2008 AL Central Catch-All Thread

[Milkman delivers]

With all of these injuries to other teams, we can really make a statement with this series against the Twins. It's starting to look like there are only two other teams that can take this division, the Indians and the Twins. The Indians' chances are fading quickly, and we can really put the Twins in a bad spot this weekend.

[scenario]

Even with this news, I can't help but feel the Indians still pose a huge threat to make a run.

 

I don't think the Tribe provides a serious threat. They look like the 2006 version rather than the 2007 team. The fact is that they were banking on several players to reproduce the career years they had in '07 and it hasn't happened.

 

The 2006 hitting version of Jhonny Peralta has returned and he sucks as a SS. Asdrubal Cabrera is proving 2007 was a flash in the pan. Travis Hafner is having trouble covering the fastball. Their cleanup hitter, Vic Martinez, has ZERO homeruns. Franklin Gutierrez is proving to be less of an offensive threat than Ryan Sweeney. Carmona is walking more people than he's striking out. Andy Marte is a bust. Their bullpen sucks. And their offense is making ours look really good.

 

Frankly, I'm more worried about the Twins than the Indians. Carlos Gomez is better than advertised. They have the best defensive outfield in the American League. Their young starters are stepping up and they've got a very good bullpen. Mauer and Morneau are having good seasons. And their SS-2B situation has been much better than anyone expected. I don't think there is any doubt at this point that the Twins are the better team.

 

Who would have thunk it at the beginning of the year?

Edited June 7, 2008 by scenario

[Brian]

Wow. a blood clot is serious no matter where it is. Hope he is ok.

[witesoxfan]

Frankly, I'm more worried about the Twins than the Indians. Carlos Gomez is better than advertised. They have the best defensive outfield in the American League. Their young starters are stepping up and they've got a very good bullpen. Mauer and Morneau are having good seasons. And their SS-2B situation has been much better than anyone expected. I don't think there is any doubt at this point that the Twins are the better team.

 

Agree on Gomez, but their starters have been terrible of late...it was like a 7+ ERA in their past 8 leading up to last nights game, and tonight didn't help that at all. 4.79 combined ERA for their starters on the year, and as the summer, extended traveling, and the innings wear on those arms, it could very easily get worse.

 

I also don't think their defense in the outfield is real good...Gomez is young and raw and misreads a few balls, Young has been mediocre in LF and Cuddyer looks like he's lost a step. All have fantastic arms, but that's only about half the battle. And their production from SS has been terrible...given, Everett is fantastic defensively, but he's put up a sweet .560 OPS on the year (people complain about Uribe) and they've gotten a combined .614 OPS out of the position all year long.

 

This is the Sox division to lose at this point in time. I view the Indians as a bigger threat simply because their rotation is pretty solid and bullpens can turn it on in an instant, but if their pitching remains mediocre and the offense doesn't turn on at all, I think the Sox could sort of back into a division crown seeing as how all 4 of the other teams in the Central could finish below .500. I don't see that happening, but it's a definite possibility.

Edited June 8, 2008 by witesoxfan

[Chisoxfn]

I've been watching Cuddyer and he's awfully freaking good in the outfield. Gomez is going to be a total stud out there, but the only reason there defensive outfield isn't great is because they have Goemz/Young making young player mistakes. They have great range for an outfield and all possess solid arms for there respect positions (people forget just how strong Cuddyer's arm is). Heck, I'd absolutely love to have Cuddyer on the Sox.

 

That said for the most part I agree with the rest of your post. However, the key for the Sox will be health and the continuance of Danks/Floyd. You really have no idea how these young man are going to fare later in the season and I wouldn't be shocked if at some point the Sox had to use another starter or two in an effort to keep Danks/Floyd's innings down (more likely for Danks whose never thrown all that many innings his entire career). I don't mean to baby young pitchers, but you do have to make sure that you slowly increase there workload year after year as to ensure that there arms don't fall off.

[almagest]

Carlos Gomez is better than advertised.

I don't agree. He's hitting .277/.306/.405 on the year in 243 AB. A .306 OBP from your leadoff hitter is nothing to praise. And also keep in mind that his stats are inflated a bit by his performance against us -- .302/.318/.558 in 43 AB. I actually think he's a bit overrated, and doesn't look to be any better than a 4th OF.

[Benchwarmerjim]

Gomez is only 22 years old. The thing that Gomez does is he tries to bunt with 2 strikes. I bet he has struck out 15 times this year trying to do that. But, Gomez has shown some power this year (5 HR bunch of doubles) and he is super fast on the bases (although his SB% has dropped the last few weeks). its just a learning year for him and I think he will be a stud.

 

Cuddyer had a hand injury early this year thats why his numbers are down. the last week he has shawn more power. Delmon Young looks overmatched. He finally hit a HR Saturday. I will say that he has hit the ball harder that last week than most of the year. Maybe he has turned a corner. He has walked more than this year than last. But his fielding...wow he gets lost a lot

 

Everett stinks. He had a bum shoulder is on the DL. I predicted the Twins would be a .500 team this year. Its just one of those year where you have a bunch of young pitchers and get them mjor league innings.

[scenario]

I don't agree. He's hitting .277/.306/.405 on the year in 243 AB. A .306 OBP from your leadoff hitter is nothing to praise. And also keep in mind that his stats are inflated a bit by his performance against us -- .302/.318/.558 in 43 AB. I actually think he's a bit overrated, and doesn't look to be any better than a 4th OF.

