will.
Now, the starting rotation has been a area of concern for some people, but I happen to think this is a deeper rotation than the one that led Detroit to the Series two years ago. Justin Verlander is no longer some young kid lookin to make a name for himself, he is an established front end of the rotation guy with an ability to dominate a game. His name should be in that Cy Young conversation for a while. After that, Jeremy Bonderman needs to find the form he had two years ago from last year, where he posted a 5 ERA, and Kenny Rogers is back minus the grease stain on his right hand. The real interesting guy in the rotation, however, is Dontrelle Willis. This is a guy who only two years ago was in the Cy Young voting, and now was considered a "question mark" when he came over with Cabrera. He still has the tools, he still has the talent. If he finds new life and Bonderman regains form, with Rogers and Nate Robertson taking up the rear, the Tigers rotation could be terrific, not just serviceable.
The question mark, as with the Indians, is the bullpen. It appears setup sensation Joel Zuymaya is out for the year, and is Francisco Rodney. That leaves Jason Grilli handing the ball off to Todd Jones. One of these days Jones' slow, slower, and slowest routine is gonna hit a snag, and if that is this year, it might derail what should be a HUGE year for the Tigers. However, I just don't see that happening. This may be the Tigers year to roar.
Predictions: Tigers
Indians
Twins
White Sox
Royals
AL Central Player of the Division: Miguel Cabrera
AL Central Pitcher of the Division: Fausto Carmona
AL Central Comeback Player of the Division: Dontrelle Willis
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