Circling the Central: January 2016

The American League Central has been the home for some of the biggest off-season moves in Majors.

Most notably, Chris Sale was traded from the White Sox to Boston for a boatload of top prospects and the Cleveland Indians signed arguably the biggest free-agent hitter on the market in Edwin Encarnacion.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening with each team and how they currently measure up heading into 2017.

Chicago White Sox

The blockbuster trade involving Sale landed prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz. A hefty return for sure, but for the 2017 season this trade weakens the White Sox as the team looks more toward rebuilding for the future.

Chicago also traded outfielder Adam Eaton to Washington Nationals for Dane Dunning, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in another move geared for the future.

The White Sox still have some weapons with Carlos Rodon and Jose Quintana in the rotation, closer David Robertson, and some power with 1B/DH Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier. It will be interesting to see if Chicago wants to trade away some of these veterans before the season starts.

It’s hard to imagine Chicago putting together a winning season when the team could be in the middle of a firesale in terms of unloading Major League talent in exchange for prospects. Many holes on the team will be made headed into 2017. The status quo hasn’t been working for the White Sox, so perhaps a down year will lead to greener pastures starting in 2018.

Cleveland Indians

Fresh off a World Series appearance and an American League Championship, the Tribe appears strongly poised to be the front runners to win the Central.

The pitching staff remains mostly intact with a healthy rotation of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Josh Tomlin, Trevor Bauer and Danny Salazar. Postseason bullpen studs Andrew Miller and Cody Allen remain in the fold as does Bryan Shaw and Dan Otero. Jeff Manship was non-tendered and this off-season.

Offensively, the core group of players is back. Only Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis remain unsigned and likely will not be returning to the Tribe for 2017 season. Coco Crisp also is gone, but he was a one-month rental for the postseason.

Players including Jose Ramirez had a breakthrough season while Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor have established themselves among the better players in the game. Obviously, the Indians hope that catcher Yan Gomes can bounce back from a horrible season and Roberto Perez can play like he did in the postseason. An uncertainty is the outfield that likely begins with Abraham Almonte and Tyler Naquin platooning to man centerfield and the health of Michael Brantley.

The signing of Encarnacion makes it completely clear that the Indians are in win-now mode, as a team should be after arguably the best postseason run since 1948. Encarnacion also makes it less critical that Brantley returns to his former all-star self. Questions still linger regarding how effective he can really be headed into the 2017 campaign. A clue to his health could be if the Indians make a move to sign or trade for a low-level outfielder during the off-season. Perhaps it could be to bring Davis back to the Tribe.

Although a little tinkering may be done, the Indians appear to be the most complete team in the division and should repeat as Central champs. Of course, that’s not the top priority, rather it’s a stepping stone toward the biggest goal to be World Series champions in 2017.

Kansas City

After two straight postseasons that included play in the World Series, the Royals fell back in 2016 and failed to make the playoffs after finishing a disappointing 81-81. The question now is will the Royals go for it in 2017 or start a rebuilding program?

Signs pointing to a rebuild are emerging as Kansas City lost its top power hitter Kendrys Morales and his 30 home runs and 93 RBI in free agency and then decided to trade closer Wade Davis to the Cubs for Jorge Soler, a young hitter who has some pop in his bat. The Royals obviously, hope that Solar can continue to develop into an everyday player capable of hitting 25-plus home runs a season.

However, Kansas City will have some tough decisions on who to keep moving forward as players including Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and Alcides Escobar can be free agents after the 2017 season.

Once again, the Royals starting rotation leaves a lot to be desired with Ian Kennedy as the No.1 starter and followed by Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy. The bullpen has been the strength of the staff and the loss of Davis will hurt.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins made a splash of the off-season last year when they signed Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park. But he turned out to be a major disappointment playing in only 62 games and slashing just .191/.275/.409 with 12 home runs and 90 Ks.

However, Brian Dozier had a mammoth season hitting a MLB record 42 home runs for a second baseman. The Twins are hopeful to parlay that success into a potential prospects haul, but unless they are presented with a tremendous offer, Dozier might just stay put in Minnesota.

Joe Mauer still has 2 years and $46 million remaining on his massive contract. However, due to the short time span remaining, it might be possible to try to trade him if the Twins are willing to move on and eat some of the dollars still owed to Mauer. He’s an average player at this point in his career rather than a superstar, but he still had a 2.2 WAR in 2016, so he does have some value.

With Ervin Santana as the team’s top starter, the rotation is in serious need for an upgrade as no starter had a winning record in 2016.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers remain a mystery team headed into the 2017 campaign. After a 86-75 campaign in 2016, are they now contenders or pretenders? Will they look to make some deals to get younger or perhaps add a piece or two for another playoff run?

Detroit certainly has its share of stars in Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, and to a lesser degree J.D. Martinez, Victor Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton.

The offense can be quite formidable at times, provided the sluggers remain healthy for the most part, but one thing that hurts the club’s offense is a lack of any meaningful team speed. The Tigers mostly play station-to-station, meaning they need to hit for extra bases or string together a collection of hits to score and guys like Miggy and Victor aren’t getting any younger.

Verlander has returned back to his dominating form and Michael Fulmer showed promise as a rookie, but after those two, it’s slim pickings in terms of rotation quality. Barring a trade, Francisco Rodriguez will close game for the Tigers.