Alright Part 2, time to talk American League Central, I think this might be on of the more exciting divisions this season all of the teams...except one has improved.
1. Detroit Tigers
I love their addition of Victor Martinez at catcher, even though he will probably be DH unless they play an NL team at their stadium. Even though they added Martinez I think their issue is right their behind plate. They need Availa to step up on defense and offense, if he can they will be pretty dominate. They have solid hitter Miguel Cabrera at first whose defense is improving, Carlos Guillen at second, young Jhonny Peralta is back at short, Brandon Inge is back again at third, Rayburn is in left, and rookie of the year candidate last season is back in center, and Magz is in right. The rotation looks alright Verlander is the clear number one with Matt Scherzer is number two and Rick Porcello is three, 4 and 5 I'm not blown away with to say the least Brad Penny was good once apon a time but hopefully he can get back what he had in LA and Phil Coke who was in the pen much of last season is the in the five spot. The bullpen is a strenght with Penny, Zumya when he is healthy and Valverde closing.
2. Minnesota Twins
The Twins are how they are they have Mauer and Morneau back and always strong candidates for early season MVP consideration. They have Liriano, Blackburn and Pavano holding down the rotation while Nathan and Capps man the bullpen. How good will Nathan be after his injury that should play a big role in the season. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is at second...who, well he is a newly signed player from Japan we'll see how he does in the majors. Danny Valencia is at third, he played 85 games last season batting .311 so we'll see how he does in the full season. Alexi Casilla is a young shortstop who played in just 69 games last season but batted .276 I think he play a big role as well as to how good this Twins team does. The outfield looks good, Delmon Young is in right, Denard Span is in center, Michael Cuddyer is in right while Jason Kubel will be DH for most of the season. If not Kubel you'll be seeing Jim Thome as well.
3. Chicago White Sox
These guys look good too, and could make a real case for 1st place let alone third if they can get the bats they hope for out of their position players. The rotation looks good with Buehlre, Floyd, Danks, Jackson and Peavy. The bullpen doesn't look so good, losing Jenks to Boston really hurt this team. Adam Dunn is at DH but he is a strikeout machine, AJ Piezynski is behind the plate and he is more downward then up now-a-days, same thing with first baseman Konerko, Beckham and Alexi Ramirez are good at second and short, not sure what to expect out of Brent Morel at third, the outfield has aging Juan Pierre who may of lost a step or two from his once incredible speed on the bases, Alex Rios is good in center with a strong bat as well as Carlos Quentin in right who had a down year last year.
4. Clevland Indians
This team has strong lineup and could have a strong 1 and 2 combo in the rotation. Fausto Carmona, if he can get back what he had in Minnesota, can be a solid number one with a young Masterson behind him. But if they can't be what they are expected the Indians will have to rely on their batting because their bullpen isn't going to be getting it done. Carlos Santana (former Great Lakes Loon) is a good young catcher who has a solid bat, he will be good. Jason Nix at third can be good, but he had his struggles last year, Asdrubal Cabrera is a good young shortstop, the O-Dog is helping the middle infield Orlando Cabrera can bring some veteran leadership to the infield, Matt LaPorta I don't will do very well in Clevland he is young though and has plenty room for improvment, the outfield is lead by centerfielder Grady Sizemore who will be helping young leftfield Michael Brantley, right fielder Shin-Soo Choo is good and can also provide some veteran experience.
5. Kansas City Royals
These guys will be bad. Flat out just don't expect anything from them. They lost star pitcher Zack Grienke and has nobody in the pitching staff to take over. Jason Kendall is catching, Kila Ka'aihue is at first, Chris Getz is at second, Alcides Escobar is at short, Mike Aviles should be a star on this team which is sad because that is saying how bad this team is, Alex Gordon is in left coming off a bad season, Melky Cabrera is in center and will be the star, and Jeff Francoeur is a pretty good right fielder. Billy Butler provides a good bat at DH. The Royals fans do have something positive to look at, the Royals average age is 25 years old, pretty young and could be good later on but not this season.
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