AL Central Thread

[satjay]

With pitchers and catchers this week, it that time again for the best thread in the sports section, the AL Central thread (sorry a bit biased)

Are the Tigers just going to run away with it, will the Twins come back to being the "pesky" Twins. Do the White sox have the stuff to come back, Do the Indians move up this year and is this they year the Royals really make the move!

 

[Jimbo]

Yeah !!!!

Spring is right around the corner !!!!

 

[riffjim4069]

I agree the AL Central Thread is the cream-of-the-crop thread in the Sports Forum. It's still a bit early for me to speculate on the upcoming season (give me another 2-3 weeks) but it promises to be another banter year (friendly AL Central Sports banter that is).

Go Tigers!

 

[Jimbo]

Way too soon to make predictions ...

Tigers looked GREAT going into ST in '08 as well and we know what happened.

 

[riffjim4069]

There's really only one major question for Tiger fans going into the 2012 season...will the Prince Fielder acquisition be worth the massive expense? In other words, will we come to worship Fielder's strong hindquarters or will we hate the site of his big lard arse. We shall see...however, all the pieces appear to be in place to compete for the World Series.

Also, will the Twins come back from their debacle of a season last year?

 

[Jimbo]

There's really only one major question for Tiger fans going into the 2012 season...will the Prince Fielder acquisition be worth the massive expense? In other words, will we come to worship Fielder's strong hindquarters or will we hate the site of his big lard arse. We shall see...however, all the pieces appear to be in place to compete for the World Series.

Also, will the Twins come back from their debacle of a season last year?

Fielder joined the club ....
No wonder Cabrera looks SLIM this year ...

 

[satjay]

With fielder I look at the signing for impact now as we will see his numbers go down toward the second half of his contract, mr. Illitch knows he over spent but he wants that world series now.

Though talking about contracts, I watched moneyball today

 

[riffjim4069]

Fielder joined the club ....
No wonder Cabrera looks SLIM this year ...

It would be wise for Ilitch to replace the Little Ceasars Pizza bar with Slim Fast shakes this season.

Also, our defense certainly won't improve this year...just hope the starting pitching performs brilliantly.

 

[Jimbo]

Beers at The Joe went up to 7-8 dollars when Mr. I signed Sergei Federov to that at the time huge contract, 27M, wonder how much they go up this year at Comerica ?

 

[Go Sox!!]

Lot's of concerns for the White Sox. Let's start by hoping Dunn wins comeback player of the year.

 

[riffjim4069]

Lot's of concerns for the White Sox. Let's start by hoping Dunn wins comeback player of the year.

I felt bad for Adam Dunn. He really is a good guy and I liked him when he played for the Nationals. Well, let's just say he has no where to go but up next season.

 

[Go Sox!!]

I felt bad for Adam Dunn. He really is a good guy and I liked him when he played for the Nationals. Well, let's just say he has no where to go but up next season.

Agreed. I am optimistic and really think and hope he will turn it around this year. However, I do not think it will be close to enough to compete in the AL Central.

 

[HD MM]

It's the Tiger's division to lose. The best the Indians could hope for is the increased amount of playoff teams to go into effect this year.

The Tribe should be sound defensively, in the bullpen and have an adequate starting staff if healthy. Concerns lie in the offense.

 

[salsadancer7]

AL Central Links: Castellanos, Royals, Sabathia: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

 

[riffjim4069]

Offhand, I'm kinda concerned about Cabrerra at 3B. Did the Tigers get rid of Inge?

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

 

[salsadancer7]

Offhand, I'm kinda concerned about Cabrerra at 3B. Did the Tigers get rid of Inge?

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

He was not nick-named "Roberto Duran" as a Marlin for nothing!

 

[Jimbo]

Offhand, I'm kinda concerned about Cabrerra at 3B. Did the Tigers get rid of Inge?

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

Inge is still there, vying for the 2b job.
If he hits, he'll make it at 2b in my opinion.

I'm not too concerned about Cabrera ... yet.
Lets see how he does, I'm sure EVERYTIME he makes a mistake, people will be all over him, but I'm gonna let him play and see what happens.

 

[Jimbo]

Just thinking earlier, Should the Tigers had put out the money required to get Reyes instead of Fielder ?

He would have been the Lead Off guy they desperately need and Jackson would have went to the 9 spot in the line up.

Only issue I would have had with Reyes would have been injuries.

 

[king3pj]

Yes! I didn't realize this thread was back up yet. Except for a couple frequent posters like HD MM this thread is dominated by Tigers just like the actual division will be(I hope).

I really like the Fielder deal. You're right, Reyes has been injury prone in the past. You wouldn't think it by looking at him but Prince has held up well. I heard on 97.1 the ticket in Detroit that he was the only player in the MLB to play in all 162 games last season. Part of that is obviously due to how much more they pinch hit in the NL because he probably had 1 at bat with no time in the field in some of those games. It shows durability that he was even available for all of them though.

 

[riffjim4069]

As I recall, we had three active Twins posters but they didn't have much to say last year. The Twins should be healthy and competitive this season.