Chicago Whitesox
Best Players - Paul Konerko, Alexi Ramirez, Alex Rios, John Danks, Gavin Flyod, Mark Buehrle
The Story- Well, to pick a team's best players and make sure I don't miss anyone I go to fangraphs and sort the pitchers and hitters by WAR. It didn't surprise me that the CHWS did not have a 5 WAR player, but it did surprise me that they had 6 above 3.5. They will return much of the same cast, but have added Adam Dunn. Dunn is an awful defender, but I think he is overlooked at times as a bat. He looks like a great 1B/DH addition for this team, especially playing at the hitter friendly "Cell". Jake Peavy seemed to be well on his way to returning to form, but recently experienced shoulder problems and will be out until at least April. Carlos Quentin is on breakout watch -- again. If he doesn't recapture his magic from a few years ago, I'm going to call that great season (08?) a fluke. All-in-all, this team is built to compete in the AL Central.
Cleveland Indians
Best Players - Shin Soo Choo, Fausto Carmona, Carlos Santana
Not a lot looking bright for the Tribe this year, or in the future. Grady Siezmore can no longer be counted on. The rotation is lackluster without Lee and Sabathia. The only positives I see on this team are Shin Soo Choo, one of the most underrated players in baseball; and Carlos Santana, Buster Posey's lesser known AL twin. For an organization that has been described as 'model' -- I have even heard that the Cardinals model themselves after Cleveland to some extent -- they have not produced much in terms of on-field success in the past few years. I don't think anyone is picking them to change that trend anytime soon. The Indians will battle with the Royals for the cellar of this division.
Detroit Tigers
Best Players - Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera
The Tigers seem to be one of the most old school franchises around in terms of organizational philosophy. Maybe I think that because Jim Leyland looks like a cowboy, or they throw money at aging free agents, or because they employ a trial by fire approach with their better prospects. Which ever it is, it seems to work well enough for the team to hang around every year, but rarely are they ever the best team in the league. This year they will be counting on Miguel Cabrera to sober up and deliver another outstanding performance. They will also need Vmart to have a decent year behind the plate, they gave him a lot of money to do so. Verlander is a horse, and Scherzer looks good too. Like the White Sox, this team looks good enough to compete in their division, but not quite as good as the best teams in the AL.
Kansas City Royals
Best Players - this line intentionally left blank
The Royals will not compete this year. Their farm system is a scouting director's wet dream, but who knows if their GM will be able to translate that into wins at a major league level. From the outside, Dayton Moore's ability to run the franchise seems suspect based on FA moves (over paid vets hired to fill holes on a team that won't compete during the life of their contracts) year after year. For the first time in a long while though, it seems the organization has a plan -- wait out the spectacular farm system in hopes of competing in a few years. But, it isn't as simple as waiting for the stars to align (all the prospects coming up and peaking at the same time). Complimentary free agent moves (and trades) are necessary for even the most stout farm systems. I am going to hold off judgement for the team's future until I see some of those moves come to fruition over the next two-ish years. Good luck KC.
Minnesota Twins
Best Players - Joe Mauer, Francisco Liriano, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan
The Twins have a reputation of being a scouting and player development juggernaut capable of fielding competitive teams on a modest budget. Last year, though the Twins spent ~$97 million on team payroll (Cot's number), ushering them into a new financial bracket with the likes of the Cardinals, Braves, and Giants. Conventional wisdom says that a perennial competitor with a payroll of ~$60 million should become a league favorite if able to bump the payroll by $40 mil or so. But, I disagree with that logic to an extent. Teams with a modest budget are forced to make the more conservative decisions when star players become free agents; but, given that extra money, a couple of those stars can fit within the budget (Joe Mauer, and Justin Morneau). Now the team is just a couple of injuries away from being a $60m dollar team again, and so far this spring both Morneau and Mauer have dealt with nagging injuries (post concussion and knee, respectively) which can be traced back well beyond this year. Ultimately, the Twins have increased their payroll by more than 60%, but I don't see them being any better than the teams they ran out a few years ago. The good news for Minnesota fans, those teams were still competitive within their division year after year.
No comments:
Post a Comment