Does Anybody Else Smell Fire?

Let Cleveland's annual fire-sale and dumping of veterans commence. Something tells me this trade won't be quite as good as the "Felix Fermin-for-Omar Vizquel" trade, though.

Asshat of the Day

Bud Selig, who apparently believes that it is better to be stubbornly wrong (and to screw one of his umpires for life) than to actually correct an obvious (and easily-correctable) error. Selig's done more wrong than right throughout his life, but this should seal his Lifetime Achievement Award for Asshattery.

Funny - He's Still Mediocre Even in a Bug-Free Environment

So I wonder who or what Yankee fans will blame for Chamberlain's performance this time; after all, there weren't any bugs out there today...

If Spring Training Were the Determining Factor...

...and if it only came down to numbers, and if all of the realities of baseball suddenly vanished...


...I'd pick the Indians over the Rays in the ALCS, and the Giants over the Braves in the NLCS, with the Giants beating the Indians in the World Series again (after the 1954 debacle, which, coincidentally, was SF's last title). If only the old adage that "spring training means nothing" weren't true. *Sigh*


Oh, and incidentally, the Indians currently have 14 wins in Spring Training. I'm putting the over/under date on them getting 14 wins in the regular season at May 19, due in no small part to a brutal April that involves 15 road games (including a west coast road trip) and only 7 home games to start off the season.

More seriously, regular season baseball predictions (because I'm so good at these things) will be coming next week.

Baseball Blogging - Using Calendars to Extend Prospects' Time with a Team

Tony at the Indians Prospect Insider has a great post up about managing the time of young players who could play in Triple-A or in the Majors. Basically, the issue revolves completely around the idea of the service time clock:

In baseball, 172 days on the big league roster is considered one year of major league service time. Obviously, a major league season is longer than 172 days, so a player only needs to be on an active 25-man roster (or big league disabled list) for 172 days of what usually is a 180 day or so season. After a player reaches three full seasons of service time they become arbitration eligible (a select few become arbitration eligible before three years, but I won't go into that here). After six full seasons of service time a player then becomes a free agent.

Managing service time is a vital piece of roster management for big league teams and is something that every team does in one way or another. It is a way to control when a player reaches free agency, and in cases of good decision making with how a team rosters a player they can delay free agency as many as one to three years for that player. The player has no control over this as they are at the mercy of their team on how their roster situation is handled (or you can say manipulated), and is also why when these guys do finally reach free agency you will get no complaining from me when they get multi-year deals for millions of dollars.

While Tony uses particular Indians prospects (like Mike Brantley and Luis Valbuena) to explain exactly how that system could work, it's well worth checking out for anybody, because while the particulars of players may vary, the ideas and approaches are general, and very important for small-market teams. Basically, Tony demonstrates how leaving a prospect at the minors for the first 2-3 months of the season can reap enormous benefits for small-market teams, and not just because they get to spend another 2-3 months refining the skill sets that prospects need to work on. It has great benefits for teams that are operating in small windows with prospects becoming stars:

This is why teams should almost never open the season with a high profile rookie on the big league roster. Putting them in Triple-A and waiting three to four weeks before calling them up in late April or early May provides a team an extra year of control. We’ve seen many teams do this in the past, most recently the Tampa Bay Rays with Evan Longoria and the San Francisco Giants with Tim Lincecum. This is why at the minimum, guys who have yet to have their service clock started such as outfielder Jordan Brown, infielder Jason Donald, right-handed pitcher Hector Rondon, and Carlos Santana should open the season in Columbus even if they are deemed “ready”.

This is just good business for any organization as they finagle the service time clocks with guys and push off free agency as long as they can. The pickup of Branyan himself may not have made much sense, but the idea of signing someone in order to push Brantley to Triple-A to give the Indians a whole extra year of control for a core piece of the team the next half decade or so is good roster management. This is something small market teams need to do in order to extend the life of a young players’ career with them before they ultimately reach free agency.

While I find the use of the phrase "to control" to be a bit heavy-handed, I suppose it is also accurate, and worth keeping in mind that while teams may play with their prospects' emotions and incomes, small-market teams also have a financial investment in this, and if prospects really turn out to be that good, the payday will come no matter what. At any rate, the entire post is worth reading (especially if anybody is in a fantasy league that includes minor league players; after all, the Indians have 5 of Baseball America's 65 top prospects in their system this year, putting them only behind the Tampa Bay Rays), and I highly recommend you pop over there.

