5. Kansas City Royals

Strengths – They spent some money and added some great pieces to the puzzle. Kyle Farnsworth should be a major addition to the bullpen.  Coco Crisp gives them an all out center fielder, and Mike Jacobs provides them with some power.

Weaknesses – When I mentioned the puzzle it wasn’t a 9 piece puzzle that came with your happy meal, rather a 96 piece jigsaw puzzle.  They have no depth and are missing some key attributes that a team would need to stay afloat in this division.  There is no question that if they were in a division with the Pirates, Nationals and Blue Jays, they would compete; in a division with the Indians, Tigers and Twins, and White Sox, dead last yet again.

Depth Chart:

Best Hitter: Mike Aviles

Best Pitcher: Joakim Soria

Top Newcomer: Coco Crisp

Player Worth Trading: Alex Gordon

Projected Finish: 5th AL Central

4. Detroit Tigers
Strengths – They are one of the best teams at getting on base.  Ordonez and Polanco hit over .300 and Granderson, Cabrera and Guillen are all over .280. They hit well and score runs.  

Weaknesses – Bonderman is a liability as a starter so taking him out of the equation actually makes the rotation better, however Galarraga and Jackson will have an awful lot of pressure in the American League. They have very little depth outside of the youngsters.  

Depth Chart:

Best Hitter: Miguel Cabrera

Best Pitcher: Justin Verlander

Top Newcomer: Edwin Jackson

Player Worth Trading: Marcus Thames

Projected Finish: 4th AL Central

3. Chicago White Sox

Strengths –Danks pitched 195 innings and posted a 3.32 ERA, Gavin Floyd won 17 games and posted a 3.85 ERA and last but certainly not least in 34 starts Mark Buehrle posted a 3.79 ERA. This is a very solid #1, 2, and 3 starters.  Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Quentin combined for 57 homers and 177 RBI’s.  They have some great talent which will keep them in the race for the AL Central.

Weaknesses – In the past 3 seasons Javier Vazquez has pitcher over 620 innings and struck out almost 600 batters.  He is a huge loss because they won over 50% of games he pitched in.

Depth Chart:

Best Hitter:Carlos Quentin

Best Pitcher: John Danks

Top Newcomer: Wilson Betemit

Player Worth Trading: Paul Konerko

Projceted Finish: 3rd AL Central

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2. Cleveland Indians
Strengths – The Indians should rebound from a tough 2008 season in which they were all but forced to trade away their best pitcher of previous years.  Interestingly enough, the Indians fall apart, trade away CC, and Cliff Lee wins the 2008 Cy Young Award.  Am I ready to say Cliff Lee is a substitute for CC, no, but he can ace this staff.  They lost CC to the Yankees but picked up Carl Pavano. Again we aren’t comparing apples to apples with Pavano here but I can see him getting approval from Tribe fans.  Did I mention Grady Sizemore?

Weaknesses - .262 team batting average and a team earned run average of 4.45, two major stats that kill a team.  Power, or lack there of… Hafner's clearly on the decline and a starting shortstop second on the team in home runs, they have to create some sort of consistency on offense.

Depth Chart:

Best Hitter: Grady Sizemore

Best Pictcher: Cliff Lee

Top Newcomers: Mark DeRosa/Kerry Wood

Player Worth Trading: Josh Barfield

Projected Finish: 2nd AL Central

1. Minnesota Twins
Strengths – They have the perfect mix of speed and power in the lineup.  Carlos Gomez and Denard Span can get around the bases while Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will be able to get them in.  While the rotation doesn’t really stand out, it is very capable. Liriano can ace the staff and Blackburn, Slowey and Baker round out the front.  

Weaknesses – The team's strength is also its weakness, they are a few injuries away from disaster and it starts with Liriano.  Liriano has to stay 100% for the team to remain in contention. In August of 2008, Liriano was 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 29 K’s.  They do not need this for a full season but without him for a large part of 2009 would be disastrous.

Depth Chart:

Best Hitter: Justin Morneau

Best Pitcher: Francisco Lirinao

Top Newcomer: None

Player Worth Trading: Delmon Young

Projected Finish: 1st AL Central

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