2011 AL Central Catch-All Thread

[Balta1701]

It's an annual ritual.

You've got it reversed, the annual ritual is the Twins sending us into a tailspin, not t'other way round.

[High Mileage]

Assuming KC falls out of the race, we could have some interesting trade chips. Melky Cabrera, Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis, Wilson Betemit, Mike Aviles, Matt Treanor, etc. Jeff Francoeur has pretty much played into getting his option picked up already, so he'll be back I'm sure. Hopefully Kyle Davies can gain some value too, even a fringe prospect...

 

Attendance of 30,690 (80.4% full) last night for Hosmers' debut, second most since Opening Day. Lorenzo Cain is getting it together in Omaha. Current line of .292/.393/.431...

Edited May 7, 2011 by High Mileage

[caulfield12]

You've got it reversed, the annual ritual is the Twins sending us into a tailspin, not t'other way round.

 

Well, you can certainly argue in 2003 when they ended up sweeping us out of September (after we'd beaten them 2 games in a row in a four game series but struggled in the infamous Jose Paniagua game to close it out), in 2004 when Burke was run over by Hunter, or when Thome punked Thornton (as well as the big Jenks blown save when we were up 3 1/2 games after the AS Break), they've gone on to cruise through the season after big confrontations with the White Sox.

 

I said it somewhere, whoever sweeps through the 2 game series has a decent chance to salvage their season. The other team will be dead.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Assuming KC falls out of the race, we could have some interesting trade chips. Melky Cabrera, Bruce Chen, Jeff Francis, Wilson Betemit, Mike Aviles, Matt Treanor, etc. Jeff Francoeur has pretty much played into getting his option picked up already, so he'll be back I'm sure. Hopefully Kyle Davies can gain some value too, even a fringe prospect...

 

Attendance of 30,690 (80.4% full) last night for Hosmers' debut, second most since Opening Day. Lorenzo Cain is getting it together in Omaha. Current line of .292/.393/.431...

 

 

I'm not so certain that Moore will trade Cabrera. What's the compelling reason to do so, as he still has a favorable contract?

 

The walk-up last night was 9,845, and I'd assume 75% of that was Hosmer-related, so he's already created $150,000 of additional revenue just by being recalled.

 

The Cardinals might take a look at Betemit. Francis has SOME value because of his playoff experience with the Rockies, but not much. I really don't think you'll get much for either Treanor or Aviles, though.

 

With Francoeur, the obvious concern is him cooling off and the Royals not trading him when it's possible. There's about a 25% chance he will continue to sustain his success, and a 75% chance he regresses to his "mean" for the last 2-3 years.

 

 

[High Mileage]

Frenchy is making $2.5M this year and the team has a $4M option on him for next year. Very low risk situation...

[High Mileage]

Wow, Verlander no-hits the Blue Jays...

[Jordan4life_2007]

Wow, Verlander no-hits the Blue Jays...

 

I threw a no-hitters 3 days ago. There was no coverage and nobody cared because they occur every week.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Jordan4life

[caulfield12]

Hosmer with his first hit, a sharp groundball through the right side of the infield.

 

You can cancel the post-game with B-Mac.

Edited May 8, 2011 by caulfield12

[Jordan4life_2007]

I officially hate High Mileage. Jake Odorizzi, who I don't think is viewed as one of the Royals' top 5 pitching 'spects, is obliterating High A at the ripe old age of 20. 2.42 ERA, 13.15 K/9, 1.73 BB/9 in 5 starts so far. The Royals are coming.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Hosmer 2/3 with an RBI double. This kid is a f***ing science experiment.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Jordan4life

[flavum]

Hosmer is going to be a beast. I'm jealous.

 

So how's that 2012 draft looking?

[bigruss]

I officially hate High Mileage. Jake Odorizzi, who I don't think is viewed as one of the Royals' top 5 pitching 'spects, is obliterating High A at the ripe old age of 20. 2.42 ERA, 13.15 K/9, 1.73 BB/9 in 5 starts so far. The Royals are coming.

Their system is so ridiculously deep with studs that even if most fail they'll still end up with 4-5 primetime players.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Their system is so ridiculously deep with studs that even if most fail they'll still end up with 4-5 primetime players.

 

Indeed. And the rise of Alex Gordon has given them even more margin for error.

[High Mileage]

I officially hate High Mileage. Jake Odorizzi, who I don't think is viewed as one of the Royals' top 5 pitching 'spects, is obliterating High A at the ripe old age of 20. 2.42 ERA, 13.15 K/9, 1.73 BB/9 in 5 starts so far. The Royals are coming.