Yet Another Reason Cleveland Indians Fans Can Be Hopeful

With just 27 days until pitchers and catchers report (thus ending America's annual national nightmare), I'm already getting geared up for the 2010 season. And while the Indians' 2010 title hopes are effectively dead on arrival, I'm looking forward to seeing how Manny Acta manages, and seeing how the potential of some of the young players like Matt LaPorta and Carlos Santana (not that one) plays out. A lot of the guys the Tribe will be calling up this year already makes me hopeful for the future. What else makes me hopeful for the future?

This list.

Sure, it's just one list, but I have to say, even with all of the heartbreaking trades, in spite of the fact that the Indians have not won a World Series in 61 (and this year will most certainly be 62) years, the fact that the Indians are coming off the loss of two Cy Young winners and the arguable heart of the team with one of the strongest farm systems makes me hopeful. If nothing else, I, unlike a Pittsburgh or Baltimore fan (sorry drip), can rest easy knowing that the Cleveland Indians are run intelligently. And maybe the experience of 2010 will get the youth movement ready for a 2011 playoff push....

That's a Heck of a Start to a Baseball Season

While the baseball season in the U.S. has wound down (in the worst fashion possible), it's just gearing up in Cuba, as Opening Day in Cuba was just this past Tuesday. And Cuban slugger Alexei Bell had a hell of a start:

Alexei Bell—National Series slugging sensation two years back and offensive hero of the August 2008 Beijing Olympiad—Tuesday (November 3) became the first player in Cuban League history to smack two grand slam home runs within a single inning during Santiago’s bizarre mercy-rule-shortened 24-0 slaughter of Oriente League rival Camagüey.

8 RBIs in the first inning? That's beyond absurd. Of course this would never happen, but even if he didn't get another RBI in the game, Bell was on pace for a 720-RBI season (Cuba's National Series is 90 games). But he didn't stop there, ending up hitting a 2-run single, as well as a 2-run double, leaving him with twelve RBIs on the day (a pace of 1080 RBIs for the season).

But two grand slams in the same inning. It's the first time in Cuba's 49 years of professional baseball. But it's probably happened several times before, right?

Nope. In fact, it has only happened once, back in 1999, when the Cardinals' Fernando Tatis launched two Grand Slams in the same inning off the Dodgers' Chan Ho Park. And even that game was on April 23. It wasn't in the first inning of the first game of the season. Talk about high expectations...


[And in tangentially Chan Ho Park-related news, the Cleveland Indians named Tim Belcher their pitching coach yesterday. Belcher, an Ohio Native, won a World Series with the 1988 Dodgers, and has been working with Player Development Relations for the Tribe for the past several years. And he was also on the receiving end of a Chan Ho Park flying kick, right before the 45-year-old Belcher proceeded to provide the baseball equivalent of an ass-kicking to Park.]

In Defense of Eric Wedge

While I liked him as a man, and while it was tough, I knew this summer that it was time to let Eric Wedge go. I bear him no ill will, and really hope he ends up somewhere else pretty quickly. Still, whether you loved or hated the man, I'll say this in his defense:

Any ball coach who listens to Merle Haggard is alright by me.

Fifteen Years Ago...

The 1994 baseball strike began this exact day, 15 years ago. On that day, I was devastated (even though people saw it coming) - for the first time in my life the Indians were in the running, just one game behind Chicago. Of course, my heartbreak is nothing to the former (and continuing) fans of the Montreal Expos, who were baseball's best team that year and who never recovered from the strike.

It's been a weird 15 years - the Indians' heartbreaks in 1995 and 1997, the agony of Yankee hegemony returning, a recent spate of unlikely World Series Champions (Boston and the Chisox back-to-back, with more than 80 years of championship drought; the Marlins [ugh], twice [UGH]), and of course, the steroids era's rise and fall, for better (it did help bring fans back) and worse (look where we are now, with all the talk of "asterisks" and the shadow over those years). It all certainly makes one look back and wonder what the future of baseball holds. Hopefully, strikes or lockouts are not a part of that future....

For the Record....

