AL Central Off-Season Analysis

This week, I will analyze the off-seasons of the teams in the AL Central.

White Sox:

Players gained:
Toby Hall
Luis Terrero
John Danks
Nick Masset
Junior Spivey
Darin Erstad
John Lujan
Rusty Tucker
Bucky Jacobsen
Gavin Floyd
Gio Gonzalez
Mike MacDougal
Andrew Sisco
Jacob Rasner
David Aardsma
Carlos Vasquez
Ross Gload

Players lost:
Dustin Hermanson
Jeff Nelson
David Riske
Cliff Polite
Freddy Garcia
Brandon McCarthy
Neal Cotts
David Paisano
Eduardo Sierra
Chris Stewart

Evaluation:
They have gained plenty of decent young people but lost some very good players.

Grade: B-


Cleveland Indians:

Players gained:
Joe Borowski
David Dellucci
Aaron Fultz
Roberto Hernandez
Mike Rose
Keith Foulke
Trot Nixon
Jason Michaels
Keith Ginter
Luis Rivas
Jeff Harris
Mike Rose
Josh Barfield

Players lost:
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Andrew Brown
Aaron Boone
Danny Graves
Ramon Vazquez

Evaluation:
The Indians have not lost much at all but have gained plenty.

Grade: A+


Detroit Tigers:

Players gained:
Jose Mesa
Gary Sheffield
Yorman Bazardo
Joey Eischen
Timo Perez
Edward Campusano

Players lost:
Dustin Mohr
Troy Percival
Matt Stairs
Jamie Walker
Dmitri Young
Alexis Gomez
Humberto Sanchez
Kevin Whelan
Anthony Claggett

Evaluation:
The Tigers didn’t give up any starters but they got one of the best players in the league in Gary Sheffield.

Grade: A-


Minnesota Twins:

Players gained:
Carmen Cali
Randy Choate
Jeff Cirillo
Ken Harvey
Mike Venafro
Sidney Ponson
Alejandro Machado

Players lost:
Willie Eyre
Brad Radke
Mike Smith

Evaluation:
They haven’t gained anything big and they lost a big part of their rotation, especially with the fact that Francisco Liriano is out for the year with an injury.

Grade: D+


Kansas City Royals:

Players gained:
Dewon Brazelton
Octavio Dotel
Wayne Franklin
Gil Meche
Jason LaRue
Russ Haltiwanger
Alex S. Gonzalez
Max Pierre
David Riske
Brandon Duckworth
Zach Day
Joakim Soria
Rich Lewis
Brian Bannister
Ken Ray

Players lost:
Steve Andrade
Paul Bako
Ken Harvey
Doug Mientkiewicz
Mark Redman
Jeff Keppinger
Andrew Sisco
Ambiorix Burgos
Runelvys Hernandez
Donnie Murphy

Evaluation:
The Royals haven’t lost much but haven’t gained much either. They have gained more than they lost, though.

Grade: B+

Off-Season Rankings

1. Cleveland Indians
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Minnesota Twins

Projected Standings

1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Kansas City Royals

Come back next week for an analysis of the off-seasons of the teams in the AL East.