Apparently, everyone in the AL Central thinks they can compete. Whether it be the addition of another Wild Card spot or the fact that the once lowly Kansas City Royals made it all the way to their first World Series in almost 30 years, AL Central teams are wheeling and dealing with moves that don’t look toward the future as much as they evidence a win now mentality. And why shouldn’t they hope? Both Wild Card teams made the World Series and neither team was a favorite by any standard. So with that, here are the firestorm of trades and signings from every team in the AL Central.
INDIANS
Major Moves
The Indians continue to make moves to keep the team from last season largely together while using minor league prospects in trades to fill holes. At the beginning of the month the Indians tendered contracts to arbitration eligible players Carlos Carrasco, Lonnie Chisenhall, Marc Rzepczynski, Bryan Shaw and Josh Tomlin. The front office also went out and filled weaknesses on the cheap by trading for outfielder and first basemen Brandon Moss and once dominant pitcher Gavin Floyd. Moss was a good deal for the Indians as they only gave up second base prospect Joe Wendle for an instant improvement over Nick Swisher and potentially another member of the outfield platoon. Wendle has been in the Indians system since 2013 and moved to AA Akron in one year but has not produced significant numbers while there, though some can be attributed to recovering from a broken bone for much of the season. You can see more no the upside of acquiring Moss here. Floyd feels similar to the Mark Lowe acquisition in 2011. Like Lowe, if Floyd can get past the injuries and return to his former self he could compete for the fifth starter position and provide a significant boost to the rotation. In order to create roster spots for these two acquisitions the Indians out righted Bryan Price to Triple-A after a miserable major league debut as well as Nick Maronde.
Minor Moves
The Indians picked up a couple of catchers on minor league deals in Adam Moore and Brett Hayes. Moore has had limited playing time in the majors since debuting with the Mariners in 2010. There is not much upside for Moore as he is thirty years old and has posted only a .200/241/.309 hitting line over his six year career in the majors. Brett Hayes has a little more promise though he too is thirty years old. Hayes been primarily a back up with the Miami Marlins and the Kansas City Royals. In his most complete year he played 64 games with a hitting line of .231/.291/.415 with a .4 WAR. Both players fit into the emergency back-up role if something were to happen to Yan Gomes, Roberto Perez or Carlos Santana.
A slightly more exciting minor league signing is twenty-five year old Destin Hood. Hood has shown promising numbers in the minor leagues hitting .298/.348/.460 in Triple- A last season. A bright spot for Hood is that he hit for a .315 average and slugged .556 against left-handed pitching, something the Indians could use in their lefty dominated lineup. The Indians also signed outfielder/first baseman Jerry Sands to a minor league deal. At 27 Sands is probably no longer considered a prospect but he has a chance to play on the Indians squad if the outfield has any injuries or Swisher gets traded. In Sands time spent at the major league level he had a stat line of .253/.338/.389 in 227 plate appearances.
The Indians signed lefty reliever Scott Downs to a minor league deal and a spring training invite. Downs only hope is that he can return to his 2011 self when he held a 2.49 ERA and be a consistent middle reliever to back up the Indians already full bullpen. At 38, Downs fastball is averaging only 87 MPH and last season he posted only a 4.97 ERA in 38 innings. However the way Francona uses relievers, it shouldn’t be a surprise if Downs makes an appearance at some point this year. The only other pitcher the Indians signed was minor leaguer Jeff Manship. Manship is a 29-year old long shot as over his career he has a 6.46 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 1.55 K/BB rate.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Major Moves
The White Sox were the busiest group in the Central during December making both big and small moves probably causing old timer Paul Konerko to rethink his retirement for one more shot, albeit a long one. The White Sox added the power bat of Melky Cabrera on a four-year, $42 million deal. Cabrera batted .301/.351/.458 in 2014 and at 30 he still appears to have some juice left in him (pun intended). The White Sox completed their bullpen remodel by signing both David Robertson and Dan Jennings. The White Sox signed Robertson for $46 million and four-years after he rejected the Yankees qualifying offer. Robertson was the biggest closer on the market and made an impressive run for the Yankees last year posting a 3.08 ERA, a 2.68 FIP, striking out 96 batters and getting 39 saves. Alone, he had more saves in 2014 than the entire White Sox bullpen. Jennings was sensational last year going 0-2 with a 1.34 ERA, 38 strikeouts and three holds over 47 relief appearances. The White Sox gave up relief and fill in starter Andre Rienzo for Jennings. These two in addition to the Zach Duke acquisition should help raise the White Sox bullpen out of last years 28th place, 4.38 ERA.
The White Sox major moves didn’t end with the bullpen as they also traded for Jeff Samardzija with the Athletics. The Sox gave up infielder Marcus Semien, righty Chris Bassitt, Catcher Josh Phegley and 22-year old corner infielder Rangel Ravelo. These players and prospects were not an insignificant loss for the White Sox with all but Ravelo seeing a decent amount of time in the Majors.
Minor Moves
The White Sox are taking chance on 36 year-old pitcher Brad Penny by signing him to a minor league contract in hopes he can return to form and fill in the bullpen or the end of the rotation. Zach Phillips was also signed to a minor league contract, adding to the stockpile of relievers. Phillips is a 28 year-old reliever who has seen limited major league action in only 19 games over the course of his three year career. Additionally minor league pitcher Scott Snodgress and twenty-nine year old pitcher Scott Carroll were non-tendered.