I remember numbers 8, 7, and 5 through 1, and each one still stings. But when I get to number one, it's still a pain you can't even begin to describe - I still fill with a wistful, morose perspective, pondering what could have been if Fernandez hadn't committed that error...(which speaks to how much I love baseball, how much an Indians championship would mean to me, and how pathetic my life actually is).

*Sigh*...............

Trading Carl Pavano Is Obvious, but....Why Now?

Well, this trade is the most obvious and simultaneously the most perplexing. A pitcher about to reach a bunch of his incentive bonuses in a one-year contract on a team that's losing money? That's a no-brainer. But why didn't the Indians try to trade Pavano sooner and maybe try to get more than just a "player to be named later"? He's been more than functional and could have added to a number of teams' starting rotations (Boston, I'm looking in your direction.....). Putting him on the waiver wire on the Monday immediately after the trade deadline really doesn't make sense to me. Of course, Mark Shapiro knows more about what was going on than I do, so maybe he quietly was mentioning Pavano to teams, and nobody was willing to part with a couple of minor leaguers for him. But maybe he wasn't, and this was one of Shapiro's poorer decisions. Whatever the case, it's long-term impact isn't too great, as we weren't keeping Pavano beyond this year (and both Cleveland and Pavano knew it), and who knows - maybe that PTNL will be lights out by some fluke that often happens in baseball. Still, I wish we'd at least traded Pavano for a couple of prospects, instead of just getting the PTNL after a waivers claim. Oh well....2011!

Well, That Helps Explain the Lee and Martinez Trades...

Ouch. This is especially unfortunate given the vicious cycle of losing seasons and team incomes - a team starts losing money and has to let some players go, the team does worse, the fans don't come as much, team loses more money, more players go, fewer fans, etc. And unfortunately, it's not going to change until the Indians turn around - casual fans won't suddenly start coming so the team has more money; it's incumbent upon the team to do well (see: 1995's contention and the subsequent 455 sell-out streak).

As for Wedge, I'm usually not one of "those" guys, but hopefully, ownership and Shapiro determine that it's time to change horses. I like Wedge a lot, but the constant slow starts in April (9-14 in 2009; 14-15 in 2008; 15-8 in 2007, the lone good year; 13-13 in 2006; 9-15 in 2005; 10-13 in 2004; and 7-20 in 2003) are tough to deal with. What's more, Wedge is just really tightly wound, and very controlling, which can be great; however, after awhile (and it's been awhile), it leads to players pushing too hard, always trying to get that hit, always trying to get the perfect pitch, which just leads to swinging at bad pitches and making bad throws. In short, the team is too wound, pressing too hard, and Wedge's personality and style has a lot to do with that. And it's never a good sign when teammates are not-too-subtly throwing each other (and the manager) under the bus when things go wrong (see the July 12 post). It signals that the antagonisms between players and managers have irreversibly manifested themselves, and at that point, your manager is no longer effective.

So, I am rarely one of those people who quickly and rashly declares the manager has to go (Eric Mangini being the exception - let it be known here and now that, when it comes to the "fire Mangini" bandwagon, I'm not hopping on; I'm driving the thing). However, it's clear that Wedge's style has worn thin and lost its effectiveness. If Shapiro wants to bring a bunch of young guys up from the minors together and have a cohesiveness (and it certainly seems that that is now his plan), then he's going to need a manager who can work better with that. So hopefully, ownership and Shapiro will be on the same page, and Cleveland will have a new face as manager next year, even as I wish Eric Wedge the best of luck and future success with another (non-Yankee) team.

Cleveland Indians Trade Victor Martinez (or, "Just Because It Makes Sense Doesn't Mean It Doesn't Hurt")

I'm not going to lie - this one hurt. Victor has not only been a vital part of the Indians' offensive lineup for years - he's been the emotional center, one of the most popular players the Tribe has had over the years. This is probably the toughest trade to deal with on an emotional level since the Indians surprised their fanbase and traded Kenny Lofton in the offseason of 1996-1997.

It also hurts because it confirms what I already suspected - the Indians are in full-blown rebuilding mode for the first time since the end of the 2001 season. This isn't just "wait 'til next year" - this is "wait 'til 2011," with next year basically being a season-long spring training. Sure, the AL Central is still kind of weak, even with Jake Peavy, Jarrod Washburn, and Orlando Cabrera, so they could not-surprise me and win the AL Central, but, barring any miracles (and there haven't been any miracles since 1948), they're not winning the World Series next year.

