Baseball 2013, Part II

Baseball 2013, Part II by Joe Brackets:

The scary thing about the Tigers is that they might be even better this year.  Think about it.  They’ve got the most dangerous 3-4 combo in the game in Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, and this year Victor Martinez comes back to hit fifth.  And they’ve still got 35, as well.  Once again, this is Detroit’s division to lose.  The rest of the division is also better, though.  Cleveland is vastly improved and could be a sleeper.  And let’s not forget that the Indians’ new manager is two-time World Series winner Terry Francona.  I expect Kansas City to be much better, too.  The Royals are still probably a year or two away, but they could surprise.

Regardless, though, Detroit is far-and-away the class of the American League Central.  A return trip to the World Series is not out of the question.  Especially since they got swept last year.

1. Detroit Tigers: Where do I start about the Tigers?  How about Miguel Cabrera, arguably the best player in the game?  He changed positions last year, then went out and won the first Triple Crown since 1967, for which he was rightfully awarded the MVP.  Yeah, they’ve also got the best pitcher in the game in Verlander, who was the MVP in 2011.  If that’s not enough, throw in Prince Fielder.  And Victor Martinez.  And Omar Infante.  And Jhonny Peralta.  And Austin Jackson.  And Alex Avila.  Delmon Young wasn’t re-signed.  Instead they replaced him with Torii Hunter, who isn’t done yet and provides even more protection in the bottom-third of the order (he’ll probably hit either sixth or seventh).  The lineup is loaded from top to bottom, and it might not even be the most talented unit on the team.  Verlander anchors an outstanding rotation that’s so good Drew Smyly will likely start the season in the bullpen.  My only issue with it is that all five of them are right-handed.  If there’s any issue with the Tigers, it’s the bullpen.  After he imploded in the playoffs, they didn’t bring back Jose Valverde.  That leaves the closer’s role up for grabs.  I thought they’d be in the mix for Rafael Soriano, but he ended up in Washington instead.  The apparent favorite to land the closer job is rookie Bruce Rondon, but rookie closers are always risky propositions, especially for a good team.  My vote would be for lights-out Al Albuquerque.  Whoever ends up being the closer will define the other roles in that bullpen, which does have some good pieces in Joaquin Benoit, Phil Coke and Octavio Dotel.  Regardless, the Tigers are planning on playing deep into October again.  I know I said that last year, too, and they didn’t get their acts together until September.  But they ended up in the World Series anyway, so who am I to question how you get there as long as you do?
Projected Record: 100-62
Projected Lineup: Austin Jackson-CF, Omar Infante-2B, Miguel Cabrera-3B, Prince Fielder-1B, Victor Martinez-DH, Jhonny Peralta-SS, Torii Hunter-RF, Andy Dirks-LF, Alex Avila-C
Projected Rotation: Justin Verlander, Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello
Closer: Brandon Rondon

2. Cleveland Indians: Go ahead and accuse me of drinking the Kool-Aid, but I’m buying what the Cleveland Indians are selling.  I have them pegged as one of the most improved teams in baseball, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Terry Francona has them contending for a wild card.  The reason I like Cleveland is because the additions they made during free agency fit well with what they already had in place.  And they already had some really good pieces in Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley.  I started feeling them after the signings of Nick Swisher and Mark Reynolds and the Shin Soo-Choo for Drew Stubbs trade.  But what really put me on the Indians bandwagon was that they were somehow the ones who landed Michael Bourn.  How it took so long for him to sign is beyond me.  They brought in Mike Aviles, too, and he isn’t even projected to be a starter!  The Indians are going to have a solid lineup, and I like it that some of the parts are interchangable.  Swisher’s going to start at first, but can move into the outfield when Santana gets his half off-days.  And Reynolds is the projected DH, which means they don’t have to worry about his errors (just his strikeouts).  Although, they can use him at both corner infield spots, too.  Behind Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, the rotation is a little weak, which is a concern.  I’m also not sure how I feel about the bullpen other than Vinnie Pestano and closer Chris Perez, who had to miss the WBC because of injury.  But as we saw in Baltimore last year, a no-name bullpen can turn into a strength.  If it does, the Indians could stay in contention until the very end.
Projected Record: 88-74
Projected Lineup: Michael Bourn-CF, Asdrubal Cabrera-SS, Carlos Santana-C, Mark Reynolds-DH, Nick Swisher-1B, Michael Brantley-LF, Drew Stubbs-RF, Jason Kipnis-2B, Lonnie Chisenhall-3B
Projected Rotation: Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brett Myers, Carlos Carrasco, Scott Kazmir
Closer: Chris Perez

