AL Central 2010

satjay

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Jun 30, 2005
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Ok in the past we have had AL central thoughts for the upcoming season and during the season.

Tigers:

I had questions at the end of the season after the lost the one game playoff last season and had some more questions as the off season went on.

My concern is the pitching, the fourth and fifth starters Bonderman, Robertson, Willis or Galaraga. For what its worth Willis has been ok this spring lets see what the regular season brings. Looks like Galaraga is not getting that one season magic from a few seasons ago. Bonderman has struggled this spring training.

From media reports this looks like the Tigers possible lineup

1. Austin Jackson-Rookie in CF, taking over for granderson. He is a rookie, has some tools but is he ready for prime time. Hope so

2. Johnny Damon-One year deal, lets see what he brings

3. Magglio Ordonez-First half Magglio or Second half Magglio

4. Miguel Cabrera- Had a nice season dispite some personal issues that may have played a role down the stretch, has said in inteviews he focused on himself and family and baseball.

5. Carlos Guillen-Can he stay healthy, looks to be the DH

6. Scott Sizemore-Wont field like Palcado, but its his job now. Hopefully he has some hitting in him

7. Brandon Inge-Had a great first half, second half drop off, learned later he was playing on hurt knees, lets hope he can hit 20 or so, drive in around 80 and hit 250 or better

8. Gerald Laird-Nice arm as catcher, but we need a little bit more bat from him

9. Adam Everett-not much here, we shall see

Would not surprise me if they are in the hunt last week of the season or 10 games out
 
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I was wondering when this thread would appear :)

Thank You Satjay ....

I'll give you my thoughts on your questions. (remember, it's still very early)

Austin Jackson ....
If he doesn't let the bright lights effect him, he'll do fine.
He needs to NOT listen to the fans, most think he'll fail seeing he's taking over for Granderson, I really like Curtis, but he's moved on now.
As for Austin, he's a very good Center fielder, I think he'll grow into Comerica just fine.
Hitting, we'll see if he can hit enough to be productive in the majors.
Personally, I would have hit him 9th till he gets comfortable.

He could be a very nice surprise .....

Johnny Damon.....
He has a lot of energy and a lot of positive experience, will help Jackson.
Hopefully Damon's D won't become an issue.
He has a weak arm, but there have been other weak arm outfielders as well.
Q. is, does he play sound D and can we count on him to make the plays in the outfield, weak arm aside, how is his overall D ?
We'll see.

Magglio Ordonez
Never can find that sqiggly line on the keyboard ....
So far this spring, he's been a positive, he's 9 - 20 doesn't account for much seeing he hasn't had many plate appearances.
I look for him to rebound and have a good year ...... remember, he's NOT a HR hitter, but if he's putting the ball in play and hitting to the opposite field he'll do nicely.

Miguel Cabrera,
We'll see, he's our best hitter and a beast when in the zone. Can carry the team for a month if need be.
He's the AL's Pujols
He keeps focused the team will go far.

Carlos Guillen.
Professional hitter
If he stays healthy and accepts his DH role, he could have a very good year. If he doesn't accept his DH role, he could cause issues as much as I hate to say it.
If he comes out hitting, I could very easily see him being moved up to the 3rd spot in the line up.

Scott Sizemore,
IF he can get settled in at 2nd base without too many comparisons to Palonco, he'll be OK.
I see him as a OK player all around, nothing flashy.
I don't know enough about him to know if he's a better hitter or fielder.
IF he doesn't make the adjustment early (by the end of May) Santiago will be playing 2b at least I hope so.
Again, another rookie with a lot of pressure on him.
Personally, I have a lot more confidence in Austin, so far.

Brandon Inge
I look for Brandon to have a bounce back year, hit .280+ and about 20 HR's.
He's changed his hitting around (last year actually) and it worked last year till his knees too thier toll on him.

Gerald Laird
Good catcher, handles the staff very well, been working on changing his batting approach, very disappointed in his hitting last year.
Hopefully he'll hit .260 and play great D.

