AL Central Preview

We have now moved to the AL Central, a division that I feel will be up and down, with three teams battling all year.  Let's get it.

1. Minnesota Twins- KEY ACQ: 2B Orlando Hudson, SS JJ Hardy I LIKE: Francisco Lirano- Everything that I am hearing about him has been fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a huge year like he did a couple years back.  I HATE: Closer by Committee- Honestly, there isn't a guy on the Twins I hate but I do not like Gardy's idea of going with CbC because it never seems to work, trust me Ned Yost tried a couple times leading to epic fails.  PREDICTION: The Twins will win because I think they have a good nucleus of good players and they have enough starting pitching to win the average AL Central.  I do not expect the Twins to make any noise in the postseason unless they get a closer.

2. Chicago White Sox- KEY ACQ: DH Andruw Jones 3B Mark Teahan I LIKE: Gordon Beckham- Most people would know that Becks is a big time prospect and with his feet offically wet in the big leagues could lead to a big year. I HATE: Jake Peavy- I think this was a horrible trade to begin with, injury prone plus NL to AL is not a positive sign, and to add he pitched in a very friendly pitchers' park.  PREDICTION: If Peavy doesn't disappoint, the Sox have four go-to-guys that can win games and that will propel them in some ways. But I do not feel that their offense has enough to do it.

3. Detroit Tigers- KEY ACQ: OF Johnny Damon OF Austin Jackson RP Jose Valverde I LIKE: Rick Porcello- I believe he is 21, and last year I saw a ton of promise from him, I expect him to continue to grow and be in the convo for Cy Young.  I HATE: Valverde/Damon- I think this was horrible offseason for the Tigers, I think both of their big guns will do little for them... Damon was awesome at a left-handed friendly Yankee Stadium and Valverde never pitched in the American League, which scares me.  PREDICTION: They could contend for the AL Central title, but I think relying on Dontrelle Willis and Max Schrezer to carry your staff at certain points worries me. 

4. Kansas City Royals- KEY ACQ: C Jason Kendall (yikes!) OF Scot Posednik OF Rick Ankiel  SS Yuniesky Betancourt  I LIKE: Billy Butler- He seems to be coming into his own as a hitter and I like the chances of him having a great season. I HATE: Trey Hillman batting Kendall second- Are you kidding me?! I would be so disappointed if I was a Royal fan.  That is atrocious and a running joke for the first two months. PREDICTION: Zach Greinke will gain some victories for this team and they have a promising young staff that will probably earn some wins as well.  It will all depend if the Royals are able to hit the baseball. Also watch for Joakim Soria to probably be on the move.

5. Cleveland Indians- KEY ACQ: OF LeBron James... oops actually they acquired practically no one.   I LIKE: Fausto Carmona- Everything that I have read out of Spring Training says that he will have a big year for the Indians like he did 2008. I think he will be a small glimmer for the Indians this year.  I HATE: Travis Hafner- He hasn't done anything in about two years and now just seems like a DH who probably will not withstand the entire season. PREDICTION: It could be an ugly one for the Indians comparable to the early Major League team and I could see Grady Sizemore on the move come July.

-Charlie.

Once Again Kenny Williams Plays With Fire

You have to think that there are alot of Chicago White Sox fans scratching their heads right now after the two mid-season moves that General Manager Kenny Williams has made... First he brings in Jake Peavy who might not play this year and has the pitching version of Matt Holiday written all over him. Now he brings in Alex Rios from the Blue Jays who recently couldnt hit sand if he fell off a camel.

The other thing that is puzzling about the Rios waiver claim is the fact the White Sox have a loaded outfield as it is and they have Jim Thome arguably the league's best Designated Hitters. So you are meaning to tell me that Rios will be a twelve million dollar a year bench player for Manager Ozzie Guillien. I guess he could play center but that means the Sox lose their leadoff hitter in Scott Podsendik.

The one thing that is saving Williams' ass right now is that Rios is only twenty-eight years of age and that means he still hasnt hit his peak years. In addition, they have a spot in right field open next year likely with Jermaine Dye becoming a free agent. Which would lead to Williams pitching to the owners that he basically signed Rios to replace Dye two months early.

In some aspects, this deal really does make sense but to me maybe my Blue Jay fan Sepi could help me out here Alex Rios seems like a Bill Hall-type player where he had one amazing year and cannot get himself out of that deep black hole (Rios is way better than Hall by the way). Who knows maybe the taste of Chicago will revive his spiraling career.

-Charlie.

Good Luck White Sox...

I would like to start off saying that I warned White Sox's fans that this deal would be the thing people would remember about this team for the next five years and also spell the end for Kenny Williams as General Manager.

The fact that you might not even get to see Jake Peavy pitch this season should be disappointing to the fans of the team and because its an ankle injury, they have no worries about his arm. In addition, you have to be concerned that he is going to the National League to the American League where Matt Holiday did a great job of proving how bad that can be. I feel like the same could happen with Peavy. Holiday went from Coors Field (which I think I could hit a homer out of) to McAfee Coliseum (where they would better off using aluminum bats. Isnt this a complete replica with Peavy except the opposite?


