No Central Perks

Dave Paisley

Following hot on the heels of Michael Cox's AL Central preview, here's my take on that hotbed of mediocrity. Oops, looks like I tipped my hand a bit there. Never mind, it's a quick read, and unlike the NL Central, there are a couple of worthwhile teams in here. Of course, they're more than balanced out by our first two contenders, headed up by last year's doormat, the Minnesota Twins. Here's what they did over the winter.

Minnesota Twins	2000 record: 69-93
Signed	Lost
C Tom Prince (signed as free agent)	1B Ron Coomer (signed with Cubs)
Re-signed OF Matt Lawton to one-year contract
Re-signed P Bob Wells to one-year contract

Now losing Ron Coomer (sorry, that should be 1999 All-Star Ron Coomer) wouldn't be much of a blow to most teams, but to the Twins it's about half of their offense. Signing catcher Tom Prince hardly makes up for it. Re-signing Mat Lawton was a good idea (the half of the offense they didn't lose) and keeping Bob Wells was probably better than the alternatives. Hope runs rampant this time of year, and I'm sure that's happening in the twin cities, especially with the Twins 12-9 spring training record so far. That optimism should last till about April 21. There's no doubt the club has a couple of decent pitchers in Eric Milton and Brad Radke, but there's precious little else, so look for the Twins to be right around the 70 win mark again.

Moving up (but it's only ever so slightly) we bump into the Kansas City Royals.

Kansas City Royals	2000 record: 77-85
Traded For	Traded Away
P Roberto Hernandez (from Tampa Bay)	OF Johnny Damon (to Oakland)
C A.J. Hinch (from Oakland)	IF Mark Ellis (to Oakland)
IF Angel Berroa (from Oakland)
Signed	Lost
P Doug Henry (signed as free agent)	C Jorge Fabregas (signed with Anaheim)
Re-signed 1B David McCarty to two-year contract	P Ricky Bottalico (signed with Philadelphia)
Re-signed 1B Mike Sweeney to two-year contract

A once mighty franchise on the skids, there are no signs of a turnaround. Forced to trade away Johnny Damon for fear of losing him to free agency, the Royals actually ended up worse off, paying a bunch of money to an aging closer they don't need. On the other hand they "lost" Ricky Bottalico, so Roberto Hernandez is actually a big step up, even though, as I just mentioned, a quality closer should have been about #10 on the Royals shopping list.

There's just nothing about the Royals to suspect that they have the foggiest of playoff hopes this year. A run at .500 may be possible, but that's about the maximum upside I see. I fully expect them to scrap it out with the Twins for the division cellar.

Next up are the Detroit Tigers.

Detroit Tigers	2000 record: 79-83
Traded For	Traded Away
OF Roger Cedeno, C Mitch Meluskey, P Chris Holt from Houston	C Brad Ausmus, P Doug Brocail, P Nelson Cruz
LHP Matt Perisho from Texas	P's Kevin Mobley and Brandon Villafuerte
Signed	Lost
C Scott Servais (signed as free agent)	INF Gregg Jefferies (retired)
Re-signed C.J. Nitkowski to one-year contract	OF Juan Gonzalez (signed with Cleveland)
Re-signed INF Shane Halter to one-year contract	P Hideo Nomo (option declined)
Re-signed P Danny Patterson to one-year contract
Re-signed P Steve Sparks to one-year contract

The Tigers managed a pretty decent comeback after an awful start, so one would think that with a decent bit of luck they'd be able to surge over .500. Losing Juan Gonzalez would appear on the surface to be a bit of a blow, but to be honest, they got very little out of him last year except for a lot of whingeing and crying, so overall I expect losing him to be a bonus (more on him later when we get to his new club...) The deal with the Astros was quite sweet, getting three pretty decent players without giving up much at all except the veteran bat of Brad Ausmus. Perisho and Holt should easily make up for the loss of the unpredictable Hideo Nomo. Overall, the Tigers should be able to crank it up a bit, but I doubt if they can seriously challenge the Indians and White Sox. Pencil them in for mid-80s in wins.

