American League Central Division 2010

American League Central Division 2010

By: sharkhandicapping.com

Every year the Minnesota Twins make a huge run at the Central Division Leader but this year they might just not have to make that big run and could lead the Central wire-to-wire. For Sports Picks and Handicapping the American League Central we look for the Over’s to come into play once the warm weather hits the Midwest. We project the Twins at six runs a game and the White Sox at home will score plenty of runs. Anytime the wind is blowing out in Chicago you get an automatic Over play from our handicappers.

While we have picked the Tigers to finish 2nd it would be no surprise if the Chicago White Sox take 2nd or even the top spot in the Central. Expectation out of Detroit where huge last year dn even the experts we saying would break the all the scoring records. Detroit and the pitching staff failed down the stretch. The Tigers will miss Granderson who is with the Yankees but picked up Johnny Damon and some much needed relief pitching. With the pressure off we should see a better Tigers team.

1 – Minnesota Twins

2 – Detroit Tigers

3 – Chicago White sox

4 – Cleveland Indians

5 – Kansas City Royals

 

1: Minnesota

Projected Rotation:

1. RHP Carl Pavano

2. RHP Scott Baker

3. RHP Kevin Slowey

4. RHP Nick Blackburn

5. LHP Francisco Liriano/LHP Glen Perkins/LHP Brian Duensing

What happens in the fifth spot is a big question mark. That spot, really, is wide open but if Liriano comes back with any sort of resemblance to the way he pitched in 2006, his resurgence would be priceless. This rotation could dominate most of the hitters in this division. The bullpen took a huge hit with the loss of RHP Joe Nathan for the season due to Tommy John surgery and in our opinion is the only thing that will hold this team back. The Twins got a good look at some of their young arms last season with Duensing the bright spot. If the lefty doesn't win the fifth spot in the rotation, he'll be a front-runner for a place in the bullpen.

Projected Lineup:

1. CF Denard Span

2. 2B Orlando Hudson

3. C Joe Mauer

4. 1B Justin Morneau

5. DH Jason Kubel

6. RF Michael Cuddyer

7. LF Delmon Young

8. SS J.J. Hardy

9. 3B Brendan Harris

From top to bottom, this line-up is solid and we say an average 6 runs a game is about right.

 

2nd: Detroit

Projected Rotation:

1. RHP Justin Verlander

2. RHP Rick Porcello

3. RHP Max Scherzer

4. RHP Jeremy Bonderman

5. LHP Nate Robertson or LHP Dontrelle Willis

After the third spot Detroit is hoping Bonderman can get his fastball up to snuff. Robertson and Willis are the candidates for the last spot now that RHP Armando Galarraga has been sent to Triple-A and that is a scary thought. Still the Tigers have one of the best right handers in the game in Justin Verlander, a potential Hall of Famer and with better bull pen this year we project the Tiger to be right there in the end. I guess one good thing is from last year is we cashed our futures ticket on the Tigers s one of our MB future sports picks.

Projected Lineup:

1. CF Austin Jackson

2. LF Johnny Damon

3. RF Magglio Ordonez

4. 1B Miguel Cabrera

5. DH Carlos Guillen

6. 3B Brandon Inge

7. 2B Scott Sizemore

8. C Gerald Laird

9. SS Adam Everett/Ramon Santiago

The Tigers bring a talented line-up with the only issue being speed. Speed comes to play on the bases as well as the outfield. The tigers will once again have issues in scoring runs consistently. Remember last year they would go on run droughts and then go crazy at the plate.

 

3rd: Chicago

Projected Rotation

1. RHP Jake Peavy

2. LHP John Danks

3. RHP Gavin Floyd

4. LHP Mark Buehrle

5. RHP Freddy Garcia

Chicago just might bring one of the best starting rotations in League but they also bring an older rotation, is father time catching up with three of their starters?

Projected Lineup:

1. LF Juan Pierre

2. 2B Gordon Beckham

3. RF Carlos Quentin

4. 1B Paul Konerko

5. CF Alex Rios

6. C A.J. Pierzynski

7. DH Andruw Jones

8. 3B Mark Teahen

9. SS Alexei Ramirez

What the Tigers don’t have in speed the White Sox do as they are loaded with power and speed. This team especially at home will score a ton of runs and will have good starting pitching to go along with it. The only question for Chicago is will their age catch up to them and can they stay injury free.

 

Fourth: Cleveland: PROJECTED ROTATION:

1. RHP Jake Westbrook

2. RHP Fausto Carmona

3. RHP Justin Masterson

4. LHP David Huff

5. LHP Aaron Laffey

Can this pitching staff stay anything close to healthy? Can this pitching staff bring any consistency? Wait and see but 4th is the best we can offer here.

Project Lineup:

1. CF Grady Sizemore

2. SS Asdrubal Cabrera

3. RF Shin-Soo Choo

4. DH Travis Hafner

5. 3B Jhonny Peralta

6. 1B Russell Branyan

7. 2B Luis Valbuena

8. C Lou Marson

9. LF Michael Brantley/Matt LaPorta

Cleveland is loaded from the left side, talk about a lopsided line-up? How about 66% will be swinging away from the left side.

 

Fifth: Kansas City

Projected Rotation

1. RHP Zack Greinke

2. RHP Gil Meche

3. RHP Luke Hochevar

4. RHP Kyle Davies

5. RHP Brian Bannister

There is no question a repeat performance from last year by the two haulers Greinke and Meche will be difficult. After the top two its anybodies guess and that’s why we have the 5th.

Projected Lineup:

1. LF Scott Podsednik

2. RF David DeJesus

3. 1B Billy Butler

4. CF Rick Ankiel

5. DH Jose Guillen

6. 3B Alex Gordon

7. SS Yuniesky Betancourt

8. 2B Chris Getz

9. C Jason Kendall

Every season we see the Royals make changes in their line-up and when evaluating this team we find that’s the real problem, No continuity.