The only position player the White Sox added in December was catcher George Kottaras. Kottaras is essentially a poor mans Adam Dunn, batting .215/.326/.411 over the course of his career. Kottaras appears to have been brought in to compete for the back-up to incumbent backstop Tyler Flowers.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Major Moves
In December, the Kansas City Royals indicated very clearly that they have every intention of making another run at the postseason. They signed Alex Rios to a one year, $11 million contract in order to bolster their outfield with Nori Aoki leaving to free agency. Kendrys Morales was signed in order to take over the role of Billy Butler who went to the A‘s for $30 million and three years. Morales played parts of last season with the Twins and the Mariners but has not provided much power since the 2013 season when he last hit twenty home runs.
As James Shields entered free agency the Royals needed to fill the front end of their rotation. While Edinson Volquez is no James Shields, he does represent an above average starter well worth the two year, $20 million contract. Last season, Volquez posted a respectable 3.04 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 192.2 innings. The Royals also signed former Twins right-handed starter Yohan Pino. Pino’s first season was 2014 and he was generally underwhelming posting a 5.07 ERA in 11 starts. Oft injured Kris Medlen was signed to a two-year contract with $8.5 million in guaranteed money. The upside to signing Medlen is that he owns a lifetime 2.95 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate in 512.2 career innings. The downside is Medlen’s injury concerns, as he will be recovering from his second Tommy John surgery until mid season. Luke Hochevar, a stalwart of the Royals impressive bullpen last season, was also brought back on a two year, $10 million deal.
Minor Moves
In order to make room for all the additions the Royals out-righted outfielder Moises Sierra and right-hander Casey Coleman to Triple-A. Outfielder Carlos Peguero was released to make room for Rios and second baseman Johny Giavotella was designated for assignment. Lefty reliever Francisley Bueno was non-tendered. Third baseman and outfielder Jayson Nix chose to go the free agency route instead of resigning with the team.
In the lone minor league contract of December the Royals signed 27 year-old infielder Gabriel Noriega, who hit .275/.299/.360 between Double-A and Triple-A in the Mariners organization last year.
DETROIT TIGERS
Major Moves
Despite daily rumors surrounding Max Scherzer, the major headline for the Tigers was trading starter Rick Porcello to the Red Sox for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, minor league pitchers Alex Wilson and Gabe Speier and potentially a draft pick. The Tigers attempted to fill Porcello’s role by trading for veteran starter Alfredo Simon who pitched with the Reds last season. Despite being 33 years old Simon had a career year last year posting a 3.44 ERA after pitching 196 innings. The Tigers traded away 23 year-old short stop, Eugenio Suarez who played 85 games last season and pitching prospect Jonathan Crawford. The 26 year-old rookie pitcher Shane Greene was also acquired from the Yankees for left-hander Robbie Ray and infield prospect Domingo Leyba. Greene showed some promise going 5-4 in 14 starts with the Yankees while maintaining a 3.78 ERA.
Minor Moves
In two minor deals Rafael Dolis and Alberto Cabrera, both 26 year-old pitchers were signed to minor league contracts. Both pitchers have ERAs over 5.00 over scattered starts in the majors.
The Tigers also announced that they have out-righted righty Melvin Mercedes to Triple-A Toledo. Mercedes is a young prospect who only pitched two innings for the Tigers last year.
MINNESOTA TWINS
Major Moves
If the Twins were the only active team in December, it could have proven to bring the Twins out of irrelevance for the 2015 season. Obviously that is not the case, but the Twins vastly improved, raising the fears that the AL Central could be a blood bath in 2015. The Twins managed to sign starter Ervin Santana to a four year, $55 million deal, Torii Hunter to a one year $10.5 million deal and secured Phil Hughes until 2019 with a three year contract extension for $42 million. The Twins’ rotation is moving towards respectability with it currently projected as Hughes, Santana, Ricky Nolasco, Alex Meyer and Tommy Milone.
Minor Moves
The Twins also added depth to their bullpen, signing right-hander Tim Stauffer to a one-year $2.2 million dollar contract. During Stauffer’s big league career, starting in 2009 including time missed from a torn labrum, Stauffer has maintained a 3.37 ERA and accumulated 480 innings. Wil Ledezma should also add some depth in the Twins’ bullpen. Ledezma has bounced around the Major Leagues from 2003 until 2011, pitching in Venezuelan and Mexican baseball leagues the last few years. Despite being 34, Ledezma has decent stuff for a lefty with three different pitches being in the mid nineties. Bryan Villareal, a right-handed reliever, was given the opportunity to contribute to the Twins bullpen, getting an invite to Spring Training with a chance to make $522,000 if he makes the Twins Major League roster. Villareal is a prospect the Tigers have given up on, but the Twins hope he can return to his 2012 form when he had a 2.63 ERA over 54.2 innings.
The Twins signed a bevy of minor league position players in December. Jose Martinez, a twenty-eight years old infielder batted .276/.345/.372 and drew 44 walks with 53 strikeouts in Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate in 2014. First Baseman Brock Peterson was signed to a minor league deal. Though 31, Peterson had a great year in Triple-A last year with a stat line of .301/.378/.480 and 15 homeruns. Wilkin Ramirez is an outfielder who at one time was a top prospect for the Detroit Tigers but has failed to produce in the Majors and Triple-A. Catcher Dan Rohlfing, was also signed to a minor league deal. Rohlfing has only played 47 seven games in the majors over his seven year career and last year in Triple-A Rochester, Illinois batted .205/.307/.311.
Chris Parmelee was designated for assignment to make room for Santana. Parmelee has played all of the outfield positions, first-base and DH over his four year career as a Twin, hitting .249/.317/.392 during that time. Its likely Parmalee will be brought back to the major league roster once trades and signings are completed.
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