This is one of a series of posts in which we grade each team’s wily hot stove maneuvers and tragic offseason blunders.

So yes, the Twins finally succumbed to the inevitable and traded Johan Santana to a contender. But prior to the deal going through, common sense had the Mets giving up a boatload of young talent in return for the veteran hurler and multiple Cy-Young winner. Of all, one prospect came across as the centerpiece of the deal; alas, Fernando Martinez is still a member of the Mets organization and the four prospects that were sent over are not necessarily tickling the collective pickle of Twins fans across the board.

Last year, the Twins were facing arbitration with six core member of their starting nine, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, Nick Punto, Juan Rincon and Lew Ford; eventually they reached deals with all of them but at a price. Though the resigned Joe Mauer to a 4-year, $33 million deal, 2006-AL-MVP Morneau agreed to a one-year deal only. There was legitimate concern that Morneau would be priced out of reach for the Twins, a small market team, and thus they would have to face a situation similar to the Santana sweepstakes.

Well, in case it got lost in the Santana hoopla, and fortunately for Twins fans, Morneau resigned for a whopping 6-year, $80 million dollars – the biggest contract in Twins history –avoiding the gloomy prospect of losing two of its biggest stars in the same offseason. (Oh yea, Cuddyer also cashed in at a cool $24 million for a 3-year deal).

So on the surface, the Twins spent the offseason trying to take the lesser of two evils: trade one their superstars, and sign one of them longterm, instead of letting both of them go.

But if you look close, new GM Bill Smith made a flurry of moves to revamp his lineup.

After a subpar 2007 by Nick Punto, the Twins signed Mike Lamb for a frugal $6.6 million to handle third and to provide an offensive boost to the lineup. But don’t pencil him in just yet, Punto is better defensively, so he’ll get his share of ABs.

Jason Bartlett, the team’s “shortstop of the future” was traded in November (along with SP Matt Garza) for Delmon Young (who’ll likely start in left field) in a six-player deal that also brought in infielder Brendan Harris. Smith signed veteran Adam Everett to take Bartlett’s place and the team hopes Harris will be able to take over second base.

With left field in the hands of Young, and right field safely in the hands of newly resigned Cuddyer, there’s that center field crater, void, hole, ditch, etc, that was left vacant when Torii Hunter skipped town. Carlos Gomez, who comes over from the Mets as part of the Santana deal is a good candidate, but Smith made sure he had plenty of posibilities for the job, so he signed Craig Monroe.

The bullpen is again anchored by closer Joe Nathan; though that may not be for long as Nathan enters the last year of his contract and may be traded to a contender if the Twins fail to make any noise in the AL Central.

And then, there’s the rotation. The departures of Santana, Garza, and Silva sure seem to leave behind a decapitated corpse. The return of Francisco Liriano might be cathartic for Twins fans, but for a while, all that remained beyond the #1 spot in the rotation were a handful unproven young arms (Carlos Silva left via free agency). So in hopes of avoiding the potential of having all starters under the age of 26, the Twins singed veteran hurler Livan Hernandez to add some experience to what may be a very inconsistent staff.

Many of the Twins woes have come about due to their “small market” status and the lack of big money that comes with it; the construction of their new stadium has hit various obstacles along the process but is set to open in 2010, when bigger (and more consistent) crowds may help secure funds to sign future stars.

From now until then, though, all the Twins can do is battle it out with what they’ve got.

Projected lineup, rotation and Closer

1. LF Delmon Young - .288 .316 .408
2. 3B Mike Lamb - .289 .366 .453
3. C Joe Mauer - .293 .382 .426
4. 1B Justin Morneau - .271 .343 .492
5. RF Michael Cuddyer - .276 .356 .433
6. CF Carlos Gomez - .232 .288 .304
7. 2B Brendan Harris - .286 .343 .434
8. DH Craig Monroe - .219 .268 .370
9. SS Adam Everett - .232 .281 .318

LF Francisco Liriano - DNP in 2007
RH Livan Hernandez - 11-11, 4.93 ERA
RH Boof Bosner - 8-12, 5.10 ERA
RH Scott Baker - 9-9, 4.33 ERA
RH Kevin Slowey - 4-1, 4.33 ERA

Closer: Joe Nathan - 37 sv, 1.88 ERA

Acquisitions: Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, Delmon Young, Craig Monroe, Carlos Gomez, Livan Hernandez

Losses: Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett (both in the Young deal).

