Y2K 2007 Season Preview: AL Central

What up, y'all? The season is rapidly approaching, and as such, Y2K wanted to give you a heads-up as to what's going on in the big, bad baseball world. There's a lot of teams out there, and a lot of ground to cover. But there are exciting, Y2K-approved storylines everywhere; there are heroes to madly root for, and villains to throw bottle caps at.

We'll take you through each division over the next several weeks. Previously: the AL West, NL West. Today? The Big Midwest. In expected order of finish ...

The Cleveland Injuns
2006 record: 78-84
Peace: 3B Aaron Boone (thank god), 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
What's up?: RF Trot Nixon, 2B Josh Barfield, RHP Roberto Hernandez

Half-full: You've probably heard about the Indians' bizarre 2006 season; they scored far more runs than they allowed, which usually (always?) results in a winning record. Instead, an abysmal record in one-run games, a devastatingly bad bullpen and some woeful defense left them in a huge hole. Well, they're actually really good. They're going to run a double platoon in the outfield corners (Trot and Casey Blake in right, Jason Michaels and Dave Dellucci in left), which is really cool. You don't need to be an optimist to think Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez are all going to have MVP-type years again, nor does it take a leap of faith to think C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook and young gun Jeremy Sowers are solid rotation anchors. But you have to hope shortstop Jhonny Peralta will have more of an '05 year (.292/.366/.520) than an '06 one (.257/.323/.385), you have to think 3B Andy Marte is ready to go for the big time, and you have to think the additions of Hernandez and Joe Borowski will calm down the young arms in the pen. I'm perfectly bullish on the first two, but with the relievers, only time will tell. Still, there are holes all around the division, and this potentially looks like the team with the least of them.

Half-empty: One is an accident, two is a coincidence, three is a trend. The bullpen/one-run thing has been devastatingly bad for two years on the trot now, and it's not like the guys they brought in to batten down the hatches are waterproof. Keith Foulke was supposed to be one of them, but he retired before Spring Training even started, which seems like something that happened in a "Major League" movie, though I certainly don't remember it. The idea is that relivers Fausto Carmona and Fernando Cabrera have much better stuff than they showed last year, and their struggles resulted from being jerked around between roles and the minors. I happen to think that's true, but if they revert back to the 1.45 WHIP/5.50 ERA-type of player, you can't be surprised. Peralta seems to have serious defensive problems, and unless they can fix them with positioning, he could be out of a job.

Guide to hating: The hating on C.C. Sabathia thing for being fat never worked for me. Here are his innings pitched for the last three years - 188, 197, 193. The guy isn't spending tons of time on the DL. He's just spending tons of time in the Akron-area Dairy Queens. There's a difference, people; you should learn to live with it. We ought to give Lister some love for his boy Ryan Garko, who's scheduled to start at first base and could avoid being a complete disaster there if he keeps his head in the game (as he really didn't do at times in Buffalo, according to my sources). Vic Martinez is developing a nasty whining habit, too, which will put him under closer scrutiny. All told, though, this is a collection of solid, hard-working types (Sizemore, Hafner, Trot, the new 2B Barfield) who just aren't all that dislikable.

Additional reading: Let's Go Tribe

The Detroit Tiggers
2006 record: 95-67
Peace: LHP Jamie Walker
What's up?: RF/DH Gary Sheffield

Half-full: Easy -- if everything happens exactly the same way as it did last year, it's curtains. Carlos Guillen and Curtis Granderson are great bets to keep producing, although the fact that Guillen had to moved over to first quite a bit last year is sort of disturbing. If Jim Leyland coaxes a top-drawer effort out of Sheffield and gets the guys who produced last year to keep it up, the Tigers will be looking fantastic. You can expect most of the young pitchers to be a little worn out from last year's playoff run, but any regression there ought to be balanced out from improvement, given how young (some of them) are. More of about the same from Verlander and Bonderman and a healthy return from Mike Maroth would be entirely satisfactory, and there's no telling how long the Gambler will be able to keep it up. Are you going to bet against him? Not a good idea, chief.

