Royal Blues

I don’t believe this year the Tigers will run away with the division as last year. The Twins have Joe Mauer back and the Royals are finally building a good young team through the draft. Detroit will still win the division but the rest of the standings will not be settled until the final weekend of the season.

American League Central

Detroit Tigers

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals

Prince Fielder

Tigers- Part of the reason that the Tigers had such a great season last year was because the rest if the division had an off season, the other was because a handful of players had break out seasons. It will be no surprise if some of these players take a step back. One of these players was catcher Alex Avila, offensively he will probably take a step back but on the defensive side he will take a step forward and be better at managing the game. During the off season the Tigers made a big move by picking up free agent 1B Prince Fielder, with him and Miguel Cabrera at the corners and Jhonny Peralta and Brandon Inge in the middle creating an infield that has power. The outfield also contains some big bats in Delmon Young and Austin Jackson, joining them will be Brennan Boescha and the DH will be Ryann Raburn. The pitching should be top of the line for Detroit with Justin Verlander being the ace of the staff. The Tigers have a number of pitching prospects that could make a number of starting staffs out of spring training but look for them to be moved for needed parts for the playoff push.

White Sox- The Sox have a shot at a wild card spot, but still lack some hitting, pitching and depth. Behind the plate they have the veteran leader and also voted one of the most hated players in baseball A.J Pierzynski, with Paul Kanerko at first Gordan Beckham at short Alexei Ramirez at short and finishing the infield off is Brett Morel playing 3B. The outfield is definitely lesser known then the infield with Alejandro De Aza in left, with Alex Rios and Dayan Viciedo in center and right respectively. The only big time pitcher that the Sox have is Jake Peavy, with Davin Floyd, Philip Humber, Chris Sales and John Danks joining him in the rotation. Hot shot rookie right hander Addison Reed will get a chance to show what he is made of.

Travis Hafner

Indians- Overall the Indians do have some power starting with their DH Travis Hafner, centerfielder Grady Sizemore and 1B Casey Kotchman, short Asdrubal Cabrera can hot for average. Behind the plate Carlos Santana is coming into his own with young buck second baseman Jason Kipnis and 3B Jack Hannahan completing a nice little infield. The outfield will have Shin-Soo Choo and Michael Brantley with Sizemore. The pitching staff is were the Tribe is a bit on the weak side, yes they have Ubadlo Jimenez and Derek Lowe but after those two the talent drops a bit with Justin Masterson and Fausto Carmona or is it Roberto Hernandez this is all if he actually plays this season. Josh Tomlin is a good young pitcher. Nick Hagadone and Scott Barnes are two prospects that good come up and make some noise for the Tribe.

Twins- The Twins have their heart and sole back behind the plate this season in Joe Mauer, I think will Mauer being out last season hurt them more then they had expected it would. This isn’t the same Twins team that was making some noise a couple season ago however Justin Morneau is still at first base, the rest of the infield has been around a bit but are not as well known with Alexei Castilla at second and Danny Valencia at third with the veteran Jamey Carroll at short. The outfield has a nice mix of veteran experience and youth, Josh Willmingham and Denard Span in center and right with the 23 year old Ben Revere in left. Carl Pavano the man with one of the best mustaches in baseball will be the ace of the staff along with Francisco Liriano also helping in with Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn bringing what the have in the past couple of seasons in Minnesota. Joe Benson should make the team out of camp.

Eric Hosmer

Royals- The Royals are probably the youngest team in all of Major League Baseball with seven out of their nine starters under 25. This will be a team to watch in years to come, the two senior citizens are corner outfielders Alex Gordon and Jeff Francouer and they are 27 and 28 respectively with 25 year old Lorenzo Cain at center. I think the infield unlike the outfield can not go into a bar without adult supervision; catcher Salvador Perez has been strong in the first couple days in camp with corner infielders Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer ready to build on last season, with Johnny Giavotella and Alicdes Escobar up the middle, Billy Butler will be the DH. The pitching staff is very weak the only known name is Bruce Chen and they have one of the best young pitchers in Danny Duffy. Luckily for KC they have some hot pitching prospects ready to come up in Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and Kelvin Herrera.

Other news

In case you missed it the U.S. has announced their squad for their friendly soccer match vs. Italy on February 29.

Keepers: Brad Guzen (19 caps) Aston Villa, Timmy Howard (72) Everton, Nick Remando (6) Salt Lake

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (100/12 goals) Rangers, Geoff Cameron (3/0) Houston, Timmy Chandler (8/0) Nurnberg, Steve Cherundolo (78/2) Hannover, Clarence Goodson (27/3) Brondby, Michael Parhurst (11/0) Nordsjælland, Jonathan Spector (33/0) Birmingham

Midfielders: Michael Bradley (63/9) Chievo, Maurice Edu (31/1) Rangers, Fabian Johnson (2/0) Hoffenheim, Jermaine Jones (16/0) Schalke, Jose Francisco Torres (14/0) Pachuca, Danny Williams (4/0) Hoffenheim

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (45/13) AZ, Terrence Boyd (0/0) Dortmund, Edson Buddle (10/3) Los Angeles, Clint Dempsey (82/24) Fulham, Landon Donovan (138/46) Los Angeles

Jurgen Klinsmann

Since this is a friendly match expect Jurgen Klinsmann to mix and match players trying to figure out the best option on the back line as well as what kind of midfield and forward combination to use. This is what I predict…

Howard-Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Chandler, Goodson- Donovan, Bradley, Edu, Jones-Dempsey-Altidore