MLB Preview - AL Central Division

As promised, the AL Central projection is here, and this division is subject to a lot of speculation, as it will be the best division (and thereby the toughest) in all of baseball.

1. Cleveland Indians - I'm still not sure who will win this division, so I'm going to go with the better closer, because Todd Jones sucks and Joe Borowski is three years younger; the rotation is arguably the best in the league, as Sabathia and Carmona are both legitimate aces; the only knock on the Tribe this year will be their defense, but their offense should easily make up for that; the only way they could get any better would be to trade for a big bat in leftfield or trading Ryan Garko for a defensive shortstop, allowing Jhonny Peralta to do what Carlos Guillen has done but much earlier in his career; still if Peralta can get his defensive act together this year, the team could be even more solid, and I think they'll end up being the best team in baseball

2. Detroit Tigers - the Motor City Kitties could end up supplanting the Indians on this list, but at the moment even the trade for D-Train and Miguel Cabrera isn't helping their cause enough; that seems harsh, but with Joel Zumaya's continued problems with forearm health and Todd Jones getting older, they are vulnerable to losing leads late in the game, even if they run out to the kind of lead of which their offense is capable; they will truly have a Murderer's Row, and will probably end up with the most potent offense in the league, possibly in history, but it may not be enough to even win the division; their rotation will be the key, as some of their pitchers (Bonderman, Willis, Robertson, and even Kenny Rogers at times) have been inconsistent over time, but they should easily make the playoffs, and then all bets are off

3. Chicago White Sox - despite trading for up-and-coming outfielder Carlos Quentin, clubhouse clown Nick Swisher, and the ever-consistent Orlando Cabrera, the lack of adequate starting pitching will be the death-knell for the ChiSox this year; Buehrle is a solid ace, but after that the rotation gets pretty weak pretty quickly; the bullpen should be a strength, but getting to a point where that will matter will require a lot of production from the lineup, which will probably be fairly inconsistent; I expect Paul Konerko to have a great year and for Josh Fields to supplant Joe Crede at third base, but it wont' be enough to get tot he playoffs

4. Minnesota Twins - while trading for Delmon Young was a great move, the Twins didn't do much else to help their team this offseason; yes, they got value for Johan Santana, but the players they received were far below what they could have received from either the Yankees or Red Sox in exchange for the lefty; Francisco Liriano's recovery from surgery is imminent, but he could return either as an ace or a fifth starter; additionally, Adam Everett and Mike Lamb didn't exactly light Houston on fire over the last few years, and I doubt they will in Minnesota either; the bullpen is solid with Nathan, Neshek, and Crain, but with no real DH except Craig Monroe, and an understaffed rotation, they're going to have to wait until the prospects they got from the Mets get up to the Show

5. Kansas City Royals - now, the Royals are not as bad as they were several years ago, and they are on the upswing, but they're in this division, so they don't stand a chance; if they were in the AL West, NL West, or NL Central, they'd probably be in it for the playoffs, but they're very young and have a lot of holes in their lineup; it doesn't help that they lost their most experienced voice in the clubhouse in Mike Sweeney; their outfield is fairly weak, their infield is either too old or inconsistent at this point to be effective, and their rotation, while vastly improved over the last year, is weak after Meche and Bannister; if Luke Hochevar is ahead of schedule and can assume a role as the ace-in-waiting, they may have a chance next season, but I really just don't see it happening this year

Again, much of this is subject to change, particularly at the top, where injuries will have a huge impact on the final standings. Next on the list: AL West