Half-empty: I think there's trouble on the way. Think about it this way -- Pudge is on the fade. Sean Casey has been fading for a long time now, and he's their starting 1B (instead of Chris Shelton, whose white-hot start to 2006 helped get Detroit out of the gate). Placido Polanco's power is disappearing (.295/.329/.364 last year). Then there's the guys who played just as well as you could have wanted them to last year, namely Maggs Ordonez (24 HR, 104 RBI in a full season) and Craig Monroe (28 HR and more big ones in the playoffs despite the .301 OBP). One or all of these guys is going to give something back this year. Moreover, if Sheffield was still with the Yankees, we'd be screaming about how awful his shoulder was, and how he was going to be a wreck. Well, I don't feel any differently now that he's switched teams. Best of luck with that, boys.

Guide to hating: See the preceding paragraph. Change of setting or not, the Iron Sheff will not get along well in the Motor City, mark my words. I know he and the manager have a previous relationship to work with, but that was before Gary starting mixing the strong stuff with the crazy pills and downing them both with a full pitcher of spite. Leyland's going to be chain-smoking Newports by May Day. I'm eagerly awaiting the first Mitch Albom column on him, which might break the world record for Most Prissy Passive-Aggressive Digs at a Player's Character by a couple dozen. And he thought he was safe getting out of New York and away from our delightful media. No sir. Also, Robertson's red hair was one of the most annoying things I saw during the World Series. Mixed with those stupid Edgar Davids goggles, he looked like an incompetent Irish assassin. Change it up, boyo.

Additional reading: TigerBlog

The Chicago Ozzies
2006 record: 90-72
Peace: RHP Freddy Garcia, RHP Brandon McCarthy, 1B Ross Gload
What's up?: RHP Gavin Floyd (ugh), CF Darin Erstad (double ugh)

Half-full: Hmm. They got an MVP year out of Jermaine Dye, who, judging entirely from his appearance on MTV's Cribs, is a pretty decent guy. Love the way he keeps jerseys of as many players as he's been teammates with as possible. The Dye-Thome-Konerko troika in the middle of the lineup was certainly dangerous, and the dudes put runs on the board. So did 3B Joe Crede (30 HR, 94 RBI, nasty defense), which gives the team a good nucleus to work off of. The rotation obviously went in the tank as compared with 2005, including spectacular regression from Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Jose Contreras. Naturally, GM Kenny Williams dealt away Garcia, the started who threw 216 innings and held onto most of his value. With Javy Vazquez and (probably) knuckleballer Charlie Haeger filling out the rotation, you've got a group that you can certainly PICTURE doing well. How much exactly that's worth is a different question.

Half-empty: His problems were off the nagging injury variety, and given his age and uncertain pedigree, Contreras could be in trouble. He's not striking out guys with that splitter anymore, and his fastball's always been a little straight. But the real problem is in the outfield, which looks like a total mess. As much as Dye will be an asset, he's not going to repeat his performance. Then you've got center, where second-year player and complete disappointment Brian Anderson will have to fend off the animated corpse of Erstad, whose PECOTA line of .242/.297/.324 looks like something out of "The Hills Have Eyes 2." But he's got pluck! In left, they're going to work with some mix of young Ryan Sweeney (ain't ready) and Scott "Jets" Podsednik, who ain't got it no' more. Neither can play defense. The bench took a hit when Gload was sent to Kansas City. There just doesn't seem like enough to get it done.

Guide to hating: An awful, awful team. Where should we start? There's the GM Williams, who went out of his way to spit in Frank Thomas' face as the best player in franchise history was walking out with a championship ring on his hand. That was poor enough that it had me grabbing my ice picks. Then, there's the weak, lazy attitude copped by Podsednik, Buehrle, Bobby Jenks and all the other members of the championship club last year once things started to slip. "Our way was good enough last year, wasn't it?" and that sort of thing. I hate to break it to you, fellas, but it's a cruel world out here, and the games keep on coming. You either want to play or you don't. Elsewhere, I'm not sure what Tadahito Iguchi's up to, but it's definitely something. I'll be sure to let Y2K readers know if I find out anything else. In the pen, you've got Royals refugees Andy Sisco and Mike McDougal, each of whom is apparently poison, according to guys in K.C. On the other hand, the manager and the catcher are a pair of stand-up guys.