 

4th outfielder?? I think you'll end up eating your words on this.

 

Disregard the .306 OBP. He's only 22 years old and wasn't even expected to be in the majors this year. He played his way onto the roster in spring training.

 

This kid is 6'4" 195 lbs... and he's the fastest guy in baseball... that's pretty stunning for a guy his size. Not only is he the fastest guy in baseball... he is one of the fastest guys in baseball in the last 30 years.

 

Plus he's not a slap hitter. He drives the ball. Watch as he grows into that frame. Power will come. And then he's really going to be trouble.

 

I believe within two years Gomez is going to be sort of a combination of Carl Crawford and Curtis Granderson. (Look at their first years in MLB. Very comparable. And when Granderson was Gomez's age, Curtis was in A-ball.) IMHO, Gomez is not somebody we're going to look forward to competing against in the years to come.

Edited June 8, 2008 by scenario

[almagest]

4th outfielder?? I think you'll end up eating your words on this.

 

Disregard the .306 OBP. He's only 22 years old and wasn't even expected to be in the majors this year. He played his way onto the roster in spring training.

 

This kid is 6'4" 195 lbs... and he's the fastest guy in baseball... that's pretty stunning for a guy his size. Not only is he the fastest guy in baseball... he is one of the fastest guys in baseball in the last 30 years.

 

Plus he's not a slap hitter. He drives the ball. Watch as he grows into that frame. Power will come. And then he's really going to be trouble.

 

I believe within two years Gomez is going to be sort of a combination of Carl Crawford and Curtis Granderson. (Look at their first years in MLB. Very comparable. And when Granderson was Gomez's age, Curtis was in A-ball.) IMHO, Gomez is not somebody we're going to look forward to competing against in the years to come.

He has a career minor league line of .278/.336/.399 in 1291 games. He also has 82 walks compared to 250 strikeouts. I can see his upside, as you mentioned, but his mediocre career line (young or not, he's never dominated any level of professional baseball enough to make me think of him as anything more than "a real fast guy".) and alarming K/BB line makes me think he'll never live up to expectations.

 

Also, if you check Granderson's and Crawford's minor league stats, you'll see that Granderson was quite a bit better, and Crawford was slightly better. Crawford also took 3 years to produce halfway decently (105 OPS+ in 2004).

[whitesoxbrian]

Indians, Royals, and obviously the Twins all lose today.

[daa84]

dontrelle starts his comeback by giving up two walks and then a HR lol

[daa84]

dontrelle starts his comeback by giving up two walks and then a HR lol

top of the second leads off with a walk, then another HR 5-0.....im so glad they gave him that much money..

[The Ginger Kid]

top of the second leads off with a walk, then another HR 5-0.....im so glad they gave him that much money..

Detroit is just awful. If the sox head into detroit carrying the same lumber, it's gonna send leyland off the deep end.

[daa84]

Willis is done after 1.1 ....5 walks....3 hits..5 runs so far with bases loaded all his runners...

[daa84]

I never expect a sweep of any team on the road, but a series win is a must. They really are awful, and I don't see it turning it around any time soon with that awful pitching.

 

Aside from Procello, who looks to be at least a year and a half away, do they have any solid pitching depth in the minors?

jair jurrjens and andrew mill....oh wait

[daa84]

line closed on dontrelle at 1.1 IP 8 ER 5 BB 3 H

[witesoxfan]

line closed on dontrelle at 1.1 IP 8 ER 5 BB 3 H

 

He's unhealthy or just flat out lost it...so glad the Sox didn't pick him up. He's bad.

[G&T]

He's unhealthy or just flat out lost it...so glad the Sox didn't pick him up. He's bad.

 

Picking him up wasn't the problem considering he was a throw in. Signing him to a 3 year deal was the problem.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Who's worse, Zito or Willis?

[Kyyle23]

Who's worse, Zito or Willis?

 

Willis by far. Zito can still put together a decent game (see: White Sox). Dontrelle has totally lost it. He cannot throw a strike to save his life.

[greasywheels121]

Willis by far. Zito can still put together a decent game (see: White Sox). Dontrelle has totally lost it. He cannot throw a strike to save his life.

 

I agree with your answer, but the Sox offense was a big aide to him putting together a decent game. We left 40 runners on base in the first three innings.

[Kyyle23]

I agree with your answer, but the Sox offense was a big aide to him putting together a decent game. We left 40 runners on base in the first three innings.

 

I cannot disagree with that either

[fathom]

KC's manager, Hillman, is one of the worst managers to ever be involved with Major League Baseball. I've never seen someone so unprepared for situations when he might need to get a reliever up in the pen. Of course, he's the same guy who chose Gobble to pitch to PK (OPS of 1 billion) instead of the righty Peralta.

[southsideirish71]

Rodney was activated, Zumaya will be activated on Friday for the Tigers. We need to beat up on the Pirates and get the offense going for a hot streak.

 

 

 

[Harry Chappas]

If Martinez is gone more than the 15 days hte Indians may be mailing it in very soon.

 

With Wang out at least 6 weeks look for the Yanks to either go after CC hard or they can mail it in.

 

The AL is getting easier and if the Sox could figure how to hit the wild card is there as much as the division.