Offseason grade: C

The Santana trade was a nasty affair and the Twins came out looking more like losers than winers; if we were to grade on that, they could not get higher than a D. But the fact that they managed to sign Morneau to a long-term deal was significant enough to upgrade the perennial D to a C.

- Hot Offseason Action Index -

After months of speculation, the Twins have agreed to trade Johan Santana to the Mets for a package of young players—if, and only if, the Mets can sign Santana to a long-term deal in the next 72 hours. Since Santana has already rejected a 4 year, $80 million extension offered by Minnesota, he’s rumored to be looking for a six- or seven-year deal from New York, in the range of $20 million per.

If the Mets can make this happen, they will give up outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. The Mets managed to hang on to their most prized prospect, outfielder Fernando Martinez. Bob Nightengale at USA Today, who first broke the story, calls Gomez a five-tool player, notes that he’s worked hard to cut down on his strikeouts, and sees him taking over in centerfield for the Twins. However, Rotoworld has a different take:

Gomez and Guerra are big-time talents, but Gomez lacks plate discipline and might not fit in the top half of the lineup and an awful lot could go wrong before Guerra even sniffs the majors. Mulvey and Humber are third starters at best and probably more like fourths. It’s a whole lot better than losing Santana for draft picks next winter, but we’d have taken a Phil Hughes or Jacoby Ellsbury package over this.

And as SI’s John Heyman notes, the current deal is the same offer the Mets made weeks ago.

For a hotly anticipated trade, this is deal is about as surprising as your average romantic comedy. The Yankees had already publicly announced their withdrawal from the auction, and the only other team rumored to be in the bidding was the Red Sox—who seemed involved only to keep the Yankees at bay. Could there be any doubting the ultimate betrothal of Johan Santana and the New York Mets?

Appropriate reactions now that this inevitable-for-weeks deal has finally gone down:

Mets fans: YEHAW!

Rest of NL East: *shudder.*

Yankee fans: Poop.

Red Sox fans: Phew.

Twins fans: Motherf***er.

Because I just bought myself a Fedora hat and I feel rebellious, I’ll start my AL Central run-down in reverse order of last year’s standings. Eat it!

Kansas City Royals: Keep drinking that PR Kool Aid (and then add another starter)

A habit of mine is to browse the PR machines for each team whenever I need some research for my posts. Fortunately, I’ve learned to wear my reporter’s hat and cull the spin for what it is and extract the good bits of information. It’s a bit sad, however, to know that there are legions of fans out there who, in their hunger for news about their favorite teams, will eat up this stuff whole.

If we are to believe the Royal’s Press Machine, the team is poised to climb up the ranks this year. If only we could slice away one-third of the season, the Royals would’ve had a .500 record in 2007!

So with that in mind (and now that they have Trey Hillman as their new manager), the Royals think they’re all set for 2008, save a starter or two. Gil Meche will continue to be an underachieving, overpriced, overpaid veteran; Brian Bannister will be a decent second tier starter who can get you 12 wins, and then, well, then things get interesting. The enigma that is Zack Greinke will start out of the third slot in the rotation and you can stop counting there. Jorge de la Rosa could have a good year, but it doesn’t mean the Royals will stop looking for other starters (et tu, Bartolo?)

In their defense, the Royals have been able to hold on to a group of talented young players, out of which, superstar-in-the-making Alex Gordon stands out. Of course, last year’s pleasant surprise was Joakim Soria’s emergence as the team’s closer - and come to think of it, the departure of David Riske has left a gaping hole (ok, not really, but hey, it’s the Royals) in the bullpen, so a good set-up man wouldn’t hurt.

Chicago White Sox: *sigh* A center fielder (and maybe keep losing)

Anybody who’s going to say that Nick Swisher was the Sox’ pick to start at center field in 2008 needs to brush up on their White Sox news. After failing (miserably) to land a good CF, White Sox GM Kenny Williams decided to pull some of his trademarked “under-the-radar” moves. This time, however, the moves where so off the radar, they bewildered even the most ardent fans. First, he signed reliever Scott Linebrink to a 4-year, $19 mil deal. Four years! 19 million! His only move during the winter talks was trading for Carlos Quentin. Then he singed Alexei Ramirez, an unproven Cuban exile that can play short, second or the outfield; and then Williams broke the talent pool and traded for Swisher.