Additional reading: Pro Wrestling Illustrated

The Minnesota Twinkies
2006 record: 96-66
Peace: LHP Francisco Liriano (for the year), RHP Brad Radke
What's up?: RHP Ramon Ortiz

Half-full: They've got the best pitcher in baseball, the best catcher in baseball, the AL MVP, and probably the best closer in baseball. Torii Hunter is good for a couple of different things. They have Mike Cuddayer (.284/.362/.504), who finally made his breakthough at age 27. Then ... there's some other stuff, young pitchers like Boof Bonser and Matt Garza and punchless infielders like Luis Castillo, Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto. They've got a dome. They've got, I don't know, a lot of Lutheran fans.

Half-empty: They don't have nearly enough to get it done this year. The future of the rotation is bright as hell, with Bonser, Garza, Matt Perkins and Kevin Slowey all candidates to join Liriano once he gets back (Santana's long-term future, needless to say, is still up in the air. Hello, New York!). But honestly, when your starting DH is Rondell White or a guy whose OBP was .279 last season, you're in deep shit. I'm not sold on Cuddayer whatsover, and after Santana, it's entirely unclear about what you're going to get. Signing Ramon Ortiz is a waste of everyone's time, especially mine for having to type about it. If he's not out of the rotation by May, pack it up.

Guide to hating: The thought of Santana signing with the Yankees in two years is enough to make me sick. Seriously, I just had to get up and do a lap around the apartment to calm myself down. Whoosh. Okay, as long as he's knocking around the rest of the AL, he's the bomb, but there's a definite risk involved in liking this guy too much. Joe Mauer is a Minneapolis version of David Wright, with the added bonus of being a hometown guy. He dates models, kisses babies, lives a wholesome and rewarding existence. I'm ambivalent, although he's a hell of a guy to build a team around. Rondell White has always annoyed the hell out of me, even though he was only briefly with the Yanks. Oh, and the manager is one of these old-school twits that needs to be taken behind the shack and beaten like a rug.

Additional reading: Aaron Gleeman

The Kansas City Royals*
* "Blazing Saddles" joke sidestepped by pure force of will
2006 record: 62-100
Peace: 1B Doug Mientkiewicz, RHP Ambiorix Burgos
What's up?: RHP Gil Meche, RHP Octavio Dotel, C Jason LaRue , RHP Brian Bannister

Half-full: The offense is sort of coming around. Mark Teahen served up a full plate of "Moneyball" satisfaction at 3B, and he'll be moved to the outfield to make room for rookie Alex Gordon, who might put up even better numbers. Outfielder David DeJesus is useful in his own way (.295/.364/.446), and the 1B/DH combo of Mike Sweeney and Ryan Shealy is likely to be serviceable at the very least. Depending on where they play DeJesus, Emil Brown and Reggie Sanders both are perfect fits for a crappy, going-nowhere team. In the future, when they're actually looking to compete, they'll have to find replacements for the sinkholes they have at SS (Angel Berroa) and CF (Joey Gathright), but for now, there's at least something going on here.

Half-empty: The problem with the Royals has been, for quite some time, their pitching. They gave up six runs a game in 2006. That is, to put it mildly, insane. (No offense to Zack Greinke). The Gil Meche signing was supposed to be the key factor in fixing this; the odds of this actually happening are somewhat low. Odalis Perez will be a decent No. 2 starter, and after that, the rotation reads like that of a mediocre AAA club, Brian Bannister included. Octavio Dotel could be the solution in the closer slot, but he hasn't been any good since 2004, and he's coming off a nasty injury and a stint with the Yankees, which usually only serves to kill off pitchers not named Mariano. No. 1 overall draft pick Luke Hochevar is coming, but nobody knows how fast, considering his first pro experience was 15 innings with A-ball Burlington at the end of last year's holdout. The staff will be better than last year's by default, but that's not saying much.

Guide to hating: Have pity, won't you?

Additional reading: Rob and Rany

Predictions: Indians 97-65, Tigers 92-70, White Sox 86-76, Twins 81-81, Royals 69-93