Central Division Preview

 

A year after being the only division in baseball to go to a one game playoff to decide its champion, this season hopes to bring the same excitement.  Last year the Twins and the White Sox finished the regular season with the exact same record, which was the cause of the playoff.  The Twins had plenty of opportunities to win the division and ovoid that playoff, but could not win one more game against the Kansas City Royals.  This season the Twins look to build on a team that was just short by basically returning the same team.  The team is now older and has gained some experience. 

The reigning division champion White Sox look to build on what they did last year.  Many people think that they will not be as good as they were last year, just because they are getting older.  The loss of Joe Crede and Ken Griffey Jr. will not help either.  The Sox are trying to get younger and compete at the highest level. 

Last season the Detroit Tigers were picked by many people to win the World Series.  They finished last in the division.  They will continue to gel as a team and hope to contend with the rest of the division. 

The Cleveland Indians are a very dangerous team.  They have a nice young pitching staff and a high powered offense that did not live up to the billing last season.  They could have a breakout season and nobody would be surprised.  They are only a few years removed from a World Series appearance. 

The Kansas City Royals have been improving every year.  That has to be expected after so many years of high draft picks.  They have a nice young team that will be even better this year.  Last year they finished ahead of the high powered Detroit Tigers in the standing and they hope to build on that again this year. 

First Loss and Classic

The Twins suffered their first defeat of the spring.  Yesterday the Twins lost to the Boston Red Sox in Grapefruit League action 2-1.  Twins starter Kevin Slowey had a very solid outing, but the Twins could not muster enough offense to come out on top.  Through six innings the only hit the Twins had was an infield single by center field speedster Carlos Gomez.  Later in the seventh inning slugger Justin Morneau got his final hit before leaving the Twins for team Canada in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.  The Twins only run cam off the bat of Prospect Deibinson Romero who drove in a run with a single in the eighth inning. 

 

Like I stated earlier Morneau in playing for Canada in this years World Baseball Classic.  The Twins have a few others playing as well.  Along with Morneau, Jessie Crain will also be helping out Team Canada.  Twins shortstop Nick Punto will be playing for his home country of Italy.  New Twin this year Luis Ayala will be suiting up for Mexico.  The Twins have some minor league prospects playing as well.  Most notably Luke Hughes, who will be playing for Australia.  Morneau and Crain will lead Team Canada against the USA on March 7^th in Toronto as the two teams begin their quest to become the best country in the world.  Punto and his Italian team take the field against Venezuela on that same day.  The two teams could be playing each other in the second game of the first round if both of them either win or lose.  The World Baseball Classic runs through the month of March being played in various cities.  Tokyo, Mexico City, Toronto and San Juan are the sites for the first round games, with the winners advancing to San Diego and Miami.  The winners of the semi-final round advance to the finals at Dodger Stadium in Las Angeles.

Weekend update

The Minnesota Twins won their spring training game yesterday to bolster their early record to 4-0. Right now they are they only undefeated team in the Grapefruit League. The Grapefruit League is the spring training league that takes place throughout the state of Florida. The Twins have beaten teams like the Red Sox and Yankees to get off to this hot start. The game yesterday the offence had to overcome a rough outing by Scott Baker to gain the win. The team seems to be off to a good start and lets hope that this is a sign of good things to come. In other news today Joe Nathan announced that he would not be taking part in this month World Baseball Classic. This might be a disappointment for team USA, as Nathan was set to be the team’s primary closer. Nathan is sitting out because he felt some discomfort in his shoulder that he doesn’t want to aggravate any more. This is smart on Nathan’s part because we will need him to be at full strength by opening day. Nathan has been one of the leagues best closers since he was part of the trade that brought him over from the Giants. Himself, Boof Bonser and Fransico Lirano were traded for A.J. Pirsinski in 2004. This might go down as one of the most lopsided trades in not only Twins history, but league history. The Twins will be without Boof Bonser for the entire season. Bonser will undergo shoulder surgery that will keep him out 8-10 months. Bonser was expected to compete for the setup man job. He was a former starter, but his inability to last more then 4-5 innings made way for his move to the bullpen. Bonser was out of options so the Twins had to either trade him or let him go.