Adam Everett
Solid defensive shortstop, needs to bond with Sizemore quickly to help Scott as much as anything.
Not much of a hitter, thats even a compliment for him, he shared the position with Santiago last year and may again this year if Sizemore comes thru.

Pitching .... That is where the games will be decided
The Defense should be solid.

Mr. Justin Verlander is a STUD, as good as there is, potential Cy.

Rick Porcello
In his second year, came up with a HUGE year his rookie year.
You would expect there to be more pressure in your first year.
As it turns out, he's being counted on this year.

I see a lot of the same type of stuff I saw in JV his first few years.
The future is VERY BRIGHT for this young hurler.

Max Sherzer,
I really don't know much about him, pitched well in Arizona .... then why did they trade him ? I thought Edwin Jackson should have stayed, but then the Granderson trade would not have gone down.
For that matter I would not have traded Granderson either.

After that as far as the Starters go ............. it's unknown, if I were to guess if they started the season Monday,
I would think that Willis would be given a chance to start, know one knows how long that should last, I thought it went on WAY to long last year and eventually cost us a Pennant outright, look how many games we was given to straighten himself out when you have NO IDEA if he would walk the league that day ..... lost the division by ONE game, Willis was in for 2 months of unknown pitching. Most pitchers you have an idea with going out there.

Give Willis starts early and see what happens, if not good, take him out before it gets to late.

# 5 Bonderman ? Robertson ? Minor ?

I still don't understand why they can't stay with a 4 man rotation thru the year, they did it for a hundred year and it was OK.

Bullpen : I like Valverde in the Closer role, (no Rodney/Jones, thats a +)
Looks like Ryan Perry will be the set up guy, unless Zumaya becomes reliable, Zoom, Zoom is showing a bit more control this year.... they need to turn OFF the MPH gun on the scoreboard. Zumaya they say is throwing more multiple pitches, thats a good thing.

I think the rest are bit players in the pen, unless I missed someone, I'm going by memory, not a list.

Role players, bench......

Don Kelly has REALLY impressed me this year so far, hitting well, all over the field and playing all the infield positions, look for him to be the Super Sub this year, unless they send him down due to lack of playing time.
Remember Ryan Rayburn also is in position for that role, he's also one of the reserve OF people.
Clete Thomas, I don't see him sticking unfotunately, he has a very good arm, inconsistent at the plate though.

I see a lot of roster maneuvering this year, I will see alot of these guys at AAA Toledo unless they ship them back to AA Erie.

I see the Tigers to be IN IT thru most of the year with the typical slumps and hot streaks.
Were still not that solid offensively, Dombrowski may pull a trade to pick up a vet bat to help out .... we can hope.
Even with the .500 offense the .700 Starting pitching will lead the way.
I think Shurzer will get it going and if so they will have a solid 1,2,3....
If they can get to Perry/Zumaya 8th and then to Valverde I think they will be much improved ....
I would like to see Leyland let the guys that are pitching well into the 7th, continue going till it's needed instead of pulling the guy because it's the 8th inning.
The pitch count should be OFF of Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry this year.

I see the Tigers winning or being in the thick of it all year.
Remeber, this is the AL Central anything can happen......
I would have thought that the Twins would be the other top team to keep an eye on as well as the Wh Sox, but hope that the Wh Sox struggle, they have the pitching to be ther in the end as well.
The Twins I expect to make a move to sign John Smoltz for thier Closer for the year with Joe Nathan out.


OK, Your turn Paul ..... :)
 
Cleveland Indians:

Best Farm team in the league. Where superstars are developed and then shipped off for pennies on the dollar. :(

You'll have to get in line behind the Pirates and the Marlins though. The only difference is that as least the Marlins get some major league production out of them before they outgrow their basement payroll.


Sandra
 
I'm looking forward to watching the Tribe this year. I don't really expect to contend, but the Central is weak and maybe some of our pitchers will surprise......

It will be nice to become acquainted with all the young players. If history repeats itself, we'll be serious contenders in 3-4 years and then trade everyone away for a new batch of prospects in 5-6 years....
 