Next up -- the Indians.

Cleveland Indians	2000 record: 90-72
Traded For	Traded Away
C Eddie Taubensee from Cincinnati	P's Jim Brower and Robert Pugmire
Signed	Lost
OF Ellis Burks (signed as free agent)	1B David Segui (signed with Baltimore)
OF Juan Gonzalez (signed as free agent)	C Sandy Alomar Jr. (signed with White Sox)
OF Kenny Lofton (option picked up)	OF Manny Ramirez (signed with Boston)
P Paul Shuey (option picked up)	P Jason Bere (signed with Cubs)
Re-signed P Steve Karsay to one-year contract	P Chris Haney (signed with Texas)

The big switch for the Indians is, of course, replacing Manny Ramirez with Juan Gonzalez. It's a step in the wrong direction both age and talent-wise, so that's one strike. Losing David Segui and Sandy Alomar aren't strikes at all, but losing Jason Bere might be. The Indians aren't so pitching rich they can afford to let serviceable starters go lightly. An outfield of Ellis Burks, Kenny Lofton and Juan Gonzalez should work out reasonably well, though -- if they can stay healthy. The odds on them all making it through a month together are pretty slim, I'd say. But the Tribe still have Jim Thome, Roberto Alomar, Omar Vizquel and Travis Fryman. And Eddie Taubensee will be a step up in the catching department. Chuck Finley and Bartolo Colon should work out well in the rotation, with Dave Burba behind them, but it's a bit of a crapshoot after that -- with the emphasis on the crap. I think the Indians will miss Ramirez more than they thought, and with their fragile hitters, they could have a hard time reaching 90 wins.

Which leaves only last year's AL win leaders, the White Sox...

Chicago White Sox	2000 record: 95-67
Traded For	Traded Away
P Gary Glover from Toronto	P Scott Eyre
C Miguel Olivo from Oakland	P Chad Bradford
OF Julio Ramirez from Florida	OF Jeff Abbott
SS Royce Clayton from Texas	P's Aaron Myette and Brian Schmack
P's David Wells and Matt DeWitt from Toronto	P's Mike Sirotka and Kevin Beirne, OF Brian Simmons and minor-league pitcher Mike Williams
Signed	Lost
C Sandy Alomar Jr. (signed as free agent)	C Charles Johnson (signed with Florida)
Re-signed 1B Paul Konerko to two-year contract	INF Craig Wilson (released)
Re-signed DH Harold Baines
Re-signed P Cal Eldred
Re-signed P James Baldwin to one-year contract
Re-signed SS Jose Valentin to three-year contract

The Sox were the busiest team in the division during the off-season, managing to trade two injured pitchers and one healthy one for David Wells and a minor leaguer. It appears that the deal has ended up as pitchers Mike Sirotka and Kevin Beirne and outfielder Brian Simmons for David Wells. Not a bad deal for the White Sox as Sirotka won't pitch this year. Not that they planned it that way. No, of course not. Unfortunately, the Sox also managed to make some odd deals. They picked up catcher Sandy Alomar for no good reason, and they also picked up shortstop Royce Clayton despite just having signed the scatter-armed Jose Valentin to a three year deal. Odds are Valentin will move to third, though.

It's tough to predict how the White Sox will do because last year they rode a ton of runs to a huge first half, but were barely better than .500 the second half. Throw in injuries to just about every starting pitcher except Jim Parque, and there's a lot of doubt that they can repeat last year's feat. I don't expect them to, maybe ending the year with wins in the mid to high 80s.

Overall, it looks to me like the Indians will regain their crown, albeit in a tight race, with the rest of the pack in their usual order.

about the author

Dave Paisley just spent the last week and a half traipsing to and from England, where he got to watch a whole bunch of cricket. Why not commiserate with him about airline food, lack of baseball and maybe ask him exactly how that cricket game works at drdjp@strikethree.com.