AL Central

AL Central

1. White Sox
2. Tigers
3. Twins
4. Indians
5. Royals

This division is sort of a poor man’s version of the NL East. Three teams that are fairly close to each other at the top and two teams at the bottom that are much, much worse. The White Sox, Tigers and Twins are all pretty much built in the same mold. A couple of power hitters (VMart & Cabrera/Dunn& Konerko/Mauer & Morneau) stuck into lineups of youngsters and defensive specialists.  None of them have rotations that are anything special but each sport a solid bullpen. So this could end up being any combination of these three but I am going to go with the ChiSox seizing the division crown. I think their offense is a little bit better than the others and I like their 2-5 more than either of the other teams. Verlander and Liriano are certainly better than Buerle but I like Danks, Gavin Floyd and even Edwin Jackson as a whole over the other units. The Tigers should be right there but their pitching is shaky after Verlander and Max Scherzer. Will Rick Porcello be the stud rookie of two years ago or the guy that got sent down in July last year? Also Miguel Cabrera is too much of a wild card for me to pick them as champs after his shenanigans last month. Drunkenly telling a police officer to “shoot you” to put you out of your misery is not exactly what you like to hear out of your 153 million dollar man. As for the Twins, they just keep plugging along. Continually being overlooked and then making the playoffs anyway. Echoing something that is usually said in March and then often proven wrong in September, the Twins just don’t look like they have enough this year. Moreanu is a question mark with concussions and Carl Pavano is still prominently involved so I think 3^rd place sounds just about right. But not too far back.  Wild cards: Jon Danks, Rick Porcello, Brian Duensing. Each of these teams need another starter to step up and be a stopper. If one of these guys can do it, they could propel their squad to top of the list.

This Indians team is not very exciting and only in 4^th because the Royals are still teething. Thus I think I will preview the cinematic Cleveland Indians circa-1990. Holy smokers, Sons of the Cuyahoga. Who expected a season like that last year? We start the season off with a bunch of dudes we’ve never heard of and end as division champs! And this year, the Tribe should be able to take it all the way. Anchored by possible the best 1-2 punch in the Rick Vaughn-Eddie Harris combo basically guarantees two wins out of every five. Willie Mays-Hays should be poised to break Rickey Henderson’s steals record this year. That is, if Pedro Cerrano doesn’t bring him home after one of his mamouth 450 foot home runs. straight into Lake Erie. Praise to Jobu, indeed. Hopefully veterans Jake Taylor and Roger Dorn have got another season left in the tank because the cupboard is fairly bare in terms of prospects. All and all, this should be the year that the curse of Cleveland finally comes to an end. And, if not, I just saw this amazing 6 year old hoopster out on the public courts in Akron. Surely he will bring Cleveland a title down the road even if the Wild Thing cannot. Wild Card: Faceless White Guy. Man, if this dude who plays all the other pitchers and every other position beside C, CF, RF and 3^rd gets it together, these Indians could really be something.

And scene.

Finally, the Royals. What can we say about them. Zack Grienke became Jeff Francis. Kind of a downgrade. After a couple years of fighting it, the Royals seem to be in a full-blown rebuilding mode. They jettisoned off most of their off-field in order to make room for the young guys. Growing pains can be tough and this won’t be a fun season for the Royals faithful. But, hey, at least they have great barbeque. The better half and I went to Arthur Bryant’s in August and it was excellent. Much better than the Royals-A’s game we went to of which the only highlight was the guy behind us in left field continuously calling Rajai Davis “Chili Davis” over the course of about 7 innings. By the 8^th, Rajai looked back at him and just shook his head. It was hilarious. Wild card: Mike Moustakas. I have heard this guy is there best prospect for a while now. Time to see some production because it seems the Alex Gordon ship has sailed.