Sports Lynx Blog

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Well now that we have the Ny Yankees winning the AL East, it is time to turn our attention to the south in the AL standings and preview the AL Central. This is the division directly below the AL East in the standings for those of you who think that baseball begins and ends north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of Pittsburgh.

This division is very interesting as we see the Cleveland Indians returning as the defending champions. I don’t see Cleveland repeating the feat in 2008 for many reasons. Let’s take a look below and see.

Predicted order of finish:

1. Detroit Tigers - projected record- 94-68

Detroit’s line-up for my money is the best in baseball top to bottom. This team has Maglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrerra, Guillen (now at 1B), Edgar Reteria at SS..seriously this is one scary line-up. I would check Carmona’s underwear pre-game if I was Eric Wedge because he may not like staring down the barrel at this group. The forgotten aspect of the Tigers is the continued development of starting pitchers Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander. This 1-2 punch has the potential (meaning they haven’t done it yet) to be as good as any 1-2 punch in baseball. I think the combination of offense, good starting pitching and Jim Leyland running the ship will propel the Motor City Kitties to the AL Central title in 2008.

2. Cleveland Indians- projected record- 89-73

I don’t feel the love this year for the Tribe. Oh sure Sabathia and Carmona is a great 1-2 punch but you have to wonder just when Sabathia will have one burger too many and become Bartolo Colon. Sure Cleveland has the AL’s best catcher in Victor Martinez (a close 2nd in baseball to LA’s Russell Martin who can do a bit more overall, the guy stole 20+ bases) and a good DH in Travis Hafner. However, I am not in love with Cleveland’s line-up as they have some guys who strike-out a bit too much and seem to wait for the 3-run HR to score their runs. The rotation is a bit top heavy for my liking. I think Cleveland will be a good club all year long, just not good enough.

3. Chicago White Sox- projected record- 82-80

I don’t have a ton to say about this team as I believe they are average all the way around. Sure the ChiSox have a few nice pieces here and there but I don’t love this team and I believe that Ozzie has worn thin on the players and this town. Kenny Williams is a good GM, perhaps he pulls a mid-season trade or two if they are in the race and the magic of 2005 happens again but I don’t see it. Detroit is too good for Chicago and Cleveland is a lot better as well. This pitching staff seems to still be paying for the run they made in 2005 when Ozzie pitched guys complete games in the playoffs. Take a look at the staff’s trends and you’ll see a steady downward line after 2005.

4. Kansas City Royals- projected record- 77-85

The Royals have a lot of young players that I like a lot. As usual, they don’t have enough pitching to be taken seriously but I also don’t see this club losing 100 games as has been their annual ritual for what seems like a decade or more. I do think KC has enough young talent and energy to keep themselves from finishing last in the Central this season.

5. Minnesota Twins-projected record- 70-92

How can you like what this team has done over the last year? They trade Matt Garza, a potential top of the rotation starting pitcher, to Tampa for Young. Young is a talented outfielder with power to all fields and he’s only 25 years old, however, you don’t trade potentially great starting pitchers for this; do you? The Twins then turnaround and trade arguably baseball’s best starting pitcher to the Mets for a bunch of guys with “potential”, there is that word again. What do I like about the Twins, well, I do like the catcher Morneau and a couple of their position players but I don’t see how this team has enough starting pitching to compete. I think the players will be down this year as the realize management has given zero chance of winning by trading Santana and Garza, thus I am going out on a limb here and predicting an unusual last place finish for the Twins.

Check back on Monday as I preview the AL West and pick my American League playoffs.