The Indians are Terrible (and AL West Preview)

Holy shit. The Indians, as of now, are 1-7 and heading into the opening series at new Yankee Stadium (aka steal yo' money park) tomorrow. They have the potential of being 1-12 by the time Monday rolls around. I haven't watched any games but I have listened to a few and caught a couple on game cast. I know Eric Wedge's team hates April and starts off slowly every year but this is dangerously close to being the end of the season for them. Let's highlight a few of the problems.

The pitching has been horrendous. I mean Cliff Lee can't control his fastball and hitters are nailing him on everything else. He just can't keep them off balance and honest so they look for the offspeed stuff and crush it. Carmona can't control his pitches at all. They dance around like they have a mind of their own. He's continued the trend from last year of walking more people than striking out. I'm not sure if it is a mechanical problem or if he's just bad. But I'm confident is saying that 2007 was a fluke year for him. Pavano is alright. He looked good in spring training, got knocked out of the 1st by the Rangers, then fanned 8 in 6 innings against the Royals. Not bad. (You know your pitching sucks when you consider Pavano "not bad").

The bullpen can't hold a lead so far and can't even keep the games close. Perez came in last night with the game tied up and gave up 5 runs. Kerry Wood has looked awesome though in his 1 inning of work. They should probably make him a starter.

The hitting has actually been doing pretty well. Hafner is off to a good start with 3 homeruns in the first week and Martinez looks fully recovered from his shoulder problem. Sizemore is the same old Sizemore hitting homeruns and striking out. They need to set a lineup and stick with it. I feel like Wedge tinkers with the lineup too much in April and causes the offense to putter into May. Isn't tinkering what Spring Training is for? I'm not a coach or anything but it would make sense to mess with your lineups when the games DON'T FUCKING MATTER (take heed Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini).

If they can get out of New York with a split in the four game series then they should be in OK shape. Anthony Reyes has looked pretty solid and should get better. Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona can't really do any worse then they already have. And despite the terrible start they are only 4 games from the Central Division leader. But like I said, its going to get late faster for the Indians if they don't start playing up to par.

Also, I'd like to see LaPorta, that catcher prospect from the Dodgers, and the other guy from the Sabathia deal to play in the majors soon. They all hit .500 in the spring and probably warrant a roster spot over Ben Francisco and some of the other bums (Ryan Garko). I like Trevor Crowe in the outfield though. He's like a mini Sizemore and hopefully can get on base more to create havoc.

AL West Preview

I'll keep this short because this division really doesn't change that much from year to year. The Mariners are supposed to be good and they actually might be with Felix Hernandez coming into his own and hopefully Erik Bedard pitching like his past self. I like the Franklin Guiterrez addition from the Indians. He may not look good on paper from last year but he was never consistently in the lineup. His power and speed in center will make him a real offensive threat with consistent at bats.

The Angels are the Angels and should be a solid team again this year. Oakland never really impressed me in spring training and just look to be mediocre. The Rangers have a great offense, especially with Nelson Cruz coming of age. But their pitching, as always, really sucks and they'll be mired in a 70-80 win season.

Prediction: I'm going to go with Seattle to win this division and make the playoffs. They've been on the cusp the past few years and fell short of expectations last year. But with a solid rotation anchored by veteran Jarrod Washburn in the back, they should be ready to take the title this year. Plus the return of Junior Griffey can't hurt.

AL Central Preview

Remember last year? Remember when I predicted that the Tigers would lose 100 games (the almost did!) and that the Rays would win the East (you'll hear this a bunch more, I promise) and that the Red Sox would get the Wild Card? Remember that? You should because they were great predictions. The Rays prediction was probably the greatest prediction of our generation. If Villanova wins the tournament, then The Rays would have to be pushed down to second...but that is a different story for another time.

I'm going to make an admission right now. Baseball predictions are like a crapshoot (obviously a waiver of my potentially shitty picks for the upcoming year). This season seems especially tough seeing that the AL East is stacked, the AL Central is stacked with mediocrity, and the AL West is....well...the AL West. Well, here goes:

AL Central

Well, this division went from being the up and coming powerhouse to the powerhouse of 80 win teams. I'm not sure what is going to happen this year. Obviously I was going to pick the Indians to win this division on pure talent alone, but their starting pitching has been atrocious this spring with Cliff Lee getting lit up almost every start. There's no way he can repeat the success of last year. Carl Pavano...well, whatever. The only bright spot is that Carmona looks like he's ready to return to form after an injury plagued season in 2008. However the bullpen should be better with the addition of Kerry Wood taking pressure off Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, and Rafael Betancourt. There should be less blown leads this year.

The Twins look mediocre as usual and are probably poised to overacheive as usual. They have Liriano back from elbow injury and he's been looking very good this spring. He should anchor a solid rotation which can hold games for the outstanding bullpen. They also have the best clutch hitter in Joe Mauer and perennial MVP candidate Justin Morneau in the lineup. The keys for the Twins are going to be Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young in the outfield. These guys need to get on base and use their speed to create runs to support that pitching staff.

The Tigers and White Sox don't really concern me because they are getting old and seem to be on the way out. The Tigers will maintain a pretty good offense even though they just cut Gary Sheffield, but their pitching is garbage. I mean Edwin Jackson as your #2? Their season rests on Dontrelle Willis' arm and that's probably not a good bet. The White Sox are too old to do anything this year. I think they'll fall behind early and have too much ground to make up as the saeson goes on. Watch out for Alexei Ramirez though. He reminds me of Alfonso Soriano but better defensively.

The Royals are in the same position the Devil Rays have been in the past few seasons. They are a perennial loser with high draft picks and great prospects just waiting to break out. I mean wasn't Zach Greinke supposed to be a Cy Young winner by now. He's still pretty young considering he's been in the majors since he was 18. But he has great stuff and should be the ace for this rotation this season that includes the dynamic Kyle Davies (finished the season strong last year) and Gil Meche (perennial fantasy add/drop). With Coco Crisp batting leadoff and improving the defense, David Dejesus (.307/12/73 last year) can bat either second or third and make an offensive impact. The key for the Royals is how Teahen, Gordon, and Butler step up. They've been on the cusp for a few seasons now and it remains to be seen whether or not they can live up to the hype.

Call: Kansas City with a breakout season. The Indians and Twins can win 90 games but they are flawed. The division is open for the Royals to surprise.

Tomorrow, I'll look at the AL East and probably pick the Rays to win it again.