The Workermonkey

Thursday, April 14, 2005

AL Central 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/14/2005 12:58:00 AM

Minnesota Twins: this team lives and dies with its health. Justin morneau is already on the DL after getting hit in the head with a pitch, his health concerns don’t come from that. Joe mays is for real but he may not be their catcher by the end of the year the way his knee is holding up. Silva is hurt too, he’s an innings eater who will be missed, what helps is they have a young guy to replace him. If they can get full years from most of their starters is going to be good. Radke is a pro and he can pitch, johan santanna could win the cy young again. Joe mays may turn out to be serviceable. The line up is quality. Jaque jones, tori hunter, joe mays, justin morneau, shannon stewart. These guys can hit, they have the minor league system to fill any holes that may arise during the season. Minnesota has been building toward something for a while and this year it may happen. They are going to win the central, there really isn’t much competition. Once they get into October they have the parts to go far. They have the front line ace, they have the top hitters, they have some other guys who could breakout and drive them farther. Think UVM in the big dance this year, people are going to over look them and if anyone looks past the twins they are going to be surprised by an early exit.

Cleveland Indians: its year three of the big restructuring and results are expected. Hafner is signed, victor martinez is signed, juan gone is on the DL. Things are looking good. CC sabathia needs to step up and fight for a cy young award. Some other pitcher need to step up. This team is helped by a lack of competition, and the void is going to give them the extra year they need to finish rebuilding. Coco crisp is a stud in the making, he’s funny, he can hit, run and play defense. One of the spring games I saw was against the indians and coco was a star at yankee stadium. He had some PR guy following him around and trying to stop him from telling jokes and signing autographs and get back to warming up. They’ve built their good young core and they have them all lined up for a few years. The run in looking set and its time to get some role guys in there. They aren’t going to topple the twins this year but watch out in 2006.

Chicago White Sox: this team could be an Apollo or a challenger, flourish or fail. I see fail. Frank thomas could come back and hit a million home runs, jose contraras could win 17 games, el duke could win 15, freddy garcia could pitch great. The only problem is it’s more likely they could loose just as many games and fail. Their manager (I know his name but can’t for the life of my spell it right now) is going to be under fire this year. If they win he’s a hero, when they fail he’ll be fired. Letting maglio ordonez go last year was smart, not trading him at the deadline was dumb. Taking a chance on orlando hernandez and jose contrars was smart, trading your future for freddy garcia was dumb. Paul konerko, scott pesdnic and carl evertt are all guys who’ve gotten it done in the past, the y could theoretically do it again, but its not likely. These are the same guys who own the bulls and look how that’s gone recently, it took an obscene amount of first round picks to turn things around. Joe crede should be fine. Juan urbe is OK. There are a few young kids around who should make things interesting at the least. If everything goes right for this team they will be dangerous, they’ll hit and pitch like crazy and shut down some good teams. Their only problem is that it’s not going to happen. Everything won’t go right, even if a few things go right, it won’t be enough. Another tough season in chi-town. If everything goes prefect, look for the twins to feel some pressure but still win in the end.

Detroit Tigers: hey look, day light. It’s out of the basement time for these motor city miracles. Expect improvement, but it may only be a flash in the pan. The white sox smart move was the tiger’s giant chunk of retardation. Magglio ordonez for 5 years? Are you that desperate? No one offered him more then a one year contract, so you step in and offer 5? There were many better free agents to throw money at this year them him. The thing is they’ve thrown enough money at borderline people that they may make a decent year out of it. Rondel white in right field, I-rod behind the plate, demiti young may even play himself on to another team. This team actually has a bullpen and that may bring some young talent later in the season in the form of good trades. Percival and urbina could be atractive to someone down the streach. They’ve done a good job at simply collecting tallent, they haven’t exactly given the mthe best contracts (bobby higgenson) but this is a start. There is help on the way. Cecil fielders’ (never thought you’d hear his name again) son prince is going to be in the line up before september and is going to mash. This kid can hit like a drunken Hispanic husband (sorry for the intentional racial sterio type). Jeremy bonderman will look good this year, he never should have been in the majors before now but they let him get his licks at the major league level rather then in the minors. This is the year it pays off. they could move into third if the white sox suffer a total collapse. they'll be fun, but its not really going anywhere.

Kansas City: hello consistent failure. For KC its not wait till next year, its wait until the team is sold. This management group has failed so many times its borderline criminal. How about a starting outfield of beltran, damon, and dye. How about joe randa still at third. How about a million other guys anywhere on the field other then what they have. This year is going to be ugly. Peter gammons likes to give them a lot of credit but I just don’t see it. A good young pitcher here, a good out fielder there, and a tradable commodity in the infield here… it doesn’t add up. This develop and trade philosophy isn’t working, and won’t until someone else is calling the shots. Signing mike sweeny was OK but you’re either rebuilding or not, you can’t hold on to one or two parts here and there while letting everything else go. They got nothing in return for beltran, tehan may be ok but won’t make up for anything and you should always be weary of a guy billy bean gave up on. See: carlos pena. Things won’t be any better until someone else is calling the shots. Zack grenkie will be fine, he’s got great stuff and is young. Expect KC to use him for what he’s worth and then trade him. Please don’t yell when it gets ugly here.

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Has anyone seen the new comedy central show “Con”? Fucking awesome, this guy lives a life most of us envy. And it’s so wrong. It sends a totally wrong message to so many people, but it’s fucking funny and crazy cool.

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