2009 AL Central Preview

We're not going to go in-depth with our predictions for the remainder of baseball's divisions, but here we go.

AL CENTRAL

White Sox
Twins
Indians
Tigers
Royals

The defending division champs White Sox should take this division again in a close race with the Twins. The White Sox combination of rotation and bullpen will be the difference in the AL Central. Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd are solid at the front end, while recent injury prone starters, Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon take up the back end. Colon, in particular, has looked good this spring and might be close to his old form. Bobby Jenks is a dynamite closer and the White Sox have solid arms throughout the pen. The offense has plenty of power, though that could also be looked at as being one dimensional.

A lot of talking heads expect the Indians to be back were they were in 2007, when they came within one win of going to the World Series, but we don't see it. Travis Hafner is still not swinging the bat with authority, closer Kerry Wood is always a sneeze away from an arm injury, and the rotation, outside of Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona, does nothing for us.

We really like the young arms in the Twins rotation - Scott Baker (DL), Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, and Glen Perkins are all quality arms. Joe Nathan is as reliable a closer as there is in baseball, but the rest of the Twins pen isn't scintillating. More importantly, the Twins don't have a lot of pop in their lineup, especially if Joe Mauer is hurting. The Twins really need Delmon Young to have a break out season.

Some people think the Tigers underachieved last season. We think they were just overrated and not that good. There's not much to make us feel different about the team this year. Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are the the team's closers. Joel Zumaya is hurt again. Jeremy Bonderman is still hurt. Carlos Guillen is playing another position. Dontrelle Willis is battling an anxiety disorder. On the up side, Miguel Cabrera will mash and local boy Rick Porcello should be fun to watch.

The only thing keeping the Tigers from the basement is the Royals. Yes, they have some quality young players- Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Joakim Soria; but pitching wins and with Kyle Davies, Sidney Ponson, and Horacio Ramirez in the rotation, KC is NOT going to win.