This isn't to say the move doesn't make sense. Just like Lee, it was hard to keep Victor - his club option for next year was $7 million, and this is a team that (sadly) has to cut its (already bare-bones) payroll. With Matt LaPorta coming up soon to play first base, and with Travis Hafner already locked in as our DH through 2011, and with Lou Marson and Carlos Santana (not that one) sitting in the farm system at catcher, as well as Kelly Shoppach, who's very good and who we may now try to sign to a long-term deal, well....there just wasn't a lot of room for Martinez and his expiring contract.

Certainly, part of this feels necessary. As Paul puts it, "it kind of feels like we’re tearing off a band-aid and we might as well get in all the pain all that we can at once to let that next stage begin as soon as possible." And he's right - the efforts of 2002-2008 failed, and so it's time to look ahead, start over, and move on to the next stage. Plus, we already have great players like Sizemore locked in for a few more years, along with good players like Hafner. Combined with the fact that, by trading Lee, Martinez, Mark DeRosa, and Rafael Betancourt, the Indians save $25 million for next year and can maybe re-sign Choo and Cabrera, this all seems like a necessary evil. The Indians simply do not have the payroll to be able to continue to "rebuild" while remaining in contention by hiring experienced, good players to come in and fill the holes while the young guys develop. At the end of the day, this trade makes sense - it frees up payroll, it (together with the Lee trade) gets us a lot of pitching prospects, of which we have very few. And while I don't like to root for the Red Sox, I'll root for Victor always (barring him facing the Tribe in the World Series), and if he helps the Sox take down the Yankees, I'll be more than OK with that.

Still, Victor was a guy who loved Cleveland, who gave his heart and soul to the Cleveland Indians, and who in many ways was the face of the team in the post-Ramirez/Belle/Lofton/Thome years - the fact that he cried when he learned of the trade says all you need to know about his feelings for the Cleveland Indians. And there aren't a lot of guys who love Cleveland like that, in baseball or any other sports. Not only that - he's still very good. So this is necessary. But right now, it sucks, and all we can do is hope that the new efforts work out and keep a special fond place in our hearts for El Capitan.

Cleveland Trades Cliff Lee to Philadelphia - Just Wait 'Til 2011?

Well, that knocks down one of the two possible big trades for Cleveland, as Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco head off to the Phillies in return for Triple-A pitcher Carlos Carrasco, Single-A pitcher Jason Knapp, SS Jason Donald and C Lou Marson.

My first reaction is mixed. This is a lost season, and Lee had made it clear that, after the club option on 2010, he intended to test free agency. Maybe the Indians could have signed him, but sinking a lot of money into a pitcher who's already 32 seems counterproductive for a team trying to keep to a relatively tight budget. Lee's been pitching very well, and with Philly needing the extra arm, I think the timing was right. They could have tried to make a push with Lee next year, but Lee may drop off, or the issue of being in a contract-year might have scared off some teams, so no time like the present.

The inclusion of Francisco surprises me. I hadn't really read much talk of him getting traded anywhere. A functional outfielder (LF or RF) with only one error on the year but with only .250 BA and .758 OPS (OPS+ of 97 this year) who's 27, Francisco was a starter (and the main reason we traded Franklin Gutierrez, who had never hit before this year, to Seattle).

The season for the Tribe was already a loss, but with the trade, they now have the chance to take on monumental levels of suck. Francisco was a starter in the outfield; now, we have an outfield of Choo, an injured Grady Sizemore, and Trevor Crowe. There's talk that the Indians are going to bring up Matt LaPorta to play outfield some, too, but that's just not where he's going to play ultimately (he'll be 1B), so it isn't exactly going to solve anything. And as for pitching.......yikes. As Paul has pointed out at the DiaTribe, the Indians' stats with Lee and without are terrifying this year:

Starters 2009 – Cliff Lee Division22 starts, 152 IP, 3.14 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 6.34 K/9, 1.95 BB/9, 3.25 K/BB
Starters 2009 – Non-Cliff Lee Division78 starts, 422 1/3 IP, 6.07 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 5.32 K/9, 3.62 K/BB, 1.46 K/BB

That makes things even grimmer for next year, as Cleveland is facing a starting lineup of Jake Westbrook (if he can stay healthy), Fausto Carmona (if he can ever get his control back), Aaron Laffey (if he can rebound from injuries this year), David Huff (if he can prove that he's as golden as Clay Bucholz), and Jeremy Sowers (if he can ever reach big-league ability consistently). Again.....Yikes.