One thing’s clear: The Sox have lots of great players, they just don’t know what position they’ll play. With Ramirez, they have three short stops; ditto second base, Pablo Ozuna’s been the super sub for a while, so he’ll backup Richar there. And then there’s the outfield. Swisher can play some first, though he’s likely penciled for center, while Quentin is in left (or is that the other way around?). Jermaine Dye is a lock at right (though Swisher actually played some right field last year), and then the young outfielders, Jerry Owens and Brian Anderson will try to fill in the reserve spot.

The #1 goal this offseason was to improve the team via trades or free-agent signings. With the Garland-for-Cabrera trade, Williams struck quick, but then the ship fell apart. Torii Hunter signed with the Angels, Fukudome with the crosstown-rival Cubs, and even Andruw Jones relocated elsewhere. Nothing against Nick Swisher, but something tells me we could’ve gotten a better consolation prize.

So the Sox enter 2008 once again with a potent line-up that may or may not produce runs (we all know it’ll produce home runs, though), a starting rotation that is relying a wee too much on rookie or second year arms (and a few irregular vets) and a bullpen rich in question marks but with a formidable setup man (Linebrink) and closer (Bobby Jenks).

Come to think of it, the White Sox really just need to rebuild. But a good center fielder would’ve been nice.

Minnesota Twins: That new stadium already

Last year, the Twins needed money bad. This year, they could’ve use that money they never had. As expected, Torii Hunter skipped town; Santana is either going to become a free agent at the end of this year, or will be traded for way too much before the season starts; and with Joe Mauer signing a $33-million deal, Justin Morneau’s contract extension talks have stalled.

What happens in 2008 will depend greatly on what the Twins get in return for Santana, but one obvious gaping hole is Hunter’s departure from center field. Now that the Mets have entered the Santana sweepstakes, and have offered a young outfielder in their package, the Twins might move Santana soon enough to allow some flexibility before the season starts to sign Morneau. That is, if the Mets also include prospect Fernando Martinez, something the Twins want to seal the deal, but seems unlikely.

If only that new ball park were poised to open its gates. At least, the thing is finally getting built.

Detroit Tigers: Play their first game

No question that the Tigs are the most improved team this off season. They traded for two of the best young players in baseball, Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, and they signed one of the better veteran short stops, both defensively and offensively, in Edgar Rentería.

The front line of their rotation looks something like: Verlander, Willis, Robertson, Bonderman and Kenny “It ain’t tar, its dirt” Rogers.

They have a solid bullpen, and with the return of flamethrower Joel Zumaya, Todd Jones’ role as closer might be in jeopardy. But that’s a good thing, Tigers fans.

Oh, right, and they still have Magglio Ordoñez, who came in second in MVP voting behind A-Rod.

Scary.

Cleveland Indians: Pay a visit to Miss Cleo

The Indians could very well shake up that magic 8-ball to know what’ll happen in 2008. Their roster has not been tinkered with (not much anyway), and except for the addition of INF Jamey Carroll and Japanese reliever Masahide Kobayashi, the same team that was one win away from the Fall Classic will step out on the field.

Granted, Travis Hafner missed a significant chunk of time last year, so his “return” to top form will boost a line-up that already features Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore.

•

So that’s that, the AL Central is again shaping up to be a tough division; the standings might actually end up looking similar to what they did in 2007 . Even though the White Sox made some moves, it’s not clear they’ve upgraded their outfield; the Twins are still trying to figure out what to do about Santana; the Royals are just a pinch of hope away from contending, and the Indians are playing it safe by not doing much. But it’s been the Tigers, by far, the team that stepped up to fulfill their needs.

About a month ago, tax payers in Minnesota learned that the new Twins ball park’s cost would be $8 million dollars more than anticipated. At the time, Hennepin County enforced a newly-minted eminent domain law, taking title over the land where the proposed stadium would be built.

County commissioners approved an escrow payment of $13.755 million for the value of the land, but, guess what, the landowners didn’t like it. So they took the county to court for a condemnation hearing. The ensuing legal fight came at taxpayers expense, as Hennepin County attorneys were getting paid at the $320-an-hour rate; totaling about $8 million in fees.

From a July 7th AP report:

And the county could be liable for “reasonable attorney fees, litigation expenses, appraisal fees, other expert fees and other related costs” if the condemnation award is more than 40 percent greater than the county’s original offer, which was made before it filed for condemnation last November.