I'm looking forward to watching the Tribe this year. I don't really expect to contend, but the Central is weak and maybe some of our pitchers will surprise......

It will be nice to become acquainted with all the young players. If history repeats itself, we'll be serious contenders in 3-4 years and then trade everyone away for a new batch of prospects in 5-6 years....

Yeah. On the bright side, Sandy Alomar Jr. was interviewed recently and he said it's absolutely scary how much "young" talent we have on this team. Since his playing days were over, he's coached on several very notable teams throughout the league and he's saying this Indians squad is the best (youth-wise) that he's ever seen.

If these boys can develop, we may be able to make another run in another year or so. I am just still upset that we blew up our team after falling 1 stinking game short of the '07 World Series. Yeah the following season was a letdown, but who could blame them after suffering that mental collapse the year previous?

To me they gave up on that core way too soon.
 
The Twins have done a great job over the years staying in the hunt, especially when you think they dont have a shot (example last season :()
 
Yeah. On the bright side, Sandy Alomar Jr. was interviewed recently and he said it's absolutely scary how much "young" talent we have on this team. Since his playing days were over, he's coached on several very notable teams throughout the league and he's saying this Indians squad is the best (youth-wise) that he's ever seen.

If these boys can develop, we may be able to make another run in another year or so. I am just still upset that we blew up our team after falling 1 stinking game short of the '07 World Series. Yeah the following season was a letdown, but who could blame them after suffering that mental collapse the year previous?

To me they gave up on that core way too soon.

I agree.
In ownership's defense, they REALLY got burned with the contracts of Hafner, Westbrook, and (to a lesser extent) Carmona. It still doesn't excuse shipping Lee and Martinez away when they still controlled them for the 2010 season.
 
The Twins have done a great job over the years staying in the hunt, especially when you think they dont have a shot (example last season :()

The Twins are Relentless, you can NEVER count them out, I've been watching them come back when you think they are out for the last 10 years.
 
The race for the fifth starter for the Tigers gets a bit less crowded

Tigers option pitcher Armando Galarraga to Toledo | detnews.com | The Detroit News

This doesn't surprise me at all....

He's looks .... less than stellar this spring, much like last year.
Theres still a log jam at the number 4 and 5 spots ... if you give Bonderman or Willis # 4 and the other 5, you still have Robertson and Minor now that Gallaraga is gone.
Also remember there is a very good possibility that someone from Toledo is brought up as others start to struggle.

What about Bonine, he looks very good this spring, could he move into the # 4 spot and have Willis/ Bonderman looking in from the outside ?
 
Although anything is possible in the AL Central, sadly I see the Tigers finishing in 3rd behind the Twins and White Sox.

Still...Go Tigers!!!

I think the Tigers will Win it (division) if they get any hitting ....
And second otherwise.

Wh Sox have improved thier pitching with Peavy, but what about the Offense and the D ?
 
I think the Tigers will Win it (division) if they get any hitting ....
And second otherwise.

Wh Sox have improved thier pitching with Peavy, but what about the Offense and the D ?
Hitting is a big IF...so is consistent pitching. OK, perhaps the Tigers may finish ahead of the Sox, but I just don't see them beating-out the Twinkies without some...well, without something else they haven't shown me. Anyway, I hope you're right...
 
Hitting is a big IF...so is consistent pitching. OK, perhaps the Tigers may finish ahead of the Sox, but I just don't see them beating-out the Twinkies without some...well, without something else they haven't shown me. Anyway, I hope you're right...

I can see them going out and getting a bat at the trade deadline, provided they are in contention.

fwiw, I can see the Red Sox getting A. Gonzalas at the trade deadline if not sooner.
Tigers don't need a 1B anyways or have the money to land the Big guy either.

Fwiw, HITTING has been the BIG issue with the Tigers since after the '06 season, ya never know what to expect ....

If Ordonez hits his normal yearly numbers they may be fine.
I think he's the one that will give them the extra punch, if it's there this year.
Otherwise, I can see him being sent packing after the year, if not sooner.
 
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