The Workermonkey

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/06/2006 04:52:00 PM

The only certainty in this division is that the royals will finish last. The white sox, indians and twins could all very well finish in any order of 1, 2, 3. the tigers are getting left out but will win a few more games this year. White sox get a little credit for winning the world series last year and still trying to upgrade. This division is going to be based on injuries and which team addresses its biggest needs in the best manner. If the twins decide to hit and add a big bat, that line up looks much much better. If the indians add a front line starter, there is no reason they can’t win the whole thing. If the white sox loose a few pitchers or thome’s back flares up, it might be a long summer in the windy city.

Chicago White Sox; these guys will live and die with their starting pitching. Each one of these guys can give them 200 innings and they have brandon mccarthy waiting. The bullpen is going to be shaky and there is no relying on bobby jenks to be the closer, thus its even more important the starters go 6 or 7 innings every night.. Jenks showed up to camp 30 pounds over weight this year. Damn. This is basically the same team that won it all last year and they added thome and vazquez. Thome needs to stay in the line up and this will be a big test for their medical staff which has done very well keeping all the pitchers on the mound every fifth day. Locking up contreras was smart, but not for that much money. They are going to miss rowand in center but they have a replacement body in brian anderson. Podsednik isn’t going to be nearly as useful this year because he hurt his groin. His worth to a team is purely in his speed, he can steal bases and run down fly balls that most people can’t, but a groin injury is something he’ll never fully recover from and it will slow him down. When a speed guy looses a step, it’s over. Watch for his stolen base numbers to plummet. They are still the champs until proven different, but they win the division because they are the most balanced team here, only worry if the bullpen starts to get used a lot.

Minnesota Twins; pitching pitching, pitching. Santana and a bunch of other guys who happen to be pretty good. This team has the pitching to go all the way and a few great pitching prospects coming up like francisco loranio. He’ll be in the rotation before the allstar break. The bullpen is solid too. What the twins are going to have trouble with is scoring runs to support the pitching staff. I like the trade for luis castillo, he’ll plug up second instead of the 25 other guys who did last year. Justin morneau and joe mauer are their keys, they both need to hit because this team doesn’t have anyone else who can. Morneau missed a bunch of time last year due to freak injuries (like getting hit in the head with a ball) and hopefully can stay on the field. Tony batista should be replaced as soon as possible at third. The outfield is alright, they can play good defense and hit at a little better then league average. Tori hunter might loose a step because of his ankel injury last year but that only means a few less sportcenter highlights. This roster has depth, but not enough ceiling, they need a big bat in the worst way, which might be available to them during the season. One thing that is going to be different this year is I think we’ll see more trades, there are going to be a few more teams who don’t have a chance or are out of it early. The twins might be one of them if they really can’t hit.

Cleveland Indians; what was supposed to be a 3 year rebuilding plan is now in year 5. last year was very good for the indians. They missed the playoffs by, what, like 1 game? They’ve locked up their core players with great contracts through their most productive years. Victor martinez is a MVP canidate, hafner, sizemore and blake can all hit. Andy marte is for some reason starting the season in AAA instead of pissing on aaron boone. Peralta is just dandy at short and they still have young guys coming up. The pitching is going to be suspect this year. Their bullpen is fine and bob wickman never seems to go away. I’d have moved the indians up to second if sabathia hadn’t gotten hurt already. They are going to miss kevin millwood, who just so happened to lead the AL in ERA last year, (anyone know that?) because paul byrd isn’t a replacement. CC sabathia needed to step up and cliff lee needs to show he can do it in the big leagues. A late april pitching trade would do this club wonders. Once again they need pitching. Gee this sounds like a broken record, everyone needs pitching! I’m not sure they can get the caliber pitcher they need but a front line starter would put them into the playoffs. If it doesn’t happen this year, watch out for next year because these guys are going to be household names by then. I want zito in NY but I think he’d fit great in cleveland next year. Stay tuned.

Detroit Tigers; Who decided to resurect jim leyland? How many virgins had to be sacrificed? Does anyone really think he’s still capable of handeling a team? The tigers will be better this year, not much, but still there is going to be improvement. Jeremy bonderman has had his time to develop in the bigleagues, its time to put up the numbers he should be. Of course, he’s going to get screwed by a bullpen who can’t stop anyone and an offense that will help him only every other start. What the hell was kenny rodgers thinking? He could have made his money somehwere else and just kicked back, or maybe he’s just going to show up and collect a paycheck from detroit. That would be smart. The tigers have a few good pitching prospects and they’ve taken the approach that they should take their hits at the major league level instead of developing in the minors. Sure, maybe it works, we’ll find out this year with bonderman. A full season of placido polanco will be nice, and who knows, maybe magglio ordonez will show us that the tigers weren’t insane for giving him one of the worst contracts in the history of sports. Dmitri young should be the same and carlos guillen might be a nice piece of trade bait down the line. Can you name their starting catcher? Maybe you forgot that pudge rodriguez still calls detroit home. Who cares, hes no good anymore. It’ll be a long one in detroit but they are going to get better next year and just be a pain in the ass for everyone else.

Kansas City Royals: I’m going to take the Baseball Prospectus approach to the royals this year. If the oganization doesn’t care about the team, why should I? there are so many problems with this team its not worth mentioning any of them. It all starts at the top with their owner who would rather line his pockets then put a team on the field. Until ownership changes in KC it will never get better because they don’t care. It has nothing to do with money or a small market, they’ve made treible decision after terrible decision and I feel sorry for anyone who can still call themselves a royals fan. Not only are they going to finish last this year, but the are going to finish last next year and the year after that. Even the tigers have managed to go from top to bottom and even halfway through a rebuilding cycle while the royals have done nothing. Nothing. this was a quote from BP's Joe Sheehan about the royals;

" I apologize to Royals fans who would like to read analysis of their pitching staff, maybe see some nice words for Ambiorix Burgos and Andy Sisco. There’s no point; this organization would gladly swap out a 26-year-old outfielder with some upside who was clearly good enough to start for them in exchange for a 34-year-old backup second baseman. Why should I show more interest in their season than they do?"

The Workermonkey

Thursday, April 06, 2006

AL Central

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 4/06/2006 04:52:00 PM

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