Baseball Thoughts - Team Needs and Trade Bait

Here are my observations on the AL Central:

Minnesota: The Twins re-signed Brad Radke and Jacque Jones and they should have full seasons out of catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau. The questions are at short, second base and third - fifth starters. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason Bartlett is given an opportunity to start at short. The Twins probably won't make any major moves until mid-season when they can gauge what their needs are.

Chicago White Sox: I don't know how Kenny Williams keeps his job. Seriously. Jermaine Dye isn't too bad a move to replace Magglio Ordonez and the mystery knee injury but some of the other moves are head scratchers. He gave Orlando Hernandez $8 million over 2-years? No he didn't! That money would have a better return in PowerBall tickets. Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik? Don't the White Sox already have Aaron Rowand and didn't Lee hit 31 HR with an .891 OPS last year? Yeah - that's what I thought. AJ Pierzynski? Good luck with all that. The White Sox biggest need is a new GM.

Detroit: Troy Percival has been the big signing so far. The Tigers could use an ace starter but there are none available. Their biggest need may be a centerfielder and there is one of those available. Some guy named Carlos Beltran. Tigers owner Mike Ilitich has wads of cash and his beloved Red Wings aren't playing. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tigers come under the radar to win the Beltran lottery (besides Beltran is a mid-America type of guy). I pray that things work out good for Uggie Urbina and his mom.

Cleveland: The big signing is Kevin Millwood for one year at $7 million. Not too bad a risk (did you know that in Spanish Kevin Millwood means Russ Ortiz?). I really like the Indians. They have an exciting core of young players like Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia and Grady Sizemore. It is possible that Cleveland's biggest need is for experience for their young players. People also tend to forget that the Indians will also have Aaron Boone for this year which may make Casey Blake expendable (although - I wouldn't be so fast to hand the job to Boone because Blake can be real good). I wonder if the Indians call their manager Wedgie? Hey Wedgie - bring back Lou Merloni!

Kansas City: The Royals screwed all the guys like me who picked them to win the division last year. They have nowhere to go but up this year and their starting rotation is young but it isn't bad. They added Jose Lima (Lima time!). They do have lots of questions though. Will they really go into the season with two rookie catchers? Did Darrell May really lead the team in ERA with a 5.61 mark? Do they have a closer? Is it Mike MacDougal or Jeremy Affeldt? Can two divorced men with nothing in common live together without driving each other crazy? I ended this discussion with the Royals just so I could post the picture Jose Lima and his wife.