Which is why I'm mixed on this trade. Cleveland had to make moves based on how things will play out beyond this year, and this trade could have immediate impact. Maybe Carrasco arrives next year and blows everybody away (though there's no reason right now to believe or to disbelieve that that is what will happen), Carmona gets his control back, Laffey stays healthy, and Westbrook looks like he did in 2004 or 2006. But that's a lot of "maybes," and it feels kind of like they're saying, "well, we're going to make a run in 2010, but don't hold your breath, and maybe it will be 2011....". Again, Shapiro made the trade he had to make, and lord knows, he's done some incredible trades in the past (like getting Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo Colon, or Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard, or Hafner for Einar Diaz and Ryan Drese). It seems Marson is a good candidate to take Martinez's place as the Indians shift him to first/DH (unless they trade him too, which they may - Hafner's locked in for more years at DH, and LaPorta seems to be the first baseman of the future for the Tribe), and Donald was no doubt picked to perhaps one day replace Peralta, who, while functional, hasn't lived up to the hype.

So I like the prospects, I guess - we didn't clean Philly out, but they made it clear they weren't going to give up certain players when they were talking with Toronto about Halladay - that's why Cleveland was able to do the deal for Lee. And again, Shapiro knows much more than I do - that's why he's paid as the GM, and I'm a broke, unemployed graduate student. Still, this trade may end up leaving me saying "just wait till next year!" next year, too.

Random Sports Tidbits

-While Bernie Kosar was the first football player I remember loving (and the '87 and '88 Browns my first of many experiences with Cleveland heartbreak - damn you, Elway! damn you, Byner!), and I hope he gets through this, I at the same time have a hard time feeling bad for somebody who had the chance to lose tens of millions of dollars.

-I also remember Mel Hall from that time in my life, as he (along with the likes of Greg Swindell, Joe Carter, Brett Butler, Brook Jacoby, Cory Snyder, Andre Thornton, Phil Niekro, and so many others) was a member of the Indians when I first got into baseball as a kid. Now, more than 20 years later, I can remember for something far more criminal and disgusting.

-I really look forward to watching Red Sox nation have an absolute aneurysm over this. Heaven forbid a baseball player look at his job with the same cold, financial professionalism and realism that the owners have.

Deaths in the Afternoon

While this article is a really interesting discussion of baseball-related deaths, from 1862-2007, be it semi-pro baseball or backyard catch, it fails to mention the one case of a death during a Major League game. Shame on the authors for failing to mention Ray Chapman and what is unquestionably the worst example of Yankee aggression ever

RIP - Richard "Dick" Jacobs

Jeez, it's been a rough week. Dick Jacobs, the former owner of the Cleveland Indians, has died at 84. For Cleveland sports fans, Jacobs was a godsend - a smart owner who invested heavily in his team but was wise enough to let his very able general managers (John Hart and Mark Shapiro) make the personnel decisions. In 1986, Jacobs bought the Indians in the midst of some of their thinnest years (and for a team that hasn't seen a World Series title since 1948, that's saying something). They consistently went nowhere, and often made such wise decisions as trading all of their pitching for hitting, so that they could go from losing 2-1 to losing 10-8.

Yet by 1994, there was genuine hope in Cleveland - young players like Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr., "Joey" (only later was he "Albert") Belle, Jim Thome, and in the farm system, Manny Ramirez were all really positive signs that the Indians, after 40 years, had a direction. What was more, they had ditched the awful Cleveland Municipal Stadium owned by Art Modell (may he burn in hell forever) for a beautiful new stadium, a stadium for which Jacobs himself plunked money down to have the naming rights. It wasn't "Jacobs Field" out of any vanity on his part - the only other bidder was the MacDonald's investment company, and he did understandably did not want a field that made people think of crappy fast-food burgers. The strike of 1994 ended a season in which the Indians were in a pennant race for the first time in 40 years, a typical twist of events for a city filled with generations of multiple heartbreaks across all three major sports.