The county says it offered $13.35 million for the land at that time, but the landowners say they never received a formal offer before condemnation papers were filed.

Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, the County Board’s lead stadium negotiator, said the ownership group is trying “to drive up legal fees and have a long ugly battle” in hopes of getting a better offer from the county. Instead, Opat is focused on a land-option agreement between Hines and Land Partners II that was revealed last week.

Opat said the agreement shows that Land Partners II would sell the property to Hines for about $19 million, far below their claim last week that it is worth more than $65 million.

Well, guess what.

At the start of a nearly monthlong condemnation hearing in June, a lawyer for the landowners had said the parcel was worth $65.38 million. County officials had formally offered $13.35 million for the downtown Minneapolis parcel, and a real estate appraiser hired by the county said that the property’s worth is $17.23 million.

The landowners, represented by Land Partners II, a limited liability partnership, and Hines Interests, a Texas developer, said Monday they had not decided whether to appeal the award and by and large withheld public comment.

“It was $10 million more than what they offered,” Rich Pogin, a Land Partners II official, said of the $23.8 million award.

That’s right. Hennepin County had offered around $13 million for the property, but the courts decided it was actually worth $23.8 million, that’s $10 million more – never mind that doesn’t include the legal fees, if the hearing ever went to trial.

But wait, there’s actually more:

Three hours after the ruling was made public, one of the three condemnation commissioners — the only real estate appraiser on the panel — filed a surprise dissenting report stating that he felt the land was instead worth $33.2 million.

“It’s a highly unusual and bizarre development,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, the lead stadium negotiator for the County Board.

So one of the commissioners that was supposed to be on the people’s side turned against the other two, claiming the land was worth $20 million more than what the county had initially offered.

Although the dissenting report filed by Larry Tucker, a real estate appraiser for 32 years, has no official bearing on the panel’s award, it could push the owners of the stadium site toward an appeal and lengthen what has already been a nine-month public feud over the value of the land where the 40,000-seat stadium will be built.

That’s right! The legal fight isn’t over! Meaning those legal fees could add up and up!

That sucks Twins fans, but you guys should be up in arms about this. Not only is the stadium going to be more expensive, according to county commissioner Mike Opat, it “might not be as great and grand.” What a crock!

I’ve been absent from this here blog, and you can thank the horrendous thing that is Strep Throat for that. Fully recovered, I figured the best and easiest way for me to come back into action was a good ol’ “Random Links” post. Of course, with all these antibiotics, doctor’s visits, and so on, I couldn’t stay away from the medical theme. Well, O.K., a dentist is not necesarily a doctor, but I digress.

• Some weirdo in San Francisco is going to “lifecast” from this year’s All-Star game. This is the story of a sad man who happened to watch to many ears being eaten alive by Mike Tyson. The same man whose “only claim to fame” was his attendance to the game where Barry (or is it Brian?) Bonds hit his record-setting 73rd home run of the 2001 season. He was a few rows behind the guy that caught the ball (and the other guy that sued him for it). Now he wants to hook up to a webcam and a wireless laptop to beam his life to all and all. No matter that justin.tv (left) is now broadcasting 11 different channels, and that Justine Ezarik is a girl, who’s blond, and is also doing the same thing. No, Dr. Doug: Baseball Hunter will be different. (Never mind that the actual lifecast of the game will be blacked out, and that Dr. Doug, a dentist, has to check back with his disapproving wife and root canal patients).

• It doesn’t matter that you’re the youngest player to reach the 100 home run mark. You gotta get educated.

• And speaking of Brian, er, Boris, I mean, Barry, Dontrelle Willis isn’t scared that the Marlins could be the team against which Bonds hits big seven-five-six.

• Hmmm. The Twins’ new stadium may end up costing people in Minnesota (aka, taxpayers) a bit more than anticipated. About $8 mil more $10 mill more, and all thanks to those $320-an-hour attorneys. Don’t they know why the A’s continue to lead the way when it comes to…ugh, you know what I mean.

• For a minute there, Jason Bergman found comfort in knowing that all those sharpshooters scattered throughout RFK stadium where there for protection. Too bad his offense didn’t do the same, the Nats lost 4-2.