3. Kansas City Royals: The Royals have made it clear that they believe in themselves.  Why else would they have traded for James Shields?  I’m not saying this is going to be the year Kansas City becomes a contender.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if they hang around for a while and end up around .500, either.  If you’re bad long enough, you get enough high draft picks to build a team around.  That’s exactly what’s happened in Kansas City, and all those guys are coming up to the Majors now.  I’ll take Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas any day.  Those are great guys to build around.  They just need one or two more to really make some noise.  And the vastly-improved pitching staff is more than just Shields.  Last year’s No. 1 starter, Bruce Chen, is now fighting for the No. 5 job, which is a good thing.  I’m not saying Chen’s bad.  He’s just not a top-of-the-rotation starter.  But with Shields and Wade Davis being joined by former Oriole/Rockie Jeremy Guthrie and Ervin Santana, who was the victim of the Angels’ pitching depth, Kansas City’s rotation might actually be a strength this season.  They’re going to need to figure out the bullpen, though.  I have no idea who they plan on using as their closer, or in any other relief role really.  Tim Collins pitched for Team USA in the WBC, which marked the first time I’ve ever heard of him.  Which is more than I can say for the rest of the Royals bullpen.
Projected Record: 79-83
Projected Lineup: Lorenzo Cain-CF, Chris Getz-2B, Eric Hosmer-1B, Alex Gordon-LF, Billy Butler-DH, Mike Moustakas-3B, Jeff Francoeur-RF, Alcides Escobar-SS, Salvador Perez-C
Projected Rotation: James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, Wade Davis, Bruce Chen
Closer: Greg Holland

4. Chicago White Sox: I think the White Sox surprised everybody last season.  I certainly didn’t expect them to even sniff first place, let alone lead the division until the Tigers’ surge/their collapse in September.  And I think it’s safe to say they overachieved a little bit last season.  I like a lot of individual players on this team.  I just don’t think they have enough to challenge the Tigers again.  Adam Dunn had a tremendous comeback season after a historically bad 2011.  It starts with him and Paul Konerko in the middle of the lineup.  Alex Rios and Alejandro De Aza both played in the finals of the WBC, which should give them a boost going into the season.  Rios especially.  He was fantastic for Puerto Rico.  Left fielder Dayan Viciedo had a good year in 2012, but overall I don’t think the White Sox lineup is all that deep.  This team does have four very good starting pitchers, though, which might be the key to winning games.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of 2-0 and 3-2 scores coming out of Comiskey this season.  Chris Sale was an All-Star last season and is one of the better young pitchers in the game, and Jake Peavy finally appears to be back to the Jake Peavy of old, the one the White Sox thought they were getting from the Padres a couple years ago.  Addison Reed went 29-for-33 in save opportunities last year, but the best arm in the bullpen belongs to left-handed setup guy Matt Thornton.  This is virtually the same team the White Sox had last season, when they led the division for five months and finished second.  With one big exception.  A.J. Pierzynski is gone.  I’m not sure anyone realizes how important he was to that team.  I’m not saying the White Sox won’t do what they did last season again.  But on paper, they haven’t gotten better while the rest of the divison has.
Projected Record: 76-86
Projected Lineup: Gordon Beckham-2B, Alexei Ramirez-SS, Paul Konerko-1B, Adam Dunn-DH, Alex Rios-RF, Dayan Viciedo-LF, Jeff Keppinger-3B, Tyler Flowers-C, Alejandro De Aza-CF
Projected Rotation: Chris Sale, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, John Danks, Jose Quintana
Closer: Addison Reed

5. Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are two of the best, classiest players in baseball.  They’re the faces of the Minnesota Twins.  And the franchise couldn’t find two better players to represent them.  The Twins have some major problems, though, not the least of which being that outside of Mauer and Morneau, they don’t really have any stars on the roster.  Let alone superstars.  Yet the Twins had more players on WBC rosters than any other team, which I found incredibly interesting.  Anyway, Minnesota finished in last place last season, and I don’t see things getting much better this year.  They had two more stars-in-the-making in center fielders Denard Span and Ben Revere, but they traded both of them in the offseason.  The whole idea was to add more pitching, but their best pitcher, Scott Diamond, will start the season on the DL, and the rest of the rotation consists of other teams’ castoffs (their top three starters are Vance Worley, Mike Pelfrey and Kevin Correia).  As for the bullpen, that’s also a mess.  Closer Glen Perkins isn’t that bad, but save opportunities will likely be few and far between.  It’s been a long couple of seasons in Minnesota since they opened that beautiful new ballpark.  They’re in store for another one in 2013.  If the Twins are going to contend for anything this season, it’ll be contending with the Astros for the worst record in the American League.
Projected Record: 64-98
Projected Lineup: Aaron Hicks-CF, Jamey Carroll-2B, Joe Mauer-C, Justin Morneau-1B, Josh Willingham-LF, Chris Parmelee-RF, Ryan Doumit-DH, Trevor Plouffe-3B, Pedro Florimon-SS
Projected Rotation (on Opening Day): Vance Worley, Mike Pelfrey, Kevin Correia, Liam Hendriks, Samuel Deduno (the winning pitcher in the WBC Championship Game)
Closer: Glen Perkins