He came over in the Greinke trade. He was the Brewers' top pitching prospect, not sure where he falls in line in our system...

 

1. Mike Montgomery

2. Danny Duffy

3. John Lamb

4. Chris Dwyer

5. Jake Odorizzi?

[caulfield12]

Thought High Mileage would enjoy this article if he hasn't already seen it, reminiscing about Bo Jackson's arrival 25 years ago and how similar hopes are being placed on Hosmer.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ak7z...memories_050611

 

 

Alex Gordon was obviously a victim of the George Brett comparisons, as his natural position was 3B. Will be interesting to see how/what they've learned with that failure (and Teahen) so they can protect Moustakas as much as possible.

 

For a long time, Appier and Jeff Montgomery were the perennial Royals' All-Stars, after the Bo Jackson era.

 

Then you had Mike Sweeney as the "franchise player" after Damon, Dye and Beltran were all traded. Berroa and Febles looked like they could be stars together in the middle infield and both flamed out, particularly Berroa, a former ROY.

 

And a brief run of Zach Greinke as the man, especially in his Cy Young season.

[caulfield12]

He came over in the Greinke trade. He was the Brewers' top pitching prospect, not sure where he falls in line in our system...

 

1. Mike Montgomery

2. Danny Duffy

3. John Lamb

4. Chris Dwyer

5. Jake Odorizzi?

 

Don't forget Aaron Crow, even though he's a current member of the bullpen, he's a rookie technically.

 

And Mazzaro from the A's, who was supposed to be the 5th starter coming into ST. That's a lot of starting pitching depth.

 

 

The White Sox don't even have a single guy who would come close to cracking the Royals' Top 7.

 

 

Howard Sinker on the problems of Justin Morneau...

I am undecided how much of his troubles in the field are his own problem, as opposed to being caused by the rotating cast of mediocre middle infielders. Alexi Casilla, in particular, has done Morneau no favors with his throws to first base. Almost all of the others have also contributed to making Morneau look duller in the field than he's been in the past.

 

But maybe the hardest thing to watch has been Morneau's residency in the third or fourth spot in the batting order, when his struggles are that much more obvious. Nothing has happened recently to suggest that an end is around the corner.

 

Here's a look at the most troublesome statistic:

 

The website baseball-reference.com breaks down a batter's performance against pitchers based on power and finesse. Power pitchers are defined as being in the top one-third of the league in strikeouts plus walks over the last three seasons, plus the current one. Morneau is 1-for-17 (.059) against those pitchers. Against the middle third, he's 1-for-22 (.045).

 

In his half-season of 2010, he batted .319 against power pitchers and .343 against those in the middle third of strikeouts-plus-walks.

 

startribune.com/sports

Edited May 9, 2011 by caulfield12

[fathom]

Regardless of the standings, I truly feel the Tigers are the team to beat in the AL Central. Only team with a true ace, and Scherzer's picking up where he left off last year.

[Milkman delivers]

Regardless of the standings, I truly feel the Tigers are the team to beat in the AL Central. Only team with a true ace, and Scherzer's picking up where he left off last year.

 

Yup, been saying that. But then again, I've been saying a lot of things.

[caulfield12]

I'm not so sure Magglio's not done.

 

They have V-Mart, Avila and Cabrera, but I'm not sure they have enough offense unless the likes of Jackson and Boesch can repeat their 2010 seasons. They've had a lot of problems with their middle infield stability (especially 2B) and Inge isn't nearly as much of an offensive threat as he was 3-5 seasons ago. Seems he's really regressed.

 

As usual, I think it will come down to the bullpens. But I guess if you were betting at this point in the season, a lot of people would obviously go with the Tigers, it's the most logical pick because of their talent and current position in the standings.

[bigruss]

Yup, been saying that. But then again, I've been saying a lot of things.

They need a lot of pitchers to step up all year to really pull away at all.

[Balta1701]

Golfball sized hail at Target field

[knightni]

How much do they miss that dome now?

[Balta1701]

How much do they miss that dome now?

At least they had a warning first. With the dome was saw in Nov. The hail might have gone right through.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Mileage, I still hate you. Ordorizzi went nuts tonight.

[witesoxfan]

The Indians are starting to remind me of the 2006 Tigers. I keep waiting for them to come back to earth and waiting and waiting and they just never do. They aren't this good, but the longer they keep playing over their head, the less they are going to have to win into the future.