• This isn’t the Adam LaRoche of old; his aggressive attitude is paying dividends for the Pirates. His production his up, his average is up, he’s even swinging at 3-0 pitches. I wonder…

• And forget Polow Da Don, everybody knows “THE KING” of white girls is Chase Utley.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Terrence Moore just doesn’t get it. Today, Moore writes that if the Braves are unable to keep CF Andruw Jones, they should sign Twins CF Torii Hunter.

From the AJC:

Ideally, Andruw Jones stays with the Braves. Not only after this season as a free agent, but forever. Still, if he decides to bolt to the highest bidder with his mighty bat and magic glove, his replacement makes too much sense.

Torii Hunter.

Earth to Terrence: the Braves aren’t going to sign Hunter.

This is not a complicated formula. The Braves won’t resign Jones because he’s too expensive. He’s likely to command upwards of $17 million per year on the open market.

So why in the world does Howard think the Braves will pay big bucks (maybe as much as $15 million per) to sign Hunter?

Even Hunter sounded surprised that somebody would suggest he might end up in Atlanta:

“Me, playing in Atlanta?” said Hunter, with wide eyes, during a chat last week before a game involving his Minnesota Twins in Anaheim. He laughed, saying, “Kind of getting ahead of things with that thought….”

If and when the Braves lose Jones, they’ll replace him with a prospect or with an affordable player from another team. The same way they replaced Rafael Furcal with Edgar Renteria. The same way they replaced Adam LaRoche with Scott Thorman. The same way they replaced Marcus Giles with Kelly Johnson. That’s how the Braves do business.

You should know that, Terrence.

Alright, let’s figure out what these teams need to win it all (or make me look like a genius, whichever comes first). I’ll go down the order reflecting today’s standings.

Cleveland Indians: Play some make up games…

Really. The Indians have been very good this year, they’ve scored runs when needed and they’ve pitched effectively when the run support hasn’t been there. But it’s the offense that’s been the catalyst this early in the season – they’re second in the league in runs scored, second in runs batted in, and third in on-base percentage.

Their starting pitching has been there too. Though they’ve employed the services of six starters, three of those have been quality material. Staff Ace C.C. Sabathia has been a stud, going 6-1 with a 3.51 ERA, while Fausto Carmona (2.77 ERA) and Paul Byrd (3.81) have identical 5 and 1 records. Cliff Lee, 2-1, has had brushes with success, but he’s also been disastrous, posting a bloated 5.93 ERA. Their other two starters, Jeremy Sowers and Jake Westbrook might be the prototype fifth starter, destined only to chew-up innings, while keeping the team in the game, hoping the offense pick them up in the end. Their records, 1-4, 1-2, and their ERA, 6.29, 7.90 respectively, though, are not inspiring.

The only problem has been the bullpen; out of the seven relievers that have pitched more than 11 innings, only two have an era under 2.00, while the rest have a 3.10 or higher earned run average.

The Indians have to keep it consistent all season long and they’ll be right there when it’s all said and done. Considering the fact that they still have to play those make up games with Seattle, they might even have a better record than they do now.

Detroit Tigers: Have patience….

The Tigers are anticipating a return trip to the playoffs. The air in this weekend’s series with Cleveland has been filled with aromas of contention, and keep in mind that yesterday’s was the first of 18 meetings between these two teams. Again, it’s the offense that has this team half a game out in the division, and leading the way is a reinvigorated Magglio Ordóñez, he leads the team in average, home runs, runs batted in, runs scored, and on-base percentage.

Gary Sheffield has picked up the pace after a disastrous start, hitting a few points below .300 in May. But if we’re going to point out “what they need,” I’d say their corner infielders have to provide a better offensive presence. Third baseman Brandon Inge has a depressed .218 average, with 17 RBI, while Sean Casey has a meh .259 average, zero home runs and only 9 RBI in 147 AB.

Though the team had a scare due to Jeremy Boderman’s trip to the DL, he returned in top form, blanking out the Angels in 8 innings of work. He would’ve finished the complete game gem, but manager Jim Leyland decided to play it safe.

Chicago White Sox: Ozzie Guillen to shut. Up.

And let the team do it’s thing. I have to say, Ozzie’s been a distraction; first there was his rant on Mike North’s show, which then turns into A.J. Pierzynski getting into some weird thing with Mark Buehrle. Now Ozzie’s been issuing warnings for the past two weeks; the hitters, the bench, then the relievers. Good thing the starters have done their job, otherwise Guillen would be pointing the finger at everybody.

