Polaroid
I need a tittle
- Since
- Jan 21, 2010
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- 2,890
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Kansas City Royals
Billy Butler, David DeJesus and Zack Greinke that represents three positives for the Royals organization. Sadly, that's the only three positives in what must be the worst run franchise in baseball it's the club where mediocre players go to die. In the middle of last season, they traded for shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt who wound up having the lowest OBP of anyone in the major leagues in 2009. In the offseason they signed free agent catcher Jason Kendall who had the lowest SLG of anyone in the major leagues in 2009. And they've got Scott Podsednik leading off and playing center field. Oh dear.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers are another example of a team that have the money but don't know how to spend it. After paying $140 million to shoot for the moon in 2008 and ending up 14 games under .500, it has been frantic work ever since to stabilize the ship. Despite shedding payroll last year and with pre-season expectations that they would be involved in a fight for 4th place in the division, they ended up exceeding all expectations as they led the AL Central for 146 days before they fell apart and blew a three games lead with four games left. At least they managed to set a MLB record for that. But as we enter the 2010 season, there is still the big hangover from 2008 despite a healthy $130 million allocated to payroll, 50% of that goes to Jeremy Bonderman, Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Nate Robertson, and Dontrelle Willis. And one of their few shining stars Miguel Cabrera is still in alcohol abuse treatment.
Cleveland Indians
When you normally think of a team rebuilding, you generally think of a team that has done nothing but rebuild for the past ten years or just do a firesale on all their assets for little return. The Indians look like a model of how to rebuild a team the right way. Last year they lost Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, the year before they lost CC Sabathia so it was no surprise to see them only winning 65 games in 2009. Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore (assuming the elbow surgery which blighted his 2009 season was a success) have power, speed and can get on base. And if Travis Hafner is fully over his last two years of injuries then he can be the RBI machine he has the potential to be.
The Indians shouldn't be competitive in 2010 (although nowhere near as bad as 2009) but they have enough talent and payroll potential to be a force in the AL Central in the next few years. But in a division where the winner is expected to finish at .500 with a little upside they can create a definite stir in the division.
Chicago White Sox
In one of the more mediocre divisions in baseball, the White Sox have by far the best rotation (and one of the better ones in MLB) topped with 2007 Cy Young winner Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle. The White Sox finished 12th in the AL for runs scored in 2009 but having Gordon Beckham playing for a full year, after being switched from third base to second base for 2010, will be a bonus. They also did a good job in ridding the team of Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Scott Podsednik. But not such a good job in replacing them with Juan Pierre and Mark Teahen. One step forward, two steps back.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins have increased their payroll ~50% from $65 million in 2009 to $95 million this year (which doesn't include the Mauer extension which hits the books in 2011). Minnesota have been known as a player development team but now moving to a new stadium with increased revenue projections, they're a player development team with money which is a lethal combination in the AL Central. Their rotation is nothing special, which will be a disadvantage should they make the playoffs, but it is more than adequate to get them through the regular season. The loss of their closer Joe Nathan for 12+ months to Tommy John surgery is obviously a concern but relievers are cheap a closer by committee isn't really a bad thing.
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