I just think this has all the making of being a bad deal with the general idea of trading away four pitching prospects. Granted there are some that argue trading pitching is the way to go because more can happened to a pitcher instead of a powerful bat. Then again, they can turn out to be John Smoltz or the many others that have been dealt in prospect deals. Clayton Richard seems to have all the makings of being a stud pitcher for awhile and honestly I think San Diego is handling this the right way.

They realize that the Padres may not make it back to the playoffs in two years but they kept around the hometown kid Adrian Gonzalez and they have a couple young budding superstars on their team. With thirteen rookies on a twenty-five man roster, you cant expect much (minus against the Brewers) but the future sure looks bright.

-Charlie.

Mark Buerhle is the Man.

The Chicago White Sox are battling for the American League Central division right now and one guy that is definitely helping out the cause is Mark Buerhle. Despite giving up four runs in the seven innings to the Minnesota Twins, Buerhle did something that no one had ever done before. He retired forty-five straight batters before Alexi Casilla broke it up with a walk. Then Denard Span hit a single shortly thereafter.

I think what Mark Buerhle did was stellar because the two guys behind him in consecutive outs have been both relievers (one of them being teammate Bobby Jenks). For a starting pitcher to first throw a perfect game is something that we only see only once every five years if we are lucky and then to see him come out the next game to get a perfect game into the latter part of the innings is phenomenal.

It does suck that Buerhle did get rocked in the seventh inning and he seemed very upset that they were not able to get the win obviously. Now he is 11-4 this season which I think you have to put him in the conversation for American League Cy Young. Obviously if he stays in the AL, Toronto's Roy Halladay will be right there along with Boston's Josh Beckett. Buerhle will need to keep pitching strong if the Sox wants to get into the playoffs again this year.

-Charlie.

Peavy Stays in San Diego

The White Sox were ready to make a big splash in May by dealing their top two pitching prospects and two other players for San Diego pitcher Jake Peavy. In my opinion, Chicago fans should be breathing a sigh of relief that Peavy isnt a White Sox.

First off, Jake Peavy has a desire to play in the National League and to me that shows signs of being scared of playing in the much tougher American League. The other thing that would drive home my point about Peavy is his ERA is a run higher when he is away from the ultimate pitcher-friendly ballpark of Petco Park. Peavy did win the 2007 Cy Young and has proved to be very good at times but he hasnt done anything in the postseason plus only two good years. I dont understand why everyone sees Peavy as a "Sabathia-like" savior of a baseball team. I find it hard to believe that he is the type player that can carry a team. The only reason why Peavy would help Sox is because they play in an inept AL Central which like I said before will only take about 85 wins to get it done.

Second, I never like a deal that sends their two top pitching prospects in a deal. In my opinion, thats like screwing your franchise over for the next five years. Just because the Sox would have had a guy like Peavy for years to come still is only one out of five pitchers going on the mound for you. The other worry there is will Peavy stay healthy? He has already had some elbow issues and if Peavy were to go down in addition to these two guys had prospered in San Diego. The fans of the White Sox would have revolted.

Does this open the door for the Chicago Cubs who desperately want Peavy? No, I think Peavy doesnt want to pitch in a media-heavy atmosphere. I hope the Brewers arent apart of the equation either because it sounds to me that the Padres would want Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel if the deal would get done. Also he wants to say as close to California and I will put my money on Houston if the Astros were in the mix in July. Thats the only one in the NL not in the West that is remotely close to California.

-Charlie.

MLB Hot Stove Heatin' Up

As free agency has begun (only 10 minutes ago) and I am sure I will have a couple articles tomorrow on things that have went down if they are important enough or about the Brewers (CC? God I hope so.) Anyways a couple deals went down today....

Nick Swisher of the White Sox was traded to the Yankees for Wilson Betemit and a couple minor league pitchers. In my opinion, this was a pretty good trade for the Yanks as they got a guy they can put in the infield and outfield and despite his poor numbers last year, I think he can still be a good six or seven hitter in the Yanks lineup depending on whose on the team next year. In addition, this probably meant the Mike Cameron deals that were trying to happened fell through or the Crew asked for too much. This is a much better deal for the Yankees because they didnt give away Melky Cabrera or Ian Kennedy (two guys the Crew wanted) and I really dont know what the Sox were thinking in this one.

The other deal involved the other team in the Windy City as the Cubs trade for Kevin Gregg of the Marlins for a young minor leaguer. They also said doing this will mean that Kerry Wood will not be brought back in an attempt to sign Ryan Dempster. To me this is a head-scratcher because I feel that Wood is more valuable to the team than Dempster because first off, Dempster had one good year in his contract year nonetheless and closers are usually so hit/miss when they are brought in. Granted I think Carlos Marmol will be better than last year which is scary but I would not put all my chips on Dempster.

Happy Free Agency

-Charlie.