But really, what the Sox need is to stop relying on the long ball and start hitting for average. Yes, Thome was out (and Podsednik is still out), but the Sox are dead last in runs scored (and far behind KC); dead last in RBI (and far behind Baltimore); dead last in batting average (and far away behind Texas); dead last in on-base percentage –do we see a pattern?– and yes (way, far behind Baltimore). Scottie Pods is not going to be the difference in any of those categories.

The Sox had a recent offensive outburst, scoring 10 runs for the first time, following that with an 8 run performance. But that’s all we Sox fans have seen. If your offense doesn’t produce, your relievers are going to have to be perfect almost every time out. That’s just not going to happen.

Ozzie, shut up (at least some); Sox, score some runs.

Minnesota Twins: A new stadium, like, NOW (AKA, money, money, money)

Watching a Sox-Twins game recently, I was listening as their TV people discussed the opening of the new Twins stadium in 2010. They culled figures as to how many people were going to be there every day, packing the new ball park and providing the Twinkies with much needed cash flow, ensuring the team a chance to sign proven free agents, and to keep their talent at home. Wait… it’s not as if the Twins play before a field of cornstalks every day now; people do come out to the games – so what gives? I’m not sure, and I better leave all the stadium economics to Nick.

But really, had the Twins opened their new stadium this year, and thus lined their pockets with some more cash, they might not be facing the prospect of having their Ace Johan Santana opting to test the free agent market, or their veteran leader Torii Hunter for that matter.

In actual baseball terms, aside from their stars (well, Morneaou really), the Twins have no offensive weapons (I mean, c’mon, how long did you thing the whole piranha thing was really going to last? Nick Punto?!). Plus, Joe Mauer’s been hurt.

Combine that with the necessity to sign Sidney Ponson (Sidney Ponson!) and Ramon Ortiz to be the back of their rotation, and the prospects are bleak at best. The Twins have started to slide, but, of course, they’ll probably find a way to win as they always do. I’m just not sure how they’ll do it this year.

Oh and when one of their star bloggers, Bat Girl, calls it quits, then you know the shit’s hit the fan.

Kansas City Royals: Are you serious?

The Kansas City Royals need… well, they need to stop signing “super subs” to be their every day players; the need to stop signing overpriced, unproven veterans to front their rotation, and they need to keep their young talented stars.

You can start by moving to another city, or perhaps coaxing the locals to pay up for a new stadium, or, better yet, spend those revenue sharing dollars on things other tan Gil Meche. Then you guys will contend.

We all knew coming into the season that the AL Central was going to be one tough division. Last year the Tigers roared to an incredible start and were able to hold on to first place up until the very last day of the season when the Twinkies, surging as they always do, took over the AL Central crown.

Meanwhile, though they won 90 games, the White Sox saw themselves as not quite up to task with their division rivals, finishing third.

Well, the difference this year is that after one month of play, the contending teams in the toughest division in baseball have put out a collective press release announcing that they’ll be here all year long, thank you very much, and it’s up to the rest (read, White Sox) of the division to keep up.

As of April 30, the ChiSox were fourth but only 2.5 games behind division-leading Cleveland, and 1.5 games behind Detroit and Minnesota.

After last night’s 5-2 loss to the Mariners, the ChiSox are 3.5 games behind first.

“It’s Appprrillll,” my brother would say.

It’s actually May, and this is the AL Central. If we’re going to learn anything from last year’s experience, the ChiSox, the last team from said division to win the World Series, matched the Tiger’s hand up until the All-Star break.

If they can’t keep up with two other excellent clubs, in April, then forget it.

It’s actually surprising the Sox have a .500 record. Their offense ranks second to last in runs scored in the AL, third to last in RBI, fourth to last in OBP, second to last in Extra Base Hits, and dead last in Team BA with runners in scoring position.

Of the only three players who’re hitting above .250, two, Thome (.340) and Podsednik (.303) are on the DL. The other, Darin Erstad, is hitting eight grams over .250.

In fact, the only reason los Medias Blancas are where they are is the long ball. They’re tied for second with four other clubs and only two dingers behind Tampa Bay (?).

The bats will get hotter, you say?

Center fielder Darin Erstad has a glass-half-full view of the White Sox’ April hitting struggles.

”Survival,” he said of the team’s 12-11 record in April despite having the lowest team batting average (.229) in baseball. ”We could have done better, but we didn’t dig ourselves too big a hole. It’ll turn around.