Yet in 1995, the Indians, under Jacobs' ownership, won the pennant for the first time in 41 years, and went to the World Series. While losing wasn't fun, it was dulled by the fact that Jacobs had had the presence of mind (unlike some owners) to let his GM do his job, and that the Indians finally were heading in a direction other than "south," with a deep farm system and potential to contend for years. 1997 was absolutely devastating, certainly, but whereas the years before Jacobs' ownership were filled with false hopes, now it seems every year, the Indians may genuinely contend. Jacobs sold his ownership in 2001, but the direction has remained largely the same. Without Jacobs' ownership of the Tribe, who knows where the Indians would be now. Ultimately, Jacobs was a quiet man, but the team he ran speaks volumes for him. He's still highly beloved in Cleveland, and his loss marks a very sad day for the entire Tribe family. Rest in peace, Dick, and thanks for all that you've done for the Indians and for Cleveland.

Inaugurating the new Yankee Stadium

While not a Pavano no-hitter, this was about as ideal and fantastic inaugural game at the new Yankee Stadium as I ever could have hoped for. And while my expectations for an Indians finish may have been way off, I believe I had the status of the Yankees middle relief pegged. And no matter what happens this season or beyond, you can't take away the fact that the Indians killed the Yankees to open their new stadium any more than you can take away this record-setting night or George Steinbrenner's 76th birthday.

Or, to paraphrase and cop a pop-culture reference: New stadium: $1.5 billion. Two new starters and a new 1st baseman: $423.5 million. Losing 10-2 in your home opener to a team that was 2-7: Priceless.

In Which Mr. Trend's Skewed Sense of Priorities Manifests Itself in Potentially Embarassing Ways

As is known to regulars of this blog, while I am a Cleveland Sports supporter through and through, the Indians are far and away my team of teams, and baseball the sport I love more than any other.

As many may also know, I am a broke graduate student living in New York city, which only worsens my financial situation.

That said, when looking at question #48 ("Which would you rather have? $5,000 [or] Your favorite team win a championship?") in this survey, I didn't think twice - "An Indians World Championship!" Then I remembered I'm broke, and I paused and thought, "well, would I rather have $5,000?" Upon further reflection, I came up with my answer.

No, I'd still rather see the Indians win the World Series. That's worth more than $5000 to me. I suppose if we were talking larger sums of money, I'd probably take the money, but I so desperately want to see my team win a championship, I could easily say "no" to $5000 (though, given that neither a World Series Ring nor the $5000 are likely to present themselves to me anytime soon, it's not a major concern).

I'd like to say, "but hey, at least I'm not materialistic!," but really, I fear I'm just pathetic.

And I'm OK with that.

Some (Very Premature) Pre-Spring Training Analysis (and a Prediction or Two)

Tim Kurkjian outlines why the AL Central will most likely be the most interesting and brutal division this year. Nobody's absolutely amazing, but at least right now, no other division in baseball looks like it has four extremely serious competitors for the division title, and even the Royals are poised to play much better and be a season-long spoiler in the Central (and if they win the title, well, stranger things have happened....the 2008 Rays, I'm looking in your direction).

Still, I have to say that I'm really excited at the Indians' prospects right now. Picking up a full-time, 100% legit closer who relies on his actual pitches, rather than will or a sketchy location (a la Wickman and Borowski) is hugely important. I don't see Lee being as good as he was in 2008, but I don't see Carmona being as bad, either, and they have an extremely deep bench and farm system both in terms of pitching and fielding. Pavano could be the dark-horse signing of the year ($1.5 million guaranteed, with incentives adding up to $5.3 million). Hafner and Martinez are looking and (at least saying they're) feeling healthier than they have in a couple of years. Sizemore is still stupid-good. And Shin-Soo Choo was an absolute beast once he became a full-time player last year (thanks Seattle!). It's going to be an absolute brawl for the division title, but I have to say, I'm actually as excited this year as I was at the beginning of last year (when, if Sabathia could have simply won one playoff game in Cleveland, the Indians most likely would have been World Champions for the first time in 60 years). And no matter who wins the division, I wouldn't be surprised if A) they had the "worst" record of any of the AL division champs, and B) if they made it to the World Series. Yes, the Yankees and Red Sox are still there, as are the Rays, and the Angels are filthy good, but given the competition they'll have with their intra-division rivals, it wouldn't shock me in the slightest to see the AL Central finish with an 87-91 win team and go far in the playoffs.

Now we just have to wait another couple of weeks for pitchers and catchers to report, and our annual 4-month national nightmare will be over...