”There’s no question the hitting will come around. Every team goes through it. It happens to be the first month for us. It’s just the way the game works. One thing about being down early, there are good things to come.”

[…]

”It’s good because it will make us stingier,” Cooper said. ”Everyone knows the reality of it. But this is not unlike 2005 [when the Sox ranked 11th in the 14-team American League in batting and first in team ERA]. All we can control as pitchers is the ball in our hands.”

[…]

”Unfortunately, it’s happened this month that we’re not hitting the ball well as a group, but we’ve been winning games because of clutch hitting and doing the little things,” Guillen said. ”When you’re not hitting well, it’s the pitchers’ jobs to pick it up a notch and try to keep us in the game.

”The pitching staff has to remember we’ve come back in a lot of games. We’ve been down 4-0 in the first inning and come back to win the game. It’s a team game. One hand helps the other. Same way when we’re not pitching — we have to pick up the hitting.”

[…]

”I looked at the schedule for the first month and thought, ‘This is going to be a tough one,”’ Guillen said. ”We haven’t been hitting. When we start hitting, we should be better.

Yea, but…

“I definitely think it’s the best division in baseball from what I’ve seen,” Mike Redmond said.

It hasn’t been an easy road for the Twins in the AL Central so far as the team is 5-7 against their division opponents while 9-4 when facing other AL teams. That isn’t a surprise though, as the belief all along has been that this will be a division that’s going to be a dogfight until the end.

After the first month of the season, the logjam at the top of the AL Central division has the top four teams separated by a total of just 2 1/2 games. Yes, it’s still early but knowing the type of talent that each club brings to the table makes it seem like the fun is just starting.

“Every team is loaded,” Johan Santana said of the division. “They can pitch, they can hit and do the little things. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens and at the end of the season where each team is going to be. Whoever takes advantage early in the season and does everything they are supposed to do is going to have a good chance to be in the playoffs.”

Is that Travis Hafner and the Indians pulling away at the top?

Before the season began, I made statements among my baseball-savvy friends that Ben Sheets may rival Johan Santana this year as the best pitcher in all of baseball. Now of course, health is a concern with Sheets (averaged 19.5 starts over past two years) but when he pitched, you can actually make a pretty good case that he was the only pitcher who could even be uttered in the same breath as Johan:

As the numbers show, Johan was still better, but not by much. ERA notwithstanding, their peripherals were very similar. They are both power pitchers who do a remarkable job at limiting walks and homeruns. If you don’t believe me, look around. Aside from these two, you will not find two starting pitchers who have this perfect assembly of limiting walks, homeruns, and contact simultaneously.

Which may be why this article caught my attention. After his first outing this year, in which Sheets threw a complete-game two hitter against the Dodgers, I noticed that he had only registered three strikeouts, but I chalked it up to flukiness. But his strikeout rate is yet to improve. 20 innings pitched. 8 strikeouts. That’s 3.6Ks per 9 innings. Chien-Ming Wang territory.

Sheets has obviously noticed.

“To me, the lack of missing bats is kind of startling,” Sheets said Sunday after yet another frustrating outing against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I ain’t hit a spot all year, really,” he said. “I got away with everything (against the Dodgers). I didn’t miss any bats. They just hit it to people.”

Is Sheets DL-bound again? Seeing as the Brewers have an organizationally rampant hatred of all things defense, Sheets cannot succeed without his strikeouts. Bill Hall in centerfield will not be mistaken for Torii Hunter. Sheets has to limit the number of balls in play, and unless we see progress real soon on his strikeout numbers, he’s going to make me look absolutely stupid for even comparing him to Johan Santana (and we all know that’s the most important thing, right?).

This weekend, Twins CF Torri Hunter wrote a guest op-ed for the Pioneer Press about what it means to him to wear Jackie Robinson’s 42 and what it’s like being a black baseball player.

Here it is:

When I think of Jackie Robinson, I think of a strong black person. I think about everything he went through when he got to the major leagues.

There were the racial slurs. He heard them while he was playing the game and after the game.

And he couldn’t eat with his teammates - he had to go to the back of the restaurant to get his food, to get his plate, like a dog.

He had to be the last one to take a shower. He couldn’t shower with his teammates.

Everything was separate.

He could have quit. But he didn’t. He stuck with it.

Had he quit, I think that would have changed everything.

Everything